[IPython-user] Problem with ? and ?? in ipython combined with paging

[Tom Denniston]

Much of my code contains long descriptive docstring with many tests.
There is a great feature that I love in ipython where if you have a
func and you type "func?" it give a pretty colored docstring that is
incredibly useful.  The nagging problem I face is that if the
docstring is larger than 25 lines then it invokes the python pager and
the pretty docstring becomes a garbled mess of "ESC[1;31", etc.
Below is a docstring that works and one that does and the code that
produced both.  I was wondering whether this is a bug in the python
pager or ipython and if there is anything that can be done.

I am using ipython 0.7.3b2.r1970.   I have seen the problem in every
previous release I have used, though, so it is not a new problem.

I've been using IPython for over a year and a half and it is a
phenomenal tool.  Thanks Fernando, et al. for developing something
really awesome.

--Tom


In [37]: test.testFuncLessThanTerminalNoPage?
Type:           function
Base Class:     <type 'function'>
String Form:    <function testFuncLessThanTerminalNoPage at 0x35b08b4>
Namespace:      Interactive
File:           /home/tdennist/code2/fstrat/src/test.py
Definition:     test.testFuncLessThanTerminalNoPage()
Docstring:
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    12
    13
    14



Now if I use a function that has a docstring larger than the default
terminal size it uses the pager and craps out on the formatting.  I
see:

In [38]: test.testFuncLargerThanTerminalPage?
ESC[1;31mType:          ESC[0mfunction
ESC[1;31mBase Class:    ESC[0m<type 'function'>
ESC[1;31mString Form:ESC[0m     <function
testFuncLargerThanTerminalPage at 0x35b00d4>
ESC[1;31mNamespace:     ESC[0mInteractive
ESC[1;31mFile:          ESC[0m/home/tdennist/code2/fstrat/src/test.py
ESC[1;31mDefinition:
ESC[0mESC[1;37mtestESC[0mESC[1;33m.ESC[0mESC[1;37mtestFuncLargerThanTerminalPageESC[0mESC[1;33m(ESC[0mESC[1;33m)ESC[0mESC[1;33mESC[0m
ESC[0m
ESC[1;31mDocstring:
ESC[0m    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    12
    13
    14
    15
    16
    17
    18
    19
    20
    21
    22
    23
    24
    25
    26

Here are the two test functions:

def testFuncLessThanTerminalNoPage():
	'''
	1
	2
	3
	4
	5
	6
	7
	8
	9
	10
	11
	12
	13
	14

	'''
	
	
def testFuncLargerThanTerminalPage():
	'''
	1
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	5
	6
	7
	8
	9
	10
	11
	12
	13
	14
	15
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	26
	'''