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IDLE applies syntax highlighting to user input in its shell #64007
Description
| BPO | 19808 |
|---|---|
| Nosy | @terryjreedy |
Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.
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GitHub fields:
assignee = 'https://github.com/terryjreedy'
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2013-11-27.08:42:42.028>
labels = ['expert-IDLE', 'type-bug', '3.7']
title = 'IDLE applies syntax highlighting to user input in its shell'
updated_at = <Date 2017-06-30.01:02:08.990>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/peterotten'bugs.python.org fields:
activity = <Date 2017-06-30.01:02:08.990>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'terry.reedy'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['IDLE']
creation = <Date 2013-11-27.08:42:42.028>
creator = 'peter.otten'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 19808
keywords = []
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['204566', '204772', '204791', '204840', '297338']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'peter.otten']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'test needed'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue19808'
versions = ['Python 3.6', 'Python 3.7']Linked PRs
- gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell #157700
- [3.14] gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (GH-157700) #157877
- [3.13] gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (GH-157700) #157878
- [3.15] gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (GH-157700) #159080
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peterotten commentedon Nov 27, 2013
For example when you type
in its shell window IDLE shows the 'for' as if it were a keyword. The same happens if you run a script that requires user interaction.
[-]IDLE applys syntax highlighting to user input in its shell[/-][+]IDLE applies syntax highlighting to user input in its shell[/+]terryjreedy commentedon Nov 30, 2013
I checked and Idle does not color code the prompt. In 2.7, it only color-codes the response to input(prompt), which is eval-ed as Python code, but not the response to raw_input(prompt). (In 2.7, the code and input displayed raises SyntaxError.) So the bug in 3.3 and 3.4 is that 3.3 input is being treated like 2.7 input rather than like 2.7 raw_input.
I suspect that we just need to find and delete the code that detects 'input()' and triggers highlighting.
peterotten commentedon Nov 30, 2013
I think the prompt can easily be treated differently because it is written to stderr.
I don't see a difference for user input between input() and raw_input() on Linux with Python 2.7.2+ -- syntax-highlighting is applied to both.
terryjreedy commentedon Nov 30, 2013
On a freshly booted machine, I retried 2.7.6/Windows/raw_input() 'for all the' and indeed I now see 'for' and 'all' colored.
The colorizing is done char by char. 'fo' is black, 'for' turns orange, 'forr' turns black again. Similarly, 'al' is black, 'all is purple, and 'allo' is black again. It is not a critical bug, but certainly annoying, especially to a new user.
I expect the prompt and echoed input are both written to stdout by the user process. Neither are errors and both are colored blue. Warnings and exception tracebacks on stderr are red. Both come into the idle process via the socket connection, which is different from the idle process stdin connected to the keyboard.
terryjreedy commentedon Jun 30, 2017
Still a problem in 3.6.
serhiy-storchaka commentedon Sep 17, 2026
#157700 stops colorizing the text after the I/O mark while the Shell reads a line for
input(). Output was never colorized; only the text typed after the last prompt was, whether it was code or a reply toinput().Merge branch 'main' into pythongh-64007-input-colors
gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (#157700
[3.13] gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (
[3.14] gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (
terryjreedy commentedon Sep 27, 2026
3.15 backport must be generated after prior 3.15 backports are merged after 3.15 branch is unblocked.
[3.15] gh-64007: Do not colorize response to input() in the IDLE Shell (