Use PYTHONSTARTUP to interactively test a python file in the interpreter

I want to establish a standard script file that is imported into python at startup using the PYTHONSTARTUP environment variable. Additionally, I want to be able to conveniently reload the same script file after modifying it in an external editor, to test its behavior after the modification. I created a ~/.pythonrc.py file and set it as PYTHONSTARTUP:

import os
import imp

def load_wb():
    _cwd = os.getcwd()
    os.chdir(os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'),'S开发者_运维问答kripte'))
    import workbench
    imp.reload(workbench)
    os.chdir(_cwd)

load_wb()

This is my very minimal script file for the start:

def dull_function():
    print('Not doing much...')

print('Workbench loaded.')

When I launch Python 3.1.2, .pythonrc is successfully executed and the workbench.py is imported, but dull_function does not appear in the global namespace or in a local one. What do I have to do differently?

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Move the import statement outside the function. You're basically importing the workbench module into the function scope, not the global scope (Try calling workbench.dull_function from inside load_wb to see for yourself).

In other words, change your code to:

import os
import imp
import workbench

def load_wb():
    _cwd = os.getcwd()
    os.chdir(os.path.join(os.getenv('HOME'), 'Skripte'))
    imp.reload(workbench)
    os.chdir(_cwd)

load_wb()

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Not really solving your immediate problem but... You might appreciate using iPython shell for testing in that case. Using the autoimport functionality, you can mark a module for (re)loading on each executed line if needed.

That means you can %aimport workbench and then every time you run some_function_Im_testing(), workbench will be reloaded if it changed. Just add the autoimport line into the configuration file for ipython and you're done.