Python IDLE is the default integrated development environment (IDE) that comes bundled with every Python installation, helping you to start coding right out of the box. In this tutorial, you’ll explore how to interact with Python directly in IDLE, edit and execute Python files, and even customize the environment to suit your preferences.
By the end of this tutorial, you’ll understand that:
- Python IDLE is completely free and comes packaged with the Python language itself.
- Python IDLE is an IDE included with Python installations, designed for basic editing, execution, and debugging of Python code.
- You open IDLE through your system’s application launcher or terminal, depending on your operating system.
- You can customize IDLE to make it a useful tool for writing Python.
Understanding the basics of Python IDLE will allow you to write, test, and debug Python programs without installing any additional software.
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Open Python’s IDLE for the First Time
Python IDLE is free and comes included in Python installations on Windows and macOS. If you’re a Linux user, then you should be able to find and download Python IDLE using your package manager. Once you’ve installed it, you can then open Python IDLE and use it as an interactive interpreter or as a file editor.
Note: IDLE stands for “Integrated Development and Learning Environment.” It’s a wordplay with IDE, which stands for Integrated Development Environment.
The procedure for opening IDLE depends on how you installed Python and varies from one operating system to another. Select your operating system below and follow the steps to open IDLE:
Once you’ve started IDLE successfully, you should see a window titled IDLE Shell 3.x.x, where 3.x.x corresponds to your version of Python:
The window that you’re seeing is the IDLE shell, which is an interactive interpreter that IDLE opens by default.
Get to Know the Python IDLE Shell
When you open IDLE, the shell is the first thing that you see. The shell is the default mode of operation for Python IDLE. It’s a blank Python interpreter window, which you can use to interact with Python immediately.
Understanding the Interactive Interpreter
The interactive interpreter is a basic Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL). It reads a Python statement, evaluates the result of that statement, and then prints the result on the screen. Then, it loops back to read the next statement.
Note: For a full guide to the standard Python REPL, check out The Python Standard REPL: Try Out Code and Ideas Quickly.
The IDLE shell is an excellent place to experiment with small code snippets and test short lines of code.
Interacting With the IDLE Shell
When you launch Python’s IDLE, it will immediately start a Python shell for you. Go ahead and write some Python code in the shell:
Here, you used print() to output the string "Hello, from IDLE!" to your screen. This is the most basic way to interact with Python IDLE. You type in commands one at a time and Python responds with the result of each command.
Next, take a look at the menu bar. You’ll see a few options for using the shell:
Read the full article at https://realpython.com/python-idle/ »
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