How do you see the entire command history in interactive Python?

Question

I\'m working on the default python interpreter on Mac OS X, and I Cmd+K (cleared) my earlier commands. I can go through them one by one using the arrow

Answer 1

A simple function to get the history similar to unix/bash version.

Hope it helps some new folks.

def ipyhistory(lastn=None):
    """
    param: lastn Defaults to None i.e full history. If specified then returns lastn records from history.
           Also takes -ve sequence for first n history records.
    """
    import readline
    assert lastn is None or isinstance(lastn, int), "Only integers are allowed."
    hlen = readline.get_current_history_length()
    is_neg = lastn is not None and lastn < 0
    if not is_neg:
        flen = len(str(hlen)) if not lastn else len(str(lastn))
        for r in range(1,hlen+1) if not lastn else range(1, hlen+1)[-lastn:]:
            print(": ".join([str(r if not lastn else r + lastn - hlen ).rjust(flen), readline.get_history_item(r)]))
    else:
        flen = len(str(-hlen))
        for r in range(1, -lastn + 1):
            print(": ".join([str(r).rjust(flen), readline.get_history_item(r)]))

Snippet: Tested with Python3. Let me know if there are any glitches with python2. Samples:

Full History : ipyhistory()

Last 10 History: ipyhistory(10)

First 10 History: ipyhistory(-10)

Hope it helps fellas.