cpython/Tools/idle/help.txt

[See end for tips.]

Click on the dotted line at the top of a menu to "tear it off": a
separate window containing the menu is created.

File menu:
	(This should speak for itself.)

Edit menu:

	Undo -- Undo last change to current window (max 1000 changes)
	Redo -- Redo last undone change to current window
	---
	Cut -- Copy selection into system-wide clipboard; then delete selection
	Copy -- Copy selection into system-wide clipboard
	Paste -- Insert system-wide clipboard into window
	Select All -- Select the entire contents of the edit buffer
	---
	Find... -- Open a search dialog box with many options
	Find again -- Repeat last search
	Find selection -- Search for the string in the selection
	Find in Files... -- Open a search dialog box for searching files
	Replace... -- Open a search-and-replace dialog box
	Go to line -- Ask for a line number and show that line
	---
	Indent region -- Shift selected lines right 4 spaces
	Dedent region -- Shift selected lines left 4 spaces
	Comment out region -- Insert ## in front of selected lines
	Uncomment region -- Remove leading # or ## from selected lines
	Tabify region -- Turns *leading* stretches of spaces into tabs
	Untabify region -- Turn *all* tabs into the right number of spaces
	Expand word -- Expand the word you have typed to match another
		word in the same buffer; repeat to get a different expansion
	Format Paragraph -- Reformat the current blank-line-separated paragraph
	---
	Run module -- Import or reload the current module
	Debug module -- Ditto, under debugger control

Windows menu:

	Zoom Height -- toggles the window between normal size (24x80)
	and maximum height.
	---
	The rest of this menu lists the names of all open windows;
	select one to bring it to the foreground (deiconifying it if
	necessary).

Debug menu (in the Python Shell window only):

	Go to file/line -- look around the insert point for a filename
		and linenumber, open the file, and show the line
	Open stack viewer -- show the stack traceback of the last exception
	Debugger toggle -- Run commands in the shell under the debugger
	JIT Stack viewer toggle -- Open stack viewer on traceback

Basic editing and navigation:

	Backspace deletes to the left; DEL deletes to the right
	Arrow keys and Page Up/Down to move around
	Home/End go to begin/end of line
	Control-Home/End go to begin/end of file
	Some Emacs bindings may also work, e.g. ^B/^P/^A/^E/^D/^L

Automatic indentation:

	After a block-opening statement, the next line is indented by
	4 spaces (in the Python Shell window by one tab).  In leading
	indentation, Backspace deletes 4 spaces if they are there.
	Also see the indent/dedent region commands.

Python Shell window:

	^C interrupts executing command
	^D sends end-of-file; closes window if typed at >>> prompt

    Command history:

	Alt-p retrieves previous command matching what you have typed
	Alt-n retrieves next
	Return while on any previous command retrieves that command
	Alt-/ (Expand word) is also useful here

Python syntax colors: the coloring is applied in the background.

	Keywords	orange
	Strings		green
	Comments	red
	Definitions	blue

Shell colors:

	Console output	brown
	stdout		blue
	stderr		dark green
	stdin		black

Tips:
	To change the font on Windows, open EditorWindow.py and change
	    text['font'] = ("verdana", 8)
	to, e.g.,
	    text['font'] = ("courier new", 10)

	To change the Python syntax colors, edit the tagdefs table in
	ColorDelegator.py; to change the shell colors, edit the tagdefs
	table in PyShell.py.