The standard Python readline extension statically linked against the GNU readline library.


License
GPL-3.0
Install
pip install readline==6.2.1

Documentation

Stand-alone GNU readline module

GitHub Workflow Status

First... STOP

Consider this: do you really need this package in 2022? You typically don't if

  • you use the Python provided by a standard Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, etc. (It already uses the proper readline.)
  • you run Windows (It won't work! Try pyreadline or prompt_toolkit instead.)
  • you use the Python provided by Homebrew or Fink on macOS (It has real readline already!)
  • you want it for IPython (It switched to prompt_toolkit in version 5.0.)
  • you use a Python distribution like Anaconda or Enthought / Canopy (Again, real readline.)

You might need it if

  • you use Python provided by MacPorts or the system on macOS (Python compiled against libedit.)
  • you use a Python distribution like ActivePython on Linux or macOS (This used to ship without readline.)
  • you want to get the latest bug fixes and features in either the readline library or its Python module (Typically when stuck on older systems.)

Still interested?

Some platforms, such as macOS, do not ship with GNU readline installed. The readline extension module in the standard library of Mac "system" Python uses NetBSD's editline (libedit) library instead, which is a readline replacement with a less restrictive software license.

As the alternatives to GNU readline do not have fully equivalent functionality, it is useful to add proper readline support to these platforms. This module achieves this by bundling the standard Python readline module with the GNU readline source code, which is compiled and statically linked to it. The end result is a package which is simple to install and requires no extra shared libraries.

The module is called gnureadline so as not to clash with the readline module in the standard library. This keeps polite installers such as pip happy and is sufficient for shells such as IPython. Please take note that IPython does not depend on gnureadline anymore since version 5.0 as it now uses prompt_toolkit instead.

A typical use case is to override readline in your code like this:

try:
    import gnureadline as readline
except ImportError:
    import readline

If you want to use this module as a drop-in replacement for readline in the standard Python shell, it has to be installed with the less polite easy_install script found in setuptools. Please take note that easy_install has been deprecated for a while and is about to be dropped from setuptools. Proceed at your own risk!

The module can be used with both Python 2.x and 3.x, and has been tested with Python versions 2.6, 2.7, and 3.2 to 3.10. The first three numbers of the module version reflect the version of the underlying GNU readline library (major, minor and patch level), while any additional fourth number distinguishes different module updates based on the same readline library.

This module is usually unnecessary on Linux and other Unix systems with default readline support. An exception is if you have a Python distribution that does not include GNU readline due to licensing restrictions (such as ActiveState's ActivePython in the past). If you are using Windows, which also ships without GNU readline, you might want to consider using the pyreadline module instead, which is a readline replacement written in pure Python that interacts with the Windows clipboard.

The latest development version is available from the GitHub repository.