Can a python script access variables defined in an interactive session?

Question

So, for instance, I'm in an ipython session, and I have a variable,

var = [3,5,6]

defined in the ipython session, that I want to do something with by running a script, e.g.:

# my_script
plot(var)

so I want typing

%run my_script.py

from the interactive session to plot var, as if I had typed:

plot(var)

within the interactive session.

Is this possible? How?

If you define functions in your script and want to call them on variables in your session, you can do import scriptname (assuming scriptname.py) and then call scriptname.plot(var), or similar. — Tom Hunt
– Tom Hunt, Commented Feb 19, 2015 at 21:07
That's not really what I'm after. I just want to make my script behave exactly as if it's contents were copy/pasted into the session. — capybaralet
– capybaralet, Commented Feb 19, 2015 at 22:11

tzaman · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-19 22:25:54Z

8

Yes, from the run command documentation: if you use %run -i it will run the script in your existing interactive session's namespace instead of a clean one, so it will have access to defined variables.

If you want similar in the standard python shell, you can run it with execfile: execfile('my_script.py')

edited Feb 19, 2015 at 22:25

answered Feb 19, 2015 at 20:57

tzaman

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capybaralet Over a year ago

Is something similar possible in python (no ipython)?

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