Strip `>>>` and `...` when pasting to REPL
Open
@johnslavik is already working on this.
Since Sep 16, 2026.
stdlib
topic-repl
type-feature
- Dominant language
- Python
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Description
Feature or enhancement
Proposal:
I often find myself wanting to paste some REPL code straight into the REPL, but both >>> and ... are preserved, and I have to manually cut those.
Let's consider stripping these automatically omitting the outputs, if the current prompt is empty.
E.g.
I copy this text:
>>> class A(object):
... def __new__(self):
... raise TypeError('i do not exist')
...
>>> class B(A):
... __new__ = object.__new__
... def __init__(self, x):
... self.x = x
...
>>> B(1)
In the REPL, I'm not inside a string or anything:
>>>
I paste the text:
>>> class A(object):
... def __new__(self):
... raise TypeError('i do not exist')
...
... class B(A):
... __new__ = object.__new__
... def __init__(self, x):
... self.x = x
...
... B(1)
Now I can edit it and run it.
This feature is a UX convenience and rough edges are expected:
>>>and...are conventional prompt strings that I think are fine to hardcode (practicality beats purity)- lines from stdout starting with
>>>or...will be detected as REPL lines, but I don't think it's a problem at all - there are slight semantic differences around
sys.displayhookandbuiltins._
Has this already been discussed elsewhere?
This is a minor feature, which does not need previous discussion elsewhere
Links to previous discussion of this feature:
No response
Linked PRs
- gh-157615
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