Important

This documentation covers IPython versions 6.0 and higher. Beginning with version 6.0, IPython stopped supporting compatibility with Python versions lower than 3.3 including all versions of Python 2.7.

If you are looking for an IPython version compatible with Python 2.7, please use the IPython 5.x LTS release and refer to its documentation (LTS is the long term support release).

# Introduction to IPython configuration

## Setting configurable options

Many of IPython’s classes have configurable attributes (see IPython options for the list). These can be configured in several ways.

### Python config files

To create the blank config files, run:

    ipython profile create [profilename]

If you leave out the profile name, the files will be created for the `default` profile (see Profiles). These will typically be located in `~/.ipython/profile_default/`, and will be named `ipython_config.py`, `ipython_notebook_config.py`, etc. The settings in `ipython_config.py` apply to all IPython commands.

The files typically start by getting the root config object:

    c = get_config()

You can then configure class attributes like this:

    c.InteractiveShell.automagic = False

Be careful with spelling–incorrect names will simply be ignored, with no error.

To add to a collection which may have already been defined elsewhere, you can use methods like those found on lists, dicts and sets: append, extend, `prepend()` (like extend, but at the front), add and update (which works both for dicts and sets):

    c.InteractiveShellApp.extensions.append('Cython')

New in version 2.0: list, dict and set methods for config values

#### Example config file

    # sample ipython_config.py
    c = get_config()

    c.TerminalIPythonApp.display_banner = True
    c.InteractiveShellApp.log_level = 20
    c.InteractiveShellApp.extensions = [
        'myextension'
    ]
    c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines = [
        'import numpy',
        'import scipy'
    ]
    c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_files = [
        'mycode.py',
        'fancy.ipy'
    ]
    c.InteractiveShell.colors = 'LightBG'
    c.InteractiveShell.confirm_exit = False
    c.InteractiveShell.editor = 'nano'
    c.InteractiveShell.xmode = 'Context'

    c.PrefilterManager.multi_line_specials = True

    c.AliasManager.user_aliases = [
     ('la', 'ls -al')
    ]

### Command line arguments

Every configurable value can be set from the command line, using this syntax:

    ipython --ClassName.attribute=value

Many frequently used options have short aliases and flags, such as `--matplotlib` (to integrate with a matplotlib GUI event loop) or `--pdb` (automatic post-mortem debugging of exceptions).

To see all of these abbreviated options, run:

    ipython --help
    ipython notebook --help
    # etc.

Options specified at the command line, in either format, override options set in a configuration file.

### The config magic

You can also modify config from inside IPython, using a magic command:

    %config IPCompleter.greedy = True

At present, this only affects the current session - changes you make to config are not saved anywhere. Also, some options are only read when IPython starts, so they can’t be changed like this.

### Running IPython from Python

If you are using Embedding IPython to start IPython from a normal python file, you can set configuration options the same way as in a config file by creating a traitlets config object and passing it to start_ipython like in the example below.

    """Quick snippet explaining how to set config options when using start_ipython."""

    # First create a config object from the traitlets library
    from traitlets.config import Config
    c = Config()

    # Now we can set options as we would in a config file:
    #   c.Class.config_value = value
    # For example, we can set the exec_lines option of the InteractiveShellApp
    # class to run some code when the IPython REPL starts
    c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines = [
        'print("\\nimporting some things\\n")',
        'import math',
        "math"
    ]
    c.InteractiveShell.colors = 'LightBG'
    c.InteractiveShell.confirm_exit = False
    c.TerminalIPythonApp.display_banner = False

    # Now we start ipython with our configuration
    import IPython
    IPython.start_ipython(config=c)

## Profiles

IPython can use multiple profiles, with separate configuration and history. By default, if you don’t specify a profile, IPython always runs in the `default` profile. To use a new profile:

    ipython profile create foo   # create the profile foo
    ipython --profile=foo        # start IPython using the new profile

Profiles are typically stored in The IPython directory, but you can also keep a profile in the current working directory, for example to distribute it with a project. To find a profile directory on the filesystem:

    ipython locate profile foo

## The IPython directory

IPython stores its files—config, command history and extensions—in the directory `~/.ipython/` by default.

`IPYTHONDIR`

  If set, this environment variable should be the path to a directory, which IPython will use for user data. IPython will create it if it does not exist.

`--ipython-dir``=<path>`

  This command line option can also be used to override the default IPython directory.

To see where IPython is looking for the IPython directory, use the command `ipython locate`, or the Python function `IPython.paths.get_ipython_dir()`.