How does IPython modify the sys.path?

[Daniel Mark]

Hello all:

I installed IPython on my XP machine today and find that my sys.path
has been changed
as follows:

>import sys
print sys.path

['',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\scripts',
'C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\python24.zip',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\Daniel\\Desktop',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\DLLs',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\plat-win',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\lib-tk',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\PIL',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\win32',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\win32\\lib',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\Pythonwin',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\wx-2.6-msw-ansi',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\reportlab_2_0',
'C:\\Program Files\\Python24\\lib\\site-packages\\IPython/Extensions',
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\Daniel\\_ipython']
Obviously, IPython changed my sys.path and added an entry in the end as
"C:\\Documents and Settings\\Daniel\\_ipython'"
However, I cannot figure out how IPython can change my sys.path.

I refer to all the following sources
1http://www.python.org/doc/current/inst/search-path.html Installing
Python Modules
2KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Python\PythonCore\2.4\ PythonPath
3My machine has no environment variable "PYTHONPATH"
4There is no *.pth file under
C:\Program Files\Python24\Lib\site-packages
that contains that information (i.e. C:\\Documents and
Settings\\Daniel\\_ipython)
So how dos IPython modify my sys.path without trace???

Thank you very much!
-Daniel

[Robert Kern]

Daniel Mark wrote:

So how dos IPython modify my sys.path without trace???

sys.path.append()

Specifically, line 321 of ipmaker.py

--
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco

[Fredrik Lundh]

Daniel Mark wrote:

However, I cannot figure out how IPython can change my sys.path.

I refer to all the following sources
1http://www.python.org/doc/current/inst/search-path.html Installing
Python Modules
2KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Python\PythonCore\2.4\ PythonPath
3My machine has no environment variable "PYTHONPATH"
4There is no *.pth file under
C:\Program Files\Python24\Lib\site-packages
that contains that information (i.e. C:\\Documents and
Settings\\Daniel\\_ipython)

did you look up sys.path in the documentation ?

A list of strings that specifies the search path for modules.
Initialized from the environment variable PYTHONPATH, plus an
installation-dependent default. /.../

A program is free to modify this list for its own purposes.

http://pyref.infogami.com/sys.path

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