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Debugging in Python#

Setting breakpoint#

import pdb; pdb.set_trace() and import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace() are the old ways to set a breakpoint. The new way is to use breakpoint() directly since Python 3.7+.

Setting default debugger#

Default pdb doesn't support autocomplete, and it's not as powerful as ipdb. To set ipdb by default:

export PYTHONBREAKPOINT='IPython.terminal.debugger.set_trace'

Do not use: export PYTHONBREAKPOINT='IPython.core.debugger.set_trace', it opens a ipdb shell, but does not have autocomplete.

Setting debugger in Pytest#

Conflict with pytest-cov: If you use pytest-cov, you must use pytest --no-cov if you want to set breakpoints in your tests. Otherwise, pytest will just skip the breakpoints. This is because pytest-cov uses sys.settrace() to track code coverage, which is in conflict with breakpoints. There's no final solution for this issue, a workaround is to whether use coverage or whether use debug. In an IDE session (VSCode for e.g.), we can use make test to launch the test and generate coverage report with pytest --cov, and then use VScode's built-in debugger to set breakpoints and launch the tests in debug mode. To achieve this:

  1. pip install pytest-cov (must be installed because next VSCode settings depend on it).

  2. Add the following to your VSCode user settings:

    VSCode settings.json
      "python.testing.pytestArgs": [
    "tests",
    "--color=yes",
    // https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/issues/693#issuecomment-1356832568
    // must install pytest-cov as --no-cov is its param
    // and if --no-cov is not specify, breakpoint doesn't work in pytest debug
    // from VSCode UI to enable pytest debug from command line, need to add
    // --no-cov to the Pytest args manually.
    "--no-cov"
  ],

Use IPython as debugger prompt: Python unittest.

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