Why does Neovim not allow me to run an IPython embed when I run it in a shell?

Question

In my init.vim for Neovim, I have the same line as in my .vimrc in Vim, which, when pressing F12, runs the file currently in the buffer using the python3 interpreter:

autocmd FileType python nnoremap <silent> <F12> :!clear;python3 %<CR>

Now I'm trying to run this tiny "test.py" script by pressing F12 in normal mode:

import IPython
IPython.embed()

Works fine in Vim:

But doesn't work in neovim despite exactly the same line in my ~/config/nvim/init.vim:

So it does run IPython, but then immediately (red arrow) inexplicably asks if I want to exit. It's also got a bunch of weird escape sequences inserted (yellow arrow) which I suspect are the reason why it wants to exit, and which don't appear with normal vim.

I don't really like the internal neovim terminal, so how can I get neovim to behave exactly like vim in this case?

filbranden · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-26 21:59:15Z

3

This is a known limitation of NeoVim, :! is non-interactive and it will not allocate a pseudo-terminal which is typically required for full-screen applications such as IPython to run properly.

See issue #1496 for details.

An alternative is to use NeoVim's (or Vim 8's) support for terminal, with the :terminal command, or with a function such aa termopen() (in NeoVim) or term_start() (in Vim 8) to run full-screen applications such as IPython.

In your case, something as simple as :term python3 %, running the command in a terminal in a split, might be an adequate replacement.

You might also find the vim-bang-terminal plug-in interesting. It replaces a :! command with a similar command invocation that runs inside a Vim/NeoVim terminal instead.

edited Apr 26, 2020 at 21:59

answered Apr 26, 2020 at 21:23

filbranden

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2 Comments

Thomas Browne Over a year ago

Actually I found that running :term python3 % works fine now for my purposes so it's not as bad as I thought.

filbranden Over a year ago

@ThomasBrowne Thanks for the feedback! I incorporated that direct suggestion into the answer. Indeed, while not exactly the same as the :! command, it's a great direct replacement for it.

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