enable the debugger -s run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP before anything else -t title set title of shell window A default edit window will be bypassed when -c, -r, or - are used. [arg]* are passed to the command (-c) or script (-r) in sys.argv[1:]. Examples: idle Open an edit window or shell depending on IDLE's configuration. idle foo.py foobar.py Edit the files, also open a shell if configured to start with shell. idle -est "Baz" foo.py Run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP, edit foo.py, and open a shell window with the title "Baz". idle -c "import sys; print(sys.argv)" "foo" Open a shell window and run the command, passing "-c" in sys.argv[0] and "foo" in sys.argv[1]. idle -d -s -r foo.py "Hello World" Open a shell window, run a startup script, enable the debugger, and run foo.py, passing "foo.py" in sys.argv[0] and "Hello World" in sys.argv[1]. echo "import sys; print(sys.argv)" | idle - "foobar" Open a shell window, run the script piped in, passing '' in sys.argv[0] and "foobar" in sys.argv[1]. c