[FIXED] Why does IPython display `super` objects differently from the regular Python interactive interpreter?

Issue

When I create an unbound super object, IPython displays it as <super: None, None>. Yet both str(...) and repr(...), as well as the interactive ordinary Python interpreter, display it as <super: <class 'object'>, NULL>, which is more informative. I know that IPythons displayhook is different from the default Python displayhook, but does this difference explain the different representations? Where does IPython get its display for builtin objects from?

In ipython3:

In [1]: super(object)
Out[1]: <super: None, None>

In [2]: str(_1), repr(_1)
Out[2]: ("<super: <class 'object'>, NULL>", "<super: <class 'object'>, NULL>")

In python3.3:

>>> super(object)
<super: <class 'object'>, NULL>
>>> from IPython.core import displayhook, interactiveshell
>>> print(displayhook.DisplayHook(interactiveshell.InteractiveShell()).compute_format_data(super(object)))
WARNING: IPython History requires SQLite, your history will not be saved
({'text/plain': '<super: None, None>'}, {})

What's going on?

Solution

Well spotted, thanks. This was a bug in IPython, and I've just made this pull request to fix it.

IPython calculates representations of a number of builtin types in IPython.lib.pretty. This is useful for things like compiled regex patterns, where the default repr is just <_sre.SRE_Pattern object at 0x7f....

Answered By - Thomas K