How to turn on line numbers in IDLE?

python python-idle
User picture User · Sep 14, 2013 · Viewed 169.8k times · Source

In the main shell of IDLE, errors always return a line number but the development environment doesn't even have line numbers. Is there anyway to turn on line numbers?

Answer

ChrisProsser picture ChrisProsser · Sep 14, 2013

Version 3.8 or newer:

To show line numbers in the current window, go to Options and click Show Line Numbers.

To show them automatically, go to Options > Configure IDLE > General and check the Show line numbers in new windows box.

Version 3.7 or older:

Unfortunately there is not an option to display line numbers in IDLE although there is an enhancement request open for this.

However, there are a couple of ways to work around this:

  1. Under the edit menu there is a go to line option (there is a default shortcut of Alt+G for this).

  2. There is a display at the bottom right which tells you your current line number / position on the line:

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