Loading and saving sessions and listing all variables#

EXAMPLES:

We reset the current session, then define a rational number 2/3, and verify that it is listed as a newly defined variable:

sage: reset()
sage: w = 2/3; w
2/3
sage: show_identifiers()
['w']

We next save this session. We are using a temporary directory to hold the session file but we do this for testing only. Please do not do this if you want to save your session permanently. Also note that the tempfile module weasels its way into the session:

::

sage: from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory sage: d = TemporaryDirectory() sage: save_session(os.path.join(d.name, ‘session’))

This saves a dictionary with w as one of the keys:

sage: z = load(os.path.join(d.name, 'session'))
sage: list(z)
['w', 'd']
sage: z['w']
2/3

Next we reset all variables in the session except for the temporary directory name. We verify that the session is reset, and then load it back.:

sage: sage.misc.reset.EXCLUDE.add('d')
sage: reset()
sage: show_identifiers()
['d']
sage: load_session(os.path.join(d.name, 'session'))

Indeed w is now defined again.:

sage: show_identifiers()
['d', 'w']
sage: w
2/3

Finally, we clean up the temporary directory:

sage: d.cleanup()

AUTHOR:

  • William Stein

sage.misc.session.init(state=None)#

Initialize some dictionaries needed by the show_identifiers(), save_session(), and load_session() functions.

INPUT:

  • state – a dictionary or None; if None the locals() of the caller is used.

EXAMPLES:

sage: reset()
sage: w = 10
sage: show_identifiers()
['w']

When we call init() below it reinitializes the internal table, so the w we just defined doesn’t count as a new identifier:

sage: sage.misc.session.init()
sage: show_identifiers()
[]
sage.misc.session.load_session(name='sage_session', verbose=False)#

Load a saved session.

This merges in all variables from a previously saved session. It does not clear out the variables in the current sessions, unless they are overwritten. You can thus merge multiple sessions, and don’t necessarily loose all your current work when you use this command.

Note

In the Sage notebook the session name is searched for both in the current working cell and the DATA directory.

EXAMPLES:

sage: a = 5
sage: f = lambda x: x^2

For testing, we use a temporary file, that will be removed as soon as Sage is left. Of course, for permanently saving your session, you should choose a permanent file.

sage: tmp_f = tmp_filename()
sage: save_session(tmp_f)
sage: del a; del f
sage: load_session(tmp_f)
sage: print(a)
5

Note that f does not come back, since it is a function, hence couldn’t be saved:

sage: print(f)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
NameError: name 'f' is not defined
sage.misc.session.save_session(name='sage_session', verbose=False)#

Save all variables that can be saved to the given filename. The variables will be saved to a dictionary, which can be loaded using load(name) or load_session().

Note

  1. Function and anything else that can’t be pickled is not saved. This failure is silent unless you set verbose=True.

  2. One can still make sessions that can’t be reloaded. E.g., define a class with:

    class Foo: pass
    

and make an instance with:

f = Foo()

Then save_session() followed by quit and load_session() fails. I doubt there is any good way to deal with this. Fortunately, one can simply re-evaluate the code to define Foo, and suddenly load_session() works fine.

INPUT:

  • name – string (default: ‘sage_session’) name of sobj to save the session to.

  • verbose – bool (default: False) if True, print info about why certain variables can’t be saved.

OUTPUT:

  • Creates a file and returns silently.

EXAMPLES:

For testing, we use a temporary file that will be removed as soon as Sage is left. Of course, for permanently saving your session, you should choose a permanent file.

sage: a = 5
sage: tmp_f = tmp_filename()
sage: save_session(tmp_f)
sage: del a
sage: load_session(tmp_f)
sage: print(a)
5

We illustrate what happens when one of the variables is a function:

sage: f = lambda x : x^2
sage: save_session(tmp_f)
sage: save_session(tmp_f, verbose=True)
...
Not saving f: f is a function or method

Something similar happens for cython-defined functions:

sage: g = cython_lambda('double x', 'x*x + 1.5')
sage: save_session(tmp_f, verbose=True)
...
Not saving g: g is a cython function or method

And the same for a lazy import:

sage: from sage.misc.lazy_import import LazyImport
sage: lazy_ZZ = LazyImport('sage.rings.integer_ring', 'ZZ')
sage: save_session(tmp_f, verbose=True)
...
Not saving lazy_ZZ: lazy_ZZ is a lazy import
sage.misc.session.show_identifiers(hidden=False)#

Returns a list of all variable names that have been defined during this session. By default, this returns only those identifiers that don’t start with an underscore.

INPUT:

  • hidden – bool (Default: False); If True, also return identifiers that start with an underscore.

OUTPUT:

A list of variable names

EXAMPLES:

We reset the state of all variables, and see that none are defined:

sage: reset()
sage: show_identifiers()
[]

We then define two variables, one which overwrites the default factor function; both are shown by show_identifiers():

sage: a = 10
sage: factor = 20
sage: show_identifiers()
['factor', 'a']

To get the actual value of a variable from the list, use the globals() function.:

sage: globals()['factor']
20

By default show_identifiers() only returns variables that don’t start with an underscore. There is an option hidden that allows one to list those as well:

sage: _hello = 10
sage: show_identifiers()
['factor', 'a']
sage: '_hello' in show_identifiers(hidden=True)
True

Many of the hidden variables are part of the IPython command history, at least in command line mode.:

sage: show_identifiers(hidden=True)        # random output
['__builtin__', '_ih', '_oh', '_dh', 'exit', 'quit', '_', '__', '___',
'_i', '_ii', '_iii', '_i1', 'factor', '_i2', '_2', '_i3', 'a', '_i4',
'_i5', '_5', '_i6', '_6', '_i7', '_hello', '_i8', '_8', '_i9', '_9',
'_i10']