Set default IPython profile with environment variable

[lewisacidic]

It would be nice to set the IPython profile with an environment variable, i.e. something like

$ IPYTHON_PROFILE=testing ipython
Python 3.7.4 (default, Aug 13 2019, 20:35:49) 
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 7.7.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

IPython profile: testing
In [1]:

My particular use case is to use the conda {de,}activate.d/ hooks to change profiles based on which conda environment is active. At the moment, an easy hack is to alias ipython to ipython --profile={profile} and then unalias in deactivate, but environment variables would be cleaner.

[farisachugthai]

Have you tried setting $IPYTHONDIR?

https://ipython.readthedocs.io/en/stable/config/intro.html?highlight=ipythondir#envvar-IPYTHONDIR

[lewisacidic]

$IPYTHONDIR allows you to redefine $HOME/.ipython (where the profiles are located) to somewhere else, rather than which profile is selected.

You could have a hack where each profile sits in its own .ipython directory, but this is worse than the alias trick.

[voronind]

👍
It would be nice to have this feature. Many applications let use IPython instead of standard shell, but we cannot specify profile when it invokes.

[sfalmo]

Sorry to bump this issue, but for anyone who has a similar problem, I think there is a clean solution without an additional environment variable.

IPython automatically loads the default profile in the $IPYTHONDIR path if it exists. So for a certain environment env, one could create a directory, e.g. $HOME/.ipython/env , and initialize the default profile in there via ipython profile create default --ipython-dir $HOME/.ipython/env. There should now be $HOME/.ipython/env/profile_default, where you can customize your IPython settings.

On activation of the environment, you just have to set the environment variable $IPYTHONDIR to $HOME/.ipython/env (this can be automated in conda) and every IPython process started from now on will automatically select the default profile therein.