Prettifies Python exception output to make it legible. Install it with

python -m pip install pretty-errors

Use it simply by importing it:

import pretty_errors

Note you need to be running in a terminal capable of colour output in order to get colour output: in Windows this means powershell, cmder, etc.

If you want to configure the output then use pretty_errors.configure(). For example:

import pretty_errors
pretty_errors.configure(
    seperator_character = '*',
    filename_display = pretty_errors.FILENAME_EXTENDED,
    line_number_first = True,
    display_link = True,
    lines_before = 2,
    lines_after = 1,
    line_prefix_color = '\033[1;33m',
    line_prefix = '> ',
    code_prefix = '  ',
    truncate_code = True,
    display_locals = True
)
pretty_errors.blacklist('c:/python')

If you want pretty-errors to be run whenever you run a python program, without having to import it manually, then you can add it to your sitecustomize.py:

1. Run python -m site and look for the USER_SITE entry.
2. In that folder create file sitecustomize.py, if it does not exist.
3. Add import pretty_errors to that file, plus whatever config calls you want.

You may use the functions whitelist(path) and blacklist(path) to add paths which will be necessary (whitelist) or excluded (blacklist). The top frame of the stack is never excluded.

• always_display_bottom
  When enabled (which is the default) the bottom frame of the stack trace will always be displayed.

• code_prefix
  String displayed before each line of context code.

• display_link
  When enabled a link is written below the error location, which VSCode will allow you to click on.

• display_locals
  When enabled, local variables appearing in the top stack frame code will be displayed with their values.

• display_timestamp
  When enabled a timestamp is written in the traceback header.

• display_trace_locals
  When enabled, local variables appearing in other stack frame code will be displayed with their values.

• exception_above
  When enabled the exception is displayed above the stack trace.

• exception_below
  When enabled the exception is displayed below the stack trace.

• filename_display
  How the filename is displayed: may be pretty_errors.FILENAME_COMPACT, pretty_errors.FILENAME_EXTENDED, or pretty_errors.FILENAME_FULL

• full_line_newline
  Insert a hard newline even if the line is full. If line_length is the same as your console width and this is enabled then you will see double newlines where unwanted, so usually you would only set this if they are different.

• infix
  Text string which is displayed between each frame of the stack.

• line_length
  Output will be wrapped at this point. If set to 0 (which is the default) it will automatically match your console width.

• line_number_first
  When enabled the line number will be displayed first, rather than the filename.

• line_prefix
  String displayed before the line which caused the exception.

• lines_after, lines_before
  How many lines of code to display for the top frame, before and after the line the exception occurred on.

• postfix
  Text string which is displayed at the bottom of the exception report.

• prefix
  Text string which is displayed at the top of the report, just below the header.

• reset_stdout
  When enabled the reset escape sequence will be written to stdout as well as stderr; turn this on if your console is being left with the wrong color.

• seperator_character
  Character used to create the header line. Hyphen is used by default.

• stack_depth
  The maximum number of entries from the stack trace to display. When 0 will display the entire stack, which is the default.

• top_first
  When enabled the stack trace will be reversed, displaying the top of the stack first.

• trace_lines_after, trace_lines_before
  How many lines of code to display for each other frame in the stack trace, before and after the line the exception occurred on.

• truncate_code
  When enabled each line of code will be truncated to fit the line length.

• truncate_locals
  When enabled the values of displayed local variables will be truncated to fit the line length.

• code_prefix_color
  Escape sequence to set color of prefix for context code lines.

• exception_arg_color
  Escape sequence to set exception arguments color.

• exception_color
  Escape sequence to set exception color.

• filename_color
  Escape sequence to set filename color.

• function_color
  Escape sequence to set function color.

• header_color
  Escape sequence to set header color.

• link_color
  Escape sequence to set link color.

• line_number_color
  Escape sequence to set line number color.

• line_color
  Escape sequence to set the color of the line of code which caused the exception.

• line_prefix_color
  Escape sequence to set color of prefix for line of code which caused the exception.

• code_color
  Escape sequence to set the color of other displayed lines of code.

• local_len_color
  Escape sequence to set the color of local value length when local is truncated.

• local_name_color
  Escape sequence to set the color of local variable names.

• local_value_color
  Escape sequence to set the color of local variable values.

• timestamp_color
  Escape sequence to set timestamp color.