USAGE: idle [-deins] [-t title] [file]*
idle [-dns] [-t title] (-c cmd | -r file) [arg]* idle [-dns] [-t title] - [arg]*
-h print this help message and exit
-n run IDLE without a subprocess (DEPRECATED, see Help/IDLE Help for details)

The following options will override the IDLE 'settings' configuration:

-e open an edit window
-i open a shell window

The following options imply -i and will open a shell:

-c cmd run the command in a shell, or
-r file run script from file
-d enable the debugger
-s run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP before anything else
-t title set title of shell window

A default edit window will be bypassed when -c, -r, or - are used.

[arg]* are passed to the command (-c) or script (-r) in sys.argv[1:].

Examples:

idle
Open an edit window or shell depending on IDLE's configuration.
idle foo.py foobar.py
Edit the files, also open a shell if configured to start with shell.
idle -est "Baz" foo.py
Run $IDLESTARTUP or $PYTHONSTARTUP, edit foo.py, and open a shell window with the title "Baz".
idle -c "import sys; print(sys.argv)" "foo"
Open a shell window and run the command, passing "-c" in sys.argv[0] and "foo" in sys.argv[1].
idle -d -s -r foo.py "Hello World"
Open a shell window, run a startup script, enable the debugger, and run foo.py, passing "foo.py" in sys.argv[0] and "Hello World" in sys.argv[1].
echo "import sys; print(sys.argv)" | idle - "foobar"
Open a shell window, run the script piped in, passing '' in sys.argv[0] and "foobar" in sys.argv[1].

Additional common options