https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/83edae33a5591c52fa45df38da2616af470f290a
commit: 83edae33a5591c52fa45df38da2616af470f290a
branch: main
author: Gregory P. Smith <[email protected]>
committer: gpshead <[email protected]>
date: 2026-03-15T15:22:57-07:00
summary:
gh-145990: sort `--help-env` sections by environment variable name (GH-145997)
* sort --help-env alphabetically by name.
* add a sorting regression test in test_help_env.
files:
A
Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-15-21-45-35.gh-issue-145990.tmXwRB.rst
M Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
M Python/initconfig.c
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py b/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
index c1dc59677896a5..5f035c35367d64 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
@@ -60,6 +60,14 @@ def test_help(self):
def test_help_env(self):
out = self.verify_valid_flag('--help-env')
self.assertIn(b'PYTHONHOME', out)
+ # Env vars in each section should be sorted alphabetically
+ # (ignoring underscores so PYTHON_FOO and PYTHONFOO intermix naturally)
+ sort_key = lambda name: name.replace(b'_', b'').lower()
+ sections = out.split(b'These variables have equivalent')
+ for section in sections:
+ envvars = re.findall(rb'^(PYTHON\w+)', section, re.MULTILINE)
+ self.assertEqual(envvars, sorted(envvars, key=sort_key),
+ "env vars should be sorted alphabetically")
@support.cpython_only
def test_help_xoptions(self):
diff --git
a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-15-21-45-35.gh-issue-145990.tmXwRB.rst
b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-15-21-45-35.gh-issue-145990.tmXwRB.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..21b9a524d005f9
--- /dev/null
+++
b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-15-21-45-35.gh-issue-145990.tmXwRB.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+``python --help-env`` sections are now sorted by environment variable name.
diff --git a/Python/initconfig.c b/Python/initconfig.c
index eff37fc32b4947..caf42f5247c2f2 100644
--- a/Python/initconfig.c
+++ b/Python/initconfig.c
@@ -371,34 +371,19 @@ The following implementation-specific options are
available:\n\
/* Envvars that don't have equivalent command-line options are listed first */
static const char usage_envvars[] =
"Environment variables that change behavior:\n"
-"PYTHONSTARTUP : file executed on interactive startup (no default)\n"
-"PYTHONPATH : '%lc'-separated list of directories prefixed to the\n"
-" default module search path. The result is sys.path.\n"
-"PYTHONHOME : alternate <prefix> directory (or
<prefix>%lc<exec_prefix>).\n"
-" The default module search path uses %s.\n"
-"PYTHONPLATLIBDIR: override sys.platlibdir\n"
+"PYTHONASYNCIODEBUG: enable asyncio debug mode\n"
+"PYTHON_BASIC_REPL: use the traditional parser-based REPL\n"
+"PYTHONBREAKPOINT: if this variable is set to 0, it disables the default\n"
+" debugger. It can be set to the callable of your debugger
of\n"
+" choice.\n"
"PYTHONCASEOK : ignore case in 'import' statements (Windows)\n"
-"PYTHONIOENCODING: encoding[:errors] used for stdin/stdout/stderr\n"
-"PYTHONHASHSEED : if this variable is set to 'random', a random value is
used\n"
-" to seed the hashes of str and bytes objects. It can also
be\n"
-" set to an integer in the range [0,4294967295] to get hash\n"
-" values with a predictable seed.\n"
-"PYTHONMALLOC : set the Python memory allocators and/or install debug
hooks\n"
-" on Python memory allocators. Use PYTHONMALLOC=debug to\n"
-" install debug hooks.\n"
-"PYTHONMALLOCSTATS: print memory allocator statistics\n"
"PYTHONCOERCECLOCALE: if this variable is set to 0, it disables the locale\n"
" coercion behavior. Use PYTHONCOERCECLOCALE=warn to
request\n"
" display of locale coercion and locale compatibility
warnings\n"
" on stderr.\n"
-"PYTHONBREAKPOINT: if this variable is set to 0, it disables the default\n"
-" debugger. It can be set to the callable of your debugger
of\n"
-" choice.\n"
"PYTHON_COLORS : if this variable is set to 1, the interpreter will
colorize\n"
" various kinds of output. Setting it to 0 deactivates\n"
" this behavior.\n"
-"PYTHON_HISTORY : the location of a .python_history file.\n"
-"PYTHONASYNCIODEBUG: enable asyncio debug mode\n"
#ifdef Py_TRACE_REFS
"PYTHONDUMPREFS : dump objects and reference counts still alive after
shutdown\n"
"PYTHONDUMPREFSFILE: dump objects and reference counts to the specified file\n"
@@ -406,14 +391,31 @@ static const char usage_envvars[] =
#ifdef __APPLE__
"PYTHONEXECUTABLE: set sys.argv[0] to this value (macOS only)\n"
#endif
+"PYTHONHASHSEED : if this variable is set to 'random', a random value is
used\n"
+" to seed the hashes of str and bytes objects. It can also
be\n"
+" set to an integer in the range [0,4294967295] to get hash\n"
+" values with a predictable seed.\n"
+"PYTHON_HISTORY : the location of a .python_history file.\n"
+"PYTHONHOME : alternate <prefix> directory (or
<prefix>%lc<exec_prefix>).\n"
+" The default module search path uses %s.\n"
+"PYTHONIOENCODING: encoding[:errors] used for stdin/stdout/stderr\n"
#ifdef MS_WINDOWS
"PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSFSENCODING: use legacy \"mbcs\" encoding for file system\n"
"PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO: use legacy Windows stdio\n"
#endif
+"PYTHONMALLOC : set the Python memory allocators and/or install debug
hooks\n"
+" on Python memory allocators. Use PYTHONMALLOC=debug to\n"
+" install debug hooks.\n"
+"PYTHONMALLOCSTATS: print memory allocator statistics\n"
+"PYTHONPATH : '%lc'-separated list of directories prefixed to the\n"
+" default module search path. The result is sys.path.\n"
+"PYTHONPLATLIBDIR: override sys.platlibdir\n"
+"PYTHONSTARTUP : file executed on interactive startup (no default)\n"
"PYTHONUSERBASE : defines the user base directory (site.USER_BASE)\n"
-"PYTHON_BASIC_REPL: use the traditional parser-based REPL\n"
"\n"
"These variables have equivalent command-line options (see --help for
details):\n"
+"PYTHON_CONTEXT_AWARE_WARNINGS: if true (1), enable thread-safe warnings\n"
+" module behaviour (-X context_aware_warnings)\n"
"PYTHON_CPU_COUNT: override the return value of os.cpu_count() (-X
cpu_count)\n"
"PYTHONDEBUG : enable parser debug mode (-d)\n"
"PYTHONDEVMODE : enable Python Development Mode (-X dev)\n"
@@ -428,31 +430,29 @@ static const char usage_envvars[] =
"PYTHONINSPECT : inspect interactively after running script (-i)\n"
"PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS: limit the size of int<->str conversions;\n"
" 0 disables the limit (-X int_max_str_digits=N)\n"
+"PYTHON_LAZY_IMPORTS: control global lazy imports (-X lazy_imports)\n"
"PYTHONNODEBUGRANGES: don't include extra location information in code
objects\n"
" (-X no_debug_ranges)\n"
"PYTHONNOUSERSITE: disable user site directory (-s)\n"
"PYTHONOPTIMIZE : enable level 1 optimizations (-O)\n"
-"PYTHONPERFSUPPORT: support the Linux \"perf\" profiler (-X perf)\n"
"PYTHON_PERF_JIT_SUPPORT: enable Linux \"perf\" profiler support with JIT\n"
" (-X perf_jit)\n"
+"PYTHONPERFSUPPORT: support the Linux \"perf\" profiler (-X perf)\n"
#ifdef Py_DEBUG
"PYTHON_PRESITE: import this module before site (-X presite)\n"
#endif
"PYTHONPROFILEIMPORTTIME: show how long each import takes (-X importtime)\n"
-"PYTHON_LAZY_IMPORTS: control global lazy imports (-X lazy_imports)\n"
"PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX: root directory for bytecode cache (pyc) files\n"
" (-X pycache_prefix)\n"
"PYTHONSAFEPATH : don't prepend a potentially unsafe path to sys.path.\n"
#ifdef Py_STATS
"PYTHONSTATS : turns on statistics gathering (-X pystats)\n"
#endif
+"PYTHON_THREAD_INHERIT_CONTEXT: if true (1), threads inherit context vars\n"
+" (-X thread_inherit_context)\n"
#ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
"PYTHON_TLBC : when set to 0, disables thread-local bytecode (-X tlbc)\n"
#endif
-"PYTHON_THREAD_INHERIT_CONTEXT: if true (1), threads inherit context vars\n"
-" (-X thread_inherit_context)\n"
-"PYTHON_CONTEXT_AWARE_WARNINGS: if true (1), enable thread-safe warnings
module\n"
-" behaviour (-X context_aware_warnings)\n"
"PYTHONTRACEMALLOC: trace Python memory allocations (-X tracemalloc)\n"
"PYTHONUNBUFFERED: disable stdout/stderr buffering (-u)\n"
"PYTHONUTF8 : control the UTF-8 mode (-X utf8)\n"
@@ -2947,7 +2947,7 @@ config_usage(int error, const wchar_t* program)
static void
config_envvars_usage(void)
{
- printf(usage_envvars, (wint_t)DELIM, (wint_t)DELIM, PYTHONHOMEHELP);
+ printf(usage_envvars, (wint_t)DELIM, PYTHONHOMEHELP, (wint_t)DELIM);
}
static void
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