Autoreload of modules in IPython

For IPython version 3.1, 4.x, and 5.x

%load_ext autoreload
%autoreload 2

Then your module will be auto-reloaded by default. This is the doc:

File:       ...my/python/path/lib/python2.7/site-packages/IPython/extensions/autoreload.py

Docstring:
``autoreload`` is an IPython extension that reloads modules
automatically before executing the line of code typed.

This makes for example the following workflow possible:

.. sourcecode:: ipython

   In [1]: %load_ext autoreload

   In [2]: %autoreload 2

   In [3]: from foo import some_function

   In [4]: some_function()
   Out[4]: 42

   In [5]: # open foo.py in an editor and change some_function to return 43

   In [6]: some_function()
   Out[6]: 43

The module was reloaded without reloading it explicitly, and the
object imported with ``from foo import ...`` was also updated.

There is a trick: when you forget all of the above when using ipython, just try:

import autoreload
?autoreload
# Then you get all the above

As mentioned above, you need the autoreload extension. If you want it to automatically start every time you launch ipython, you need to add it to the ipython_config.py startup file:

It may be necessary to generate one first:

ipython profile create

Then include these lines in ~/.ipython/profile_default/ipython_config.py:

c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines = []
c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines.append('%load_ext autoreload')
c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines.append('%autoreload 2')

As well as an optional warning in case you need to take advantage of compiled Python code in .pyc files:

c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines.append('print "Warning: disable autoreload in ipython_config.py to improve performance." ')

edit: the above works with version 0.12.1 and 0.13

REVISED - please see Andrew_1510's answer below, as IPython has been updated.

...

It was a bit hard figure out how to get there from a dusty bug report, but:

It ships with IPython now!

import ipy_autoreload
%autoreload 2
%aimport your_mod

# %autoreload? for help

... then every time you call your_mod.dwim(), it'll pick up the latest version.