gh-142474: Clarify -i interaction with PYTHONSTARTUP

[Joshua-Ward1]

Summary

Clarify the documentation for the -i command-line option so that it accurately reflects how it interacts with PYTHONSTARTUP.

The updated text distinguishes the two distinct behaviors of -i:

• When -i is used with a script or with -c, Python executes the script or command and then enters interactive mode. In these “execute then interact” cases, PYTHONSTARTUP is not read.

• When -i is used solely to force interactive mode even if stdin is not a terminal (for example with redirected standard input), the interpreter enters interactive mode directly and PYTHONSTARTUP is read as usual. The previous documentation implied it was never read when using -i.

Issue number

Closes gh-142474.

Type of change

• Documentation change only.

Testing

• Built documentation locally (make html) to confirm RST formatting.
• Verified that the updated wording matches the current behavior of -i and PYTHONSTARTUP.

Notes

• Per .github/CONTRIBUTING.rst, no NEWS entry is required for this small documentation clarification.

---

📚 Documentation preview 📚: https://cpython-previews--142502.org.readthedocs.build/

[python-cla-bot]

All commit authors signed the Contributor License Agreement.

[FFY00]

I would probably rewrite it as it is worded in python --help.

forces a prompt even if stdin does not appear to be a terminal

Saying "interactive" is not quite correct, "prompt" better describes it.

[FFY00]

@vstinner, would you mind giving this a look?

[vstinner]

I don't understand this paragraph (it looks wrong). For example, PYTHONSTARTUP=script.py ./python -i -c pass does execute script.py.