## 2.1.2 Interactive Mode

When commands are read from a tty, the interpreter is said to be in interactive mode. In this mode it prompts for the next command with the primary prompt, usually three greater-than signs (`>>>`); for continuation lines it prompts with the secondary prompt, by default three dots (`...`).

The interpreter prints a welcome message stating its version number and a copyright notice before printing the first prompt, e.g.:

    python
    Python 1.5b1 (#1, Dec  3 1997, 00:02:06)  [GCC 2.7.2.2] on sunos5
    Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam
    >>>