pydoc

Generate Python documentation in HTML or text for interactive use.

In the Python interpreter, do “from pydoc import help” to provide online help. Calling help(thing) on a Python object documents the object.

Or, at the shell command line outside of Python:

Run “pydoc <name>” to show documentation on something. <name> may be the name of a function, module, package, or a dotted reference to a class or function within a module or module in a package. If the argument contains a path segment delimiter (e.g. slash on Unix, backslash on Windows) it is treated as the path to a Python source file.

Run “pydoc -k <keyword>” to search for a keyword in the synopsis lines of all available modules.

Run “pydoc -p <port>” to start an HTTP server on a given port on the local machine to generate documentation web pages. Port number 0 can be used to get an arbitrary unused port.

For platforms without a command line, “pydoc -g” starts the HTTP server and also pops up a little window for controlling it.

Run “pydoc -w <name>” to write out the HTML documentation for a module to a file named “<name>.html”.

Module docs for core modules are assumed to be in

This can be overridden by setting the PYTHONDOCS environment variable to a different URL or to a local directory containing the Library Reference Manual pages.

Functions

allmethods(cl)
apropos(key) Print all the one-line module summaries that contain a substring.
classify_class_attrs(object) Wrap inspect.classify_class_attrs, with fixup for data descriptors.
classname(object, modname) Get a class name and qualify it with a module name if necessary.
cli() Command-line interface (looks at sys.argv to decide what to do).
cram(text, maxlen) Omit part of a string if needed to make it fit in a maximum length.
describe(thing) Produce a short description of the given thing.
doc(thing[, title, forceload]) Display text documentation, given an object or a path to an object.
expandtabs((s [,tabsize]) -> string) Return a copy of the string s with all tab characters replaced by the appropriate number of spaces, depending on the current column, and the tabsize (default 8).
extract_tb(tb[, limit]) Return list of up to limit pre-processed entries from traceback.
find((s, sub [,start [,end]]) -> in) Return the lowest index in s where substring sub is found, such that sub is contained within s[start,end].
getdoc(object) Get the doc string or comments for an object.
getpager() Decide what method to use for paging through text.
gui() Graphical interface (starts web server and pops up a control window).
importfile(path) Import a Python source file or compiled file given its path.
isdata(object) Check if an object is of a type that probably means it’s data.
ispackage(path) Guess whether a path refers to a package directory.
ispath(x)
join((list [,sep]) -> string) Return a string composed of the words in list, with intervening occurrences of sep.
locate(path[, forceload]) Locate an object by name or dotted path, importing as necessary.
lower((s) -> string) Return a copy of the string s converted to lowercase.
pager(text) The first time this is called, determine what kind of pager to use.
pathdirs() Convert sys.path into a list of absolute, existing, unique paths.
pipepager(text, cmd) Page through text by feeding it to another program.
plain(text) Remove boldface formatting from text.
plainpager(text) Simply print unformatted text.
render_doc(thing[, title, forceload]) Render text documentation, given an object or a path to an object.
replace(text, *pairs) Do a series of global replacements on a string.
resolve(thing[, forceload]) Given an object or a path to an object, get the object and its name.
rfind((s, sub [,start [,end]]) -> int) Return the highest index in s where substring sub is found, such that sub is contained within s[start,end].
rstrip((s [,chars]) -> string) Return a copy of the string s with trailing whitespace removed.
safeimport(path[, forceload, cache]) Import a module; handle errors; return None if the module isn’t found.
serve(port[, callback, completer])
source_synopsis(file)
split((s [,sep [,maxsplit]]) -> list of strings) Return a list of the words in the string s, using sep as the delimiter string.
splitdoc(doc) Split a doc string into a synopsis line (if any) and the rest.
strip((s [,chars]) -> string) Return a copy of the string s with leading and trailing whitespace removed.
stripid(text) Remove the hexadecimal id from a Python object representation.
synopsis(filename[, cache]) Get the one-line summary out of a module file.
tempfilepager(text, cmd) Page through text by invoking a program on a temporary file.
ttypager(text) Page through text on a text terminal.
visiblename(name[, all, obj]) Decide whether to show documentation on a variable.
writedoc(thing[, forceload]) Write HTML documentation to a file in the current directory.
writedocs(dir[, pkgpath, done]) Write out HTML documentation for all modules in a directory tree.

Classes

Doc
HTMLDoc Formatter class for HTML documentation.
HTMLRepr() Class for safely making an HTML representation of a Python object.
Helper([input, output])
ModuleScanner An interruptible scanner that searches module synopses.
Repr()
Scanner(roots, children, descendp) A generic tree iterator.
TextDoc Formatter class for text documentation.
TextRepr() Class for safely making a text representation of a Python object.
deque deque([iterable[, maxlen]]) –> deque object

Exceptions

ErrorDuringImport(filename, exc_info) Errors that occurred while trying to import something to document it.