mirror of
https://github.com/python/cpython.git
synced 2025-11-03 23:21:29 +00:00
da10d3b7a5
svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r67952 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-27 11:42:40 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4752: actually use custom handler in example. ........ r67957 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-27 12:49:19 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4754: improve winsound documentation. ........ r67958 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-27 13:02:59 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4682: 'b' is actually unsigned char. ........ r67960 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-27 13:04:44 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4695: fix backslashery. ........ r67961 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-27 13:06:04 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines Use :samp: role. ........ r67963 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-27 13:11:15 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4671: document that pydoc imports modules. ........ r67973 | alexandre.vassalotti | 2008-12-27 20:58:22 -0600 (Sat, 27 Dec 2008) | 2 lines Document Py_VaBuildValue. ........ r67978 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-28 05:58:49 -0600 (Sun, 28 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4731: clarify message about missing module prerequisites. ........ r67995 | benjamin.peterson | 2008-12-28 15:16:07 -0600 (Sun, 28 Dec 2008) | 1 line #4763 PyErr_ExceptionMatches won't blow up with NULL arguments ........ r68030 | benjamin.peterson | 2008-12-29 15:38:14 -0600 (Mon, 29 Dec 2008) | 1 line fix French ........ r68057 | vinay.sajip | 2008-12-30 01:01:25 -0600 (Tue, 30 Dec 2008) | 1 line Minor documentation change relating to NullHandler. ........ r68061 | georg.brandl | 2008-12-30 04:15:49 -0600 (Tue, 30 Dec 2008) | 2 lines #4778: attributes can't be called. ........
70 lines
3.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
70 lines
3.3 KiB
ReStructuredText
|
|
:mod:`pydoc` --- Documentation generator and online help system
|
|
===============================================================
|
|
|
|
.. module:: pydoc
|
|
:synopsis: Documentation generator and online help system.
|
|
.. moduleauthor:: Ka-Ping Yee <ping@lfw.org>
|
|
.. sectionauthor:: Ka-Ping Yee <ping@lfw.org>
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. index::
|
|
single: documentation; generation
|
|
single: documentation; online
|
|
single: help; online
|
|
|
|
The :mod:`pydoc` module automatically generates documentation from Python
|
|
modules. The documentation can be presented as pages of text on the console,
|
|
served to a Web browser, or saved to HTML files.
|
|
|
|
The built-in function :func:`help` invokes the online help system in the
|
|
interactive interpreter, which uses :mod:`pydoc` to generate its documentation
|
|
as text on the console. The same text documentation can also be viewed from
|
|
outside the Python interpreter by running :program:`pydoc` as a script at the
|
|
operating system's command prompt. For example, running ::
|
|
|
|
pydoc sys
|
|
|
|
at a shell prompt will display documentation on the :mod:`sys` module, in a
|
|
style similar to the manual pages shown by the Unix :program:`man` command. The
|
|
argument to :program:`pydoc` can be the name of a function, module, or package,
|
|
or a dotted reference to a class, method, or function within a module or module
|
|
in a package. If the argument to :program:`pydoc` looks like a path (that is,
|
|
it contains the path separator for your operating system, such as a slash in
|
|
Unix), and refers to an existing Python source file, then documentation is
|
|
produced for that file.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
In order to find objects and their documentation, :mod:`pydoc` imports the
|
|
module(s) to be documented. Therefore, any code on module level will be
|
|
executed on that occasion. Use an ``if __name__ == '__main__':`` guard to
|
|
only execute code when a file is invoked as a script and not just imported.
|
|
|
|
Specifying a :option:`-w` flag before the argument will cause HTML documentation
|
|
to be written out to a file in the current directory, instead of displaying text
|
|
on the console.
|
|
|
|
Specifying a :option:`-k` flag before the argument will search the synopsis
|
|
lines of all available modules for the keyword given as the argument, again in a
|
|
manner similar to the Unix :program:`man` command. The synopsis line of a
|
|
module is the first line of its documentation string.
|
|
|
|
You can also use :program:`pydoc` to start an HTTP server on the local machine
|
|
that will serve documentation to visiting Web browsers. :program:`pydoc`
|
|
:option:`-p 1234` will start a HTTP server on port 1234, allowing you to browse
|
|
the documentation at ``http://localhost:1234/`` in your preferred Web browser.
|
|
:program:`pydoc` :option:`-g` will start the server and additionally bring up a
|
|
small :mod:`Tkinter`\ -based graphical interface to help you search for
|
|
documentation pages.
|
|
|
|
When :program:`pydoc` generates documentation, it uses the current environment
|
|
and path to locate modules. Thus, invoking :program:`pydoc` :option:`spam`
|
|
documents precisely the version of the module you would get if you started the
|
|
Python interpreter and typed ``import spam``.
|
|
|
|
Module docs for core modules are assumed to reside in
|
|
http://docs.python.org/library/. This can be overridden by setting the
|
|
:envvar:`PYTHONDOCS` environment variable to a different URL or to a local
|
|
directory containing the Library Reference Manual pages.
|
|
|