Pydoc is the standard documentation module for the

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

Python. Similar to the functionality of Perldoc within

Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language". Perl was developed ...

and

Javadoc Javadoc (also capitalized as JavaDoc or javadoc) is an API documentation generator for the Java programming language. Based on information in Java source code, Javadoc generates documentation formatted as HTML and other formats via extensions. ...

within

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, Pydoc allows Python programmers to access Python's documentation help files, generate text and

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

pages with documentation specifics, and find the appropriate module for a particular job.Pydoc. Accessed 11/27/2010
/ref> Pydoc can be accessed from a module-specific GUI,Using Pydoc. Accessed 11/27/2010
/ref> from within the Python interpreter, or from a

command line A command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interacting with software via command (computing), commands each formatted as a line of text. Command-line interfaces emerged in the mid-1960s, on computer terminals, as an interactive and more user ...

shell.Charming Python: pydoc and distutils modules. Accessed 01/01/2012
/ref> Developed by Ka-Ping Yee, it is included by default in all versions of Python since Python 2.1 and is available for download for 1.5.2, 1.6, and 2.0. Pydoc is used to extract documentation from the source code itself. More comprehensive documentation is generated from external

reStructuredText reStructuredText (RST, ReST, or reST) is a file format for textual data used primarily in the Python programming language community for technical documentation. It is part of the Docutils project of the Python Doc-SIG (Documentation Special Inte ...

documents using the

Sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...

documentation system.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Archive of Pydoc for Python versions 1.5 to 2.5

Open source package library for PyPI

Sphinx documentation
Python (programming language) development tools Free documentation generators

See also

References

External links