[Doc-SIG] PEP 257 question

[Michael Foord]

Fred Mailhot wrote:
> Hi,
>
> It is stated in PEP 257 that:
>
> "The docstring of a script (a stand-alone program) should be usable as 
> its "usage" message, printed when the script is invoked with incorrect 
> or missing arguments (or perhaps with a "-h" option, for "help").[...]"

I wasn't aware of that advice. Hmmm...

Anway - how about this:

import sys
module =  sys.modules['__main__'] # or [__name__]
docstring = module.__doc__

All the best,

Michael


>
> This is exactly what I'm trying to do, but I haven't been able to 
> figure out how to access a script's docstring from within it. That is, 
> I'm assuming (perhaps erroneously) that I can define some kind of 
> usage function in my script that will spit out the docstring, as in 
> the following example
>
> #!/usr/bin/python
> """
> myscript.py
>
> Usage:  python myscript.py <params>
>
> Some more specific info here.
> """
>
> [python code here]
>
> def main():
>     [do stuff here]
>
> ### THIS IS WHAT I'D LIKE TO DO... ###
> def usage():
>     sys.stderr.write(this.__doc__)
>     sys.exit()
> ### EXCEPT OF COURSE "this" ISN'T DEFINED
>
> if __name__ == "__main__":
>     if [some condition is not satisfied]:
>         usage()
>     else:
>         main()
> ################################
>
> What should I be doing instead? I've Googled a bunch and turned up 
> nothing, so I may just not be looking for the right terms (Googling 
> "python print script docstring" gets me nothing).
>
> Thanks!
> Fred.
>
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