[Doc-SIG] PEP 257 question

[Michael Foord]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> Michael Foord wrote:
>   
>> 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__
>>     
>
> No need for the fancy footwork - remember that a module's globals and
> its attributes are the same dict:
>
> ~/devel$ cat > demo.py
> "My docstring"
> print __doc__
>
>   

Ha! :-)

Thanks

Michael

> ~/devel$ python demo.py
> My docstring
>
> For modules and classes, the interpreter sets "__doc__" in the current
> namespace automatically when it builds the docstring (not functions
> though - their docstring isn't added to the local scope).
>
> Cheers,
> Nick.
>
>   


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