[Tutor] Basic question about docstrings

[David Aldrich]

>>>> If I have a script called main.py and document a function in it:
>>>>
>>>> def get_value(x):
>>>>     """
>>>>     Some text ...
>>>>     :param x:     Some value
>>>>     :returns:      Something useful
>>>>     """
>>>>
>>>> What is the most basic way of showing those docstrings at the 
>>>> Python prompt?
>>>
>>> Try:
>>>
>>>    help(get_value)
>>>
>>> At the Python prompt.  This uses the built in help facility:
>>>
>>> https://docs.python.org/2/library/functions.html#help
>>>
>>
>> I understand that 'help' works with modules that I have imported. But if I've just written a script called main.py (which contains get_value()) I don't think I can 'import' that. So how would I see the docstrings in main.py?
>>
> Try it!  you'll find it works fine

So main.py contains:

def get_field(value, start_bit, end_bit):
    <snip>

and I see:

>>> import main
>>> help(get_field)
 Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
 NameError: name 'get_field' is not defined


help(main) works ok but is rather verbose.