Help Utility

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Python has several functions built into the interpreter. If you want to get information of keywords, built-in functions, modules or topics open a Python console and enter:

>>> help()

You will receive information by entering keywords directly:

>>> help(help)

or within the utility:

help> help

which will show an explanation:

Help on _Helper in module _sitebuiltins object:

class _Helper(builtins.object)
 |  Define the builtin 'help'.
 |  
 |  This is a wrapper around pydoc.help that provides a helpful message
 |  when 'help' is typed at the Python interactive prompt.
 |  
 |  Calling help() at the Python prompt starts an interactive help session.
 |  Calling help(thing) prints help for the python object 'thing'.
 |  
 |  Methods defined here:
 |  
 |  __call__(self, *args, **kwds)
 |  
 |  __repr__(self)
 |  
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Data descriptors defined here:
 |  
 |  __dict__
 |      dictionary for instance variables (if defined)
 |  
 |  __weakref__
 |      list of weak references to the object (if defined)

You can also request subclasses of modules:

help(pymysql.connections)

You can use help to access the docstrings of the different modules you have imported, e.g., try the following:

>>> help(math)

and you’ll get an error

>>> import math
>>> help(math)

And now you will get a list of the available methods in the module, but only AFTER you have imported it.

Close the helper with quit

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

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