:mod:`pydoc` --- Documentation generator and online help system
The :mod:`pydoc` module automatically generates documentation from Python modules. The documentation can be presented as pages of text on the console, served to a Web browser, or saved to HTML files.
The built-in function :func:`help` invokes the online help system in the interactive interpreter, which uses :mod:`pydoc` to generate its documentation as text on the console. The same text documentation can also be viewed from outside the Python interpreter by running :program:`pydoc` as a script at the operating system's command prompt. For example, running
pydoc sys
at a shell prompt will display documentation on the :mod:`sys` module, in a style similar to the manual pages shown by the Unix :program:`man` command. The argument to :program:`pydoc` can be the name of a function, module, or package, or a dotted reference to a class, method, or function within a module or module in a package. If the argument to :program:`pydoc` looks like a path (that is, it contains the path separator for your operating system, such as a slash in Unix), and refers to an existing Python source file, then documentation is produced for that file.
Note
In order to find objects and their documentation, :mod:`pydoc` imports the
module(s) to be documented. Therefore, any code on module level will be
executed on that occasion. Use an if __name__ == '__main__': guard to
only execute code when a file is invoked as a script and not just imported.
Specifying a :option:`-w` flag before the argument will cause HTML documentation to be written out to a file in the current directory, instead of displaying text on the console.
Specifying a :option:`-k` flag before the argument will search the synopsis lines of all available modules for the keyword given as the argument, again in a manner similar to the Unix :program:`man` command. The synopsis line of a module is the first line of its documentation string.
You can also use :program:`pydoc` to start an HTTP server on the local machine
that will serve documentation to visiting Web browsers. :program:`pydoc`
:option:`-p 1234` will start a HTTP server on port 1234, allowing you to browse
the documentation at http://localhost:1234/ in your preferred Web browser.
:program:`pydoc` :option:`-g` will start the server and additionally bring up a
small :mod:`Tkinter`-based graphical interface to help you search for
documentation pages.
When :program:`pydoc` generates documentation, it uses the current environment
and path to locate modules. Thus, invoking :program:`pydoc` :option:`spam`
documents precisely the version of the module you would get if you started the
Python interpreter and typed import spam.
Module docs for core modules are assumed to reside in http://docs.python.org/library/. This can be overridden by setting the :envvar:`PYTHONDOCS` environment variable to a different URL or to a local directory containing the Library Reference Manual pages.