CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
mmartinson
mmartinson

Reputation: 240

Is there a Python function or method that displays object specifications?

Is there a built-in method for getting specification comments in Python that can be used instead of going back and reading them in the class definition? Specifically I'm trying to identify how many and what sort of arguments a object from an imported module takes.

I couldn't find an answer to this in the Python documentation and if it's already been answered on here I couldn't get it in search.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 575

Answers (3)

alecxe
alecxe

Reputation: 473833

You can also use inspect module, specifically inspect.getmembers():

inspect.getmembers(object[, predicate])

Return all the members of an object in a list of (name, value) pairs sorted by name.

Example:

>>> import inspect
>>> class Test(object):
...     def __init__(self, smile):
...         print(smile)
... 
>>> inspect.getmembers(Test, predicate=inspect.ismethod)
[('__init__', <unbound method Test.__init__>)]

Upvotes: 3

Vitaly Isaev
Vitaly Isaev

Reputation: 5805

You can try to install ipython interactive shell and use %pdoc, %pdef macro:

%pdoc : Print (or run through a pager if too long) the docstring for an object. If the given object is a class, it will print both the class and the constructor docstrings.

%pdef : Print the definition header for any callable object. If the object is a class, print the constructor information.

Upvotes: 1

dm03514
dm03514

Reputation: 55952

>>> from random import randint
>>> help(randint)


Help on method randint in module random:

randint(self, a, b) method of random.Random instance
    Return random integer in range [a, b], including both end points.
(END)

http://docs.python.org/2.7/library/functions.html#help

with a custom class:

>>> class Test(object):
...     def __init__(self, smile):
...             print(smile)
...
>>> help(Test)

Help on class Test in module __main__:

class Test(__builtin__.object)
 |  Methods defined here:
 |  
 |  __init__(self, smile)
 |  
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Data descriptors defined here:
 |  
 |  __dict__
 |      dictionary for instance variables (if defined)
 |  
 |  __weakref__
 |      list of weak references to the object (if defined)
(END)

Upvotes: 6

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