how to Writing a help for python script

Published on Aug. 22, 2023, 12:16 p.m.

To write documentation or help for your Python script, you can use the built-in help() function in Python. Here are the general steps:

  1. Add comments to your Python script that describe what your script does and how to use it. This is an essential step, as the comments will form the basis of the documentation.
  2. At the beginning of your script, add a docstring that describes the purpose of the script and its inputs and outputs. A docstring is a string literal that is placed at the beginning of a module, function, class, or method definition. The help() function will display this docstring.

Here is an example Python script with documentation:

"""
This script demonstrates how to use the random module to generate random values.

Inputs:
- max: the maximum value to generate (default: 10)

Outputs:
- A list of 10 random integers between 0 and max
"""

import random

def generate_random_values(max=10):
    """
    Generates a list of random integers between 0 and max.

    Args:
        max (int): the maximum value to generate (default: 10)

    Returns:
        list: A list of 10 random integers between 0 and max
    """
    values = []
    for i in range(10):
        values.append(random.randint(0, max))
    return values

# to display help for the script we can use help() function
help(generate_random_values)

You can run this script and then use the help() function to display the docstring and function documentation. This will display the following output:

Help on function generate_random_values in module __main__:

generate_random_values(max=10)
    Generates a list of random integers between 0 and max.

    Args:
        max (int): the maximum value to generate (default: 10)

    Returns:
        list: A list of 10 random integers between 0 and max

By following these steps, you can create documentation or help for your Python script that can help other users understand how to use it.

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