Special string literal used in source code to provide documentation
In programming, a docstring is a string literal specified in source code that is used, like a comment, to document a specific segment of code. Unlike conventional source code comments, or even specifically formatted comments like docblocks, docstrings are not stripped from the source tree when it is parsed and are retained throughout the runtime of the program. This allows the programmer to inspect these comments at run time, for instance as an interactive help system, or as metadata.
Languages that support docstrings include Python, Lisp, Elixir, Clojure,[1] Gherkin,[2] Julia[3] and Haskell.[4]
^"Function definition with docstring in Clojure". Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
^"Step Arguments - Doc Strings". Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
^"Documentation — Julia Language 0.4.1 documentation". docs.julialang.org. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17.
shows the declaration of docstrings within a Python source file: """The module's docstring""" class MyClass: """The class's docstring""" def my_method(self):...
multi-line docstrings. Single-line docstring: def getline(): """Get one line from stdin and return it.""" return sys.stdin.readline() Multi-line docstring: def...
prompts in a docstring, re-executes the extracted command and checks the output against the output of the command given in the docstrings test example...
the Unix man pages. Generated from the LaTeX output only "PEP 256 -- Docstring Processing System Framework | Python.org". "Doxygen Manual: Output Formats"...
As opposed to freeform Python docstrings, reStructuredText (both also supported) and other markup languages for docstrings, Epytext supports linking between...
Epydoc, Pdoc uses introspection to extract documentation from source code docstrings and allows programmers to generate HTML documentation for chosen Python...
to attribute or local Surround code with try..catch / finally Create docstring Move import to global scope Keywords presented as auto-completions as...
data types of arguments. They may also include documentation strings (docstrings), which the Lisp system may use to provide interactive documentation:...
documents. In contrast, other documentation systems, such as Python's Docstring or Java's Javadoc, though they can be used for user documentation, are...
framework based on Java Doctest, well-known testing framework in Python for docstrings List of unit testing frameworks "Release 8.1.1". 9 March 2024. Retrieved...
These literals are especially used for inline documentation, known as docstrings. Tcl allows literal newlines in strings and has no special syntax to assist...
cases where a long comment has a single summary line, such as Python docstrings, the summary can still be displayed when the section is collapsed, allowing...
context-appropriate call signature and documentation with rendering of PEP287 docstrings Class browser for single files or whole project Wing Pro adds: Code Warnings...
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