$ pydoc -g. I'm a newbie programming in python, command not working

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Level 1

4 points

$ pydoc -g. I'm a newbie programming in python, command not working

Hi,

I'm using IDLE to learn to program in Python on my mac (IDLE 2.7.1, OS 10.4.11). The book I'm using instructs me to enter this in the command line: $ pydoc -g

When I type that into IDLE, it says there is a syntax error with the $ symbol.

I'm sure there is a simple answer, but I'm lost at the moment. Thanks for your help.

667 mHz G4 titanium laptop, Mac OS X (10.4.11), running Python 2.7.1

Posted on Mar 7, 2011 10:02 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 7, 2011 10:22 AM in response to ejerud

$ is the terminal prompt. You don't type that.

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Answer 2

ejerud Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 7, 2011 2:03 PM in response to Keith Barkley

Thanks for the reply. It seems like the terminal prompt is >>>

I tried entering the line without $- it now tells me that g has not been defined yet.

It seems like there's something more to it that I'm missing.

Thanks again for considering this problem.

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Answer 3

Tony T1

Level 6

10,298 points

Mar 7, 2011 2:11 PM in response to ejerud

pydoc is a std OS X instalation.

Open Terminal (Applications->Utilities->Terminal)
and type:

pydoc -g

Also type:

man pydoc

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Answer 4

rccharles

Level 6

13,077 points

Mar 7, 2011 3:05 PM in response to Tony T1

pydoc -g

press return when down typing.

is going to give a little surprise. It's a pop under panel. Terminal appears to hang.

You need to look around for the pydoc panel. I had to move my terminal window.

User uploaded file

as suggested, here is what I did in terminal
in /etc/bashrc in /Users/mac/.bash_profile but claims to be -bash in /Users/mac/config/profile.bash claims to be -bash in . /sw/bin/init.sh mac $ mac $ pydoc pydoc - the Python documentation tool pydoc <name> ... Show text documentation on something. <name> may be the name of a Python keyword, topic, function, module, or package, or a dotted reference to a class or function within a module or module in a package. If <name> contains a '/', it is used as the path to a Python source file to document. If name is 'keywords', 'topics', or 'modules', a listing of these things is displayed. pydoc -k <keyword> Search for a keyword in the synopsis lines of all available modules. pydoc -p <port> Start an HTTP server on the given port on the local machine. pydoc -g Pop up a graphical interface for finding and serving documentation. pydoc -w <name> ... Write out the HTML documentation for a module to a file in the current directory. If <name> contains a '/', it is treated as a filename; if it names a directory, documentation is written for all the contents. mac $ pydoc -g

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Answer 5

ejerud Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 7, 2011 7:17 PM in response to rccharles

Thanks guys, that was very helpful.

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