Python REPL Help

May 16, 2025

In the Python REPL, the help function provides a help message about its argument.

>>> help(print)
Help on built-in function print in module builtins:

print(*args, sep=' ', end='\n', file=None, flush=False)
    Prints the values to a stream, or to sys.stdout by default.

It’s a wrapper for pydoc.help. And it works on objects, too:

>>> list = ["one", "two"]
>>> help(list)
Help on list object:

class list(object)
 |  list(iterable=(), /)
 |
 |  Built-in mutable sequence.

Learn more by reading help’s help:

>>> help(help)

Python