[Python-Dev] Reminder: an oft-forgotten rule about docstring formatting (PEP 257) (original) (raw)

Larry Hastings larry at hastings.org
Thu Jun 27 17:09:13 CEST 2013

On 06/26/2013 08:56 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:

PEP 257 says this on the formatting of multi-line docstrings:

""" Multi-line docstrings consist of a summary line just like a one-line docstring, followed by a blank line, followed by a more elaborate description. The summary line may be used by automatic indexing tools; it is important that it fits on one line and is separated from the rest of the docstring by a blank line. [...] """ I still like this rule, but it is violated frequently, in the stdlib and elsewhere. I'd like to urge stdlib contributors and core devs to heed it -- or explain why you can't.

Argument Clinic could conceivably enforce this. It could mandate that the first paragraph of the function docstring contain exactly one sentence (must end in a period, all embedded periods cannot be followed by whitespace). This would make some things nicer; I could automatically insert the per-parameter docstrings in after the summary.

Should it?

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