Pydoc: Emacs utility for navigating Python documentation through pydoc

Installation

To install pydoc via Melpa, have the following lines in Emacs's init.el:

(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") t)
(package-initialize)

(use-package pydoc)

Documentation

If you want the documentation for a Python object, simply type:

M-x pydoc <RET> <python object> <RET>

For example, to view the documentation for datetime.datetime.now:

M-x pydoc <RET> datetime.datetime.now <RET>

Getting the Python object under the cursor (at point) is supported with pydoc-at-point. For example, move the cursor to an object in a Python buffer and type:

M-x pydoc-at-point <RET>

You may want to bind pydoc-at-point to a keyboard shortcut, e.g., "C-h .":

(define-key python-mode-map (kbd "C-h .") #'pydoc-at-point)
(define-key python-ts-mode-map (kbd "C-h .") #'pydoc-at-point)

In python-ts-mode, pydoc-at-point uses Tree-sitter for object inspection. In python-mode, it uses Jedi. To avoid the Jedi dependency, use pydoc-at-point-no-jedi in place of pydoc-at-point.

To start a pydoc server and browse documentation with a web browser, type:

M-x pydoc-browse <RET>

License

This project is free software: You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.