Just Ask Ipython For Help

It happens to the best of us

We can't all remember every single function signature out there, it's just not possible. If you want to stay productive while coding without the temptation to hit YouTube or Twitter. Use the built in help. Here are 5 ways to get help without leaving your terminal.

Docstrings

In any python repl you can access the docstring of a function by calling for help.

        
help(df.rolling)

In Ipython we can even get some syntax highlighting with the ?.

        
df.rolling?

Source Code

Sometimes the docstrings are not good enough, and don't give us the content we need, and we just need to look at the source. Without leaving your terminal there are two ways I often use to get to the source of a function I am trying to use.

        
import inspect
inspect.getsource(df.rolling)

The more common way I do it is with the ipython ??.

        
df.rolling??

Bonus rich.inspect

You thought the syntax highlighting was good with ipython, check out what rich.inspect can do! As far as I know there is no way to get to source code, but the results are still fantastic.

        
pip install rich

Install rich

        
from rich import inspect
inspect(cars.rolling, help=True)

then inspect

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