Applying Documentation in Practice
Now that you know how to access the documentation for Python's built-in functions, let's explore how to apply this knowledge in practice.
Exploring the print()
Function
As an example, let's take a look at the documentation for the print()
function. We can access the documentation using the help()
function:
help(print)
This will display the following output:
Help on built-in function print in module builtins:
print(...)
print(value, ..., sep=' ', end='\n', file=sys.stdout, flush=False)
Prints the values to a stream, or to sys.stdout by default.
Optional keyword arguments:
file: a file-like object (stream); defaults to the current sys.stdout.
sep: string inserted between values, default a space.
end: string appended after the last value, default a newline.
flush: whether to forcibly flush the stream.
From this documentation, we can see that the print()
function takes several optional arguments, such as sep
, end
, and file
, which allow us to customize the output.
Applying the print()
Function
Let's apply our understanding of the print()
function's documentation to create some custom output:
## Print multiple values with a custom separator
print("Hello", "World", sep=", ") ## Output: Hello, World
## Print a value with a custom end character
print("Python is awesome!", end="!") ## Output: Python is awesome!
## Print to a file instead of the console
with open("output.txt", "w") as file:
print("This text is written to a file.", file=file)
By referencing the documentation, we were able to effectively use the print()
function to achieve the desired output.
Exploring Other Built-in Functions
You can apply the same process to explore the documentation and use other built-in functions in Python. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced programmer, the Python documentation is an invaluable resource that can help you become more proficient with the language.
Remember, the key to effectively using the Python documentation is to make it a habit to refer to it whenever you need to understand the behavior or usage of a built-in function or other language feature.