The key to writing a good Python docstring is to follow norms, unify styles, include necessary information and use tools to assist. 1. Follow the basic specifications of PEP257, use three quotes to wrap the contents, briefly explain the function in the first sentence, and describe the parameters and return values in detail after emptying a line. 2. Choose a common style such as Google Style and keep it unified to improve readability and collaboration efficiency. 3. Contains key information such as function description, parameter type and meaning, return value type and meaning, and adds exception descriptions and example usage depending on the situation. 4. Use the editor plug-in to automatically generate templates and check the format through tools such as pydocstyle to ensure the correctness of the specification.
It is actually not difficult to write a good docstring of Python, but many people either ignore its importance or write it in a standardized manner. A clear, standard docstring can help you and others quickly understand the functions of functions, classes, or modules, and can also be recognized by automatic document tools such as Sphinx to generate documents.

Below are some practical suggestions to teach you how to write a useful and standardized docstring.
1. Follow the basic specifications of PEP257
Python has some basic requirements for docstring, the most basic one is:

- Use three quotes (
"""
) to wrap the content - The beginning sentence is concise to explain the function, and then describe it in detail after empty line
- Don't write "This is a certain function", but directly explain the purpose
for example:
def add(a, b): """Return the sum of a and b. Args: a (int): first number b (int): second number Returns: int: sum of a and b """ return ab
The first sentence is a summary, followed by an explanation of the parameters and return values. This writing is not only clear, but also facilitates tool analysis.

2. Choose a style to use it uniformly
There are three common docstring formats: PEP257 default style, reST (reStructuredText), Google Style and NumPyDoc . Among them, Google style is relatively easy to read and is suitable for beginners.
For example, Google style:
def multiply(a, b): """Multiply two integers and return the result. Args: a (int): The first number. b (int): The second number. Returns: int: The product of a and b. """ return a * b
You can choose styles based on team specifications or project requirements, and the key is to maintain consistency.
3. Include key information, don't miss the key points
A good docstring should include the following points (not necessarily each one needs to be included, depending on the situation):
- Function description
- Parameter type and meaning
- Return value type and meaning
- Possible exception (if any)
- Example usage (optional)
Especially for parameters and return values, you must clearly write the type and function. This is especially important when collaborating with multiple people.
If you are not sure how to write it, you can refer to the standard library or popular open source projects, such as requests
or pandas
.
4. Use tools to check and generate docstring
Some editor plugins can help you automatically generate templates, such as:
- Python Docstring Generator for VS Code
- PyCharm comes with docstring template support
These tools can help you save time and avoid format errors. In addition, you can use pydocstyle
or flake8-docstrings
to check whether your docstring complies with the specification.
Basically that's it. Writing docstring does not take too much time, but the benefits are very real - it can be smoother whether you are looking back on the code yourself or others call the interface. As long as you stick to one style and write down the key information clearly, it will be great.
The above is the detailed content of How to write a docstring in Python. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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