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metadocumentation (keyword help)

Thomas Heller theller at python.net
Wed Jan 7 05:45:35 EST 2004 
Jacek Generowicz <jacek.generowicz at cern.ch> writes:

> sdd <daniels at dsl-only.net> writes:
>
>> Jp Calderone wrote:
>> 
>> > On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 03:27:06PM +0100, Jacek Generowicz wrote:
>> >
>> 
>> >>Where can I find concise, clear documentation[*] describing what one has
>> >>to do in order to enable Python's internal help to be able to provide
>> >>descriptions of Python keywords ?
>> >   "Quote them"
>> 
>> >   help('if')
>> 
>> >   Jp
>> 
>> Or simply use help()
>> and interactively enter lines.
>
>
> Yes, but this actually does not work out of the box (on any of the
> GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and even Windoze installaitions I have tried). You
> get an error message complaining about the absence of HTML
> documentation and setting PYTHONDOCS. So, to rephrase my question ...
>
>
> Where can I find clear instructions on how to install and configure
> the Python documentation which is necessary to make the following
> work:
>
>    >>> help('and')
>
> ?

Download the HTML archive from
<http://www.python.org/doc/current/download.html>, and unpack this in a
temporary directory.  Leave the directory structure intact - in Winzip,
make sure the 'Use Folder Names' checkbox is checked.

This creates a Python-Docs-2.3.3 subdirectory.  Copy everything in this
directory (including subdirectories) into your c:\python23\Doc folder
(normally there is a single Python23.chm file in it), and you're done.

Thomas
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