Re: how to inherit docstrings?

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From	Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Subject	Re: how to inherit docstrings?
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Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> writes:

> p.s. Am I missing something or can you really not change the docstring
> of a class? I was thinking about the idea of inheriting class
> docstrings too.

The docstring of an object (whether function or class or module) is the
object's ‘__doc__’ attribute. Access that attribute to get the
docstring; re-bind that attribute to set a different docstring.

So, it's even possible to do what you ask without decorators at all:

    class Foo(object):
        def frob(self):
            """ Frobnicate thyself. """

    class Bar(Foo):
        def frob(self):
            pass
        frob.__doc__ = Foo.frob.__doc__

Not very elegant, and involving rather too much repetition; but not
difficult.

-- 
 \     “We are no more free to believe whatever we want about God than |
  `\         we are free to adopt unjustified beliefs about science or |
_o__)              history […].” —Sam Harris, _The End of Faith_, 2004 |
Ben Finney

Thread

how to inherit docstrings? Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> - 2011-06-09 00:22 -0600
  Re: how to inherit docstrings? Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-06-09 16:37 +1000
    Re: how to inherit docstrings? Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> - 2011-06-09 01:13 -0600
      Re: how to inherit docstrings? Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-06-09 17:44 +1000
        Re: how to inherit docstrings? Duncan Booth <duncan.booth@invalid.invalid> - 2011-06-09 11:23 +0000
        Re: how to inherit docstrings? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-06-09 14:56 +0000
          Re: how to inherit docstrings? Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-06-10 07:33 +1000
            Re: how to inherit docstrings? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-06-10 09:25 +0000
  Re: how to inherit docstrings? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-06-10 16:47 +0000
    Re: how to inherit docstrings? Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> - 2011-06-10 11:01 -0600
      Re: how to inherit docstrings? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-06-10 17:27 +0000
        Re: how to inherit docstrings? Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> - 2011-06-10 12:48 -0600
    Re: how to inherit docstrings? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-06-10 17:19 +0000

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