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How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content?

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  How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Robert <rxjwg98@gmail.com> - 2015-12-16 18:48 -0800
    Re: How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-12-17 13:56 +1100
      Re: How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Robert <rxjwg98@gmail.com> - 2015-12-16 19:20 -0800
        Re: How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-12-17 14:30 +1100
    Re: How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2015-12-17 15:09 +1100
      Re: How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Robert Kern <robert.kern@gmail.com> - 2015-12-17 15:15 +0000
    Re: How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content? Peter Otten <__peter__@web.de> - 2015-12-17 10:27 +0100

#100552 — How can I get/save Pandas DataFrame help content?

Hi,

When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it 
exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.
I would like to know whether there is a way similar to Linux redirection to
save the help DataFrame content to a file?

I have search on-line Pandas DataFrame web page. Surprisingly, it has much
less content than help(DataFrame) command.

If there is no way to save the content to a file, do you know where I can get
the full help DataFrame content on a web page?


Thanks,

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#100553

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 1:48 PM, Robert <rxjwg98@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it
> exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.
> I would like to know whether there is a way similar to Linux redirection to
> save the help DataFrame content to a file?

If you use command-line Python (by just running 'python' or 'python3'
in your shell), you should be able to use help() with a More pager.

ChrisA

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#100554

On Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 9:56:23 PM UTC-5, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 1:48 PM, Robert <com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it
> > exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.
> > I would like to know whether there is a way similar to Linux redirection to
> > save the help DataFrame content to a file?
> 
> If you use command-line Python (by just running 'python' or 'python3'
> in your shell), you should be able to use help() with a More pager.
> 
> ChrisA

Thanks for this useful idea.
I have tried with: 

help(DataFrame) | more
NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-52-826956076b70> in <module>()
----> 1 help(DataFrame) | more

NameError: name 'more' is not defined 
////////////
It is possible I misunderstand your method. Could you give me a little more
description on it?

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#100555

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 2:20 PM, Robert <rxjwg98@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 9:56:23 PM UTC-5, Chris Angelico wrote:
>> On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 1:48 PM, Robert <com> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it
>> > exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.
>> > I would like to know whether there is a way similar to Linux redirection to
>> > save the help DataFrame content to a file?
>>
>> If you use command-line Python (by just running 'python' or 'python3'
>> in your shell), you should be able to use help() with a More pager.
>>
>> ChrisA
>
> Thanks for this useful idea.
> I have tried with:
>
> help(DataFrame) | more
> NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
> <ipython-input-52-826956076b70> in <module>()
> ----> 1 help(DataFrame) | more
>
> NameError: name 'more' is not defined
> ////////////
> It is possible I misunderstand your method. Could you give me a little more
> description on it?

Sorry for the confusion. You don't need to explicitly request the
pager; the default interpreter configuration should include that.

ChrisA

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#100557

On Thursday 17 December 2015 13:48, Robert wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it
> exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.


Step 1: report this as a bug to Enthought and/or the Python bug tracker. 
help(DataFrame) should automatically choose a pager such as `less` on Linux 
or equivalent (`more` I think?) on Windows.

Step 2: in the meantime, while you wait for Enthought to fix this, you can 
try any of these:

(a) open the regular Python interactive interpreter (do you need help with 
that?);  once you have the >>> prompt, import the module that DataFrame 
comes from, then run help:


    import whatever
    help(whatever.DataFrame)


The regular interactive interpreter ought to automatically pick a pager. If 
it doesn't, that's a bug.


(b) At the shell prompt (most likely a $ or # prompt) run:

    pydoc whatever.DataFrame

if necessarily piping it to the pager or file of your choice using your 
shell's normal redirection syntax, e.g.:

    pydoc whatever.DataFrame | less


(Remember, this is at the shell $ prompt, not the Python >>> prompt.)


(c) If your OS can't find "pydoc", try this instead:

    python -m pydoc whatever.DataFrame





-- 
Steve

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#100567

On 2015-12-17 04:09, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Thursday 17 December 2015 13:48, Robert wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it
>> exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.
>
>
> Step 1: report this as a bug to Enthought and/or the Python bug tracker.
> help(DataFrame) should automatically choose a pager such as `less` on Linux
> or equivalent (`more` I think?) on Windows.

I suspect that he is using the embedded IPython console in the Canopy IDE, so 
it's more of an issue that help() knows that it's not in a true terminal so it 
doesn't page. If he had been using python at the terminal, help() would have 
indeed used the appropriate terminal pager.

Robert, in the IPython console, you can also use a special syntax to get the 
content. The IPython console widget does know how to page this:

   In [1]: pandas.DataFrame?

http://ipython.readthedocs.org/en/stable/interactive/reference.html#dynamic-object-information

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco

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#100558

Robert wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> When I use Enthought/Canopy, help(DataFrame) has so much content that it
> exceeds the display buffer, i.e. its head is cut off as I go up to see it.
> I would like to know whether there is a way similar to Linux redirection
> to save the help DataFrame content to a file?
> 
> I have search on-line Pandas DataFrame web page. Surprisingly, it has much
> less content than help(DataFrame) command.
> 
> If there is no way to save the content to a file, do you know where I can
> get the full help DataFrame content on a web page?

On the commandline start a webserver with

python -m pydoc -p 8000

and then point your browser to

http://localhost:8000/pandas.core.frame.html#DataFrame

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