Python help() Builtin Function

Python help()

Python help() builtin function is used to get built-in help system for given object. If no object is specified for help() function, then default interactive help system appears in the console.

In this tutorial, we will learn about the syntax of Python help() function, and learn how to use this function with the help of examples.

Syntax

The syntax of help() function is

help([object])

where

Parameter	Required/Optional	Description
object	Optional	A Python object.

Example

In this example, we take an integer value in variable a. We try to get help for this variable a using help() function.

Python Program

a = 2
help(a)

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Output

Help on int object:

class int(object)
 |  int([x]) -> integer
 |  int(x, base=10) -> integer
 |  
 |  Convert a number or string to an integer, or return 0 if no arguments
 |  are given.  If x is a number, return x.__int__().  For floating point
 |  numbers, this truncates towards zero.
 |  
 |  If x is not a number or if base is given, then x must be a string,
 |  bytes, or bytearray instance representing an integer literal in the
 |  given base.  The literal can be preceded by '+' or '-' and be surrounded
 |  by whitespace.  The base defaults to 10.  Valid bases are 0 and 2-36.
 |  Base 0 means to interpret the base from the string as an integer literal.
 |  >>> int('0b100', base=0)
 |  4
 |  
 |  Built-in subclasses:
 |      bool
 |  
 |  Methods defined here:
 |  
 |  __abs__(self, /)
 |      abs(self)

Conclusion

In this Python Tutorial, we have learnt the syntax of Python help() builtin function, and also learned how to use this function, with the help of Python example programs.