print.__doc__ vs getattr(__builtin__,"print").__doc__
python, python-2.x
Solution
In Python 2 (or Python < 2.6 to be very exact) `print` is absolutely nothing like a function, and thus does not have docstring. It doesn't even evaluate all of its arguments before it starts printing:
>>> print 42, a
42
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'a' is not defined
`42` was printed before the `a` was evaluated. `print` is a statement that expects 0 to N comma separated expression following it, optionally preceded by the construct `>> file`, the construct `print.__doc__` is illegal. It makes as little sense as `if.__doc__`, or `return.__doc__`.
However starting with Python 2.6, the `print` function is available in the `__builtin__` module, but is not used by default as the `print` statement collides with it, unless the parsing for `print` the statement is disabled by `from __future__ import print_function`.
Problem
`print.__doc__` outputs: ``` SyntaxError: invalid syntax ``` where as ``` >>> getattr(__builtin__,"print").__doc__ ``` Outputs: ``` print(value, ..., sep=' ', end='\n', file=sys.stdout) ``` Prints the values to a stream, or to `sys.stdout` by default. Optional keyword arguments: file : a file-like object (stream); defaults to the current `sys.stdout`. sep: string inserted between values, default a space. end: string appended after the last value, default a newline. Can anyone help me understand why `print.__doc__` is giving a syntax error instead of printing the doc string