Python 2.7: no documentation found when typing help('print')

Question

I have just installed Python 2.7 and Python 3.2 on my Ubuntu 12.04 (32 bit).

sudo apt-get install python python-doc python3 python3-doc

I opened a Python 3 shell (is it called like that) typing python3 from a terminal. If I issue the command help('print') everything works fine and I can read the documentation.

However if I open a Python 2.7 shell (python from a terminal) when I type help('print') I get the following message:

no documentation found for 'print'

How can I get to use the documentation in Python 2.7 as well?

Solution 1

This looks like a bug of Python 2 as something like help("dir") works properly. It probably does not work because print is a special keyword, unlike Python 3. Stick to Python 3 or run the following command instead of help("print"):

help("__builtin__.print")

Solution 2

That documentation is always installed , because it is embedded on the source files. The specified command does not work because in python2.7 print is both a statement and a function, so it may be confusing the help function.

If you use, for example help('os') or help("if") you should get the correct information:

$ python -c "help('if')"
The ``if`` statement
********************

The ``if`` statement is used for conditional execution:

   if_stmt ::= "if" expression ":" suite
               ( "elif" expression ":" suite )*
               ["else" ":" suite]

It selects exactly one of the suites by evaluating the expressions one
by one until one is found to be true (see section *Boolean operations*
for the definition of true and false); then that suite is executed
(and no other part of the ``if`` statement is executed or evaluated).
If all expressions are false, the suite of the ``else`` clause, if
present, is executed.

So the documentation is installed and that behavior you see should be a bug.