Package epydoc
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Package epydoc

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Automatic Python reference documentation generator. Epydoc processes Python modules and docstrings to generate formatted API documentation, in the form of HTML pages. Epydoc can be used via a command-line interface (epydoc.cli) and a graphical interface (epydoc.gui). Both interfaces let the user specify a set of modules or other objects to document, and produce API documentation using the following steps:

  1. Extract basic information about the specified objects, and objects that are related to them (such as the values defined by a module). This can be done via introspection, parsing, or both:
  2. Combine and process that information.
  3. Generate output. Output can be generated in a variety of formats:
Overview of epydoc's architecture
Overview of epydoc's architecture -- The boxes represent steps in epydoc's processing chain. Arrows are annotated with the data classes used to communicate between steps. The lines along the right side mark what portions of the processing chain are initiated by build_doc_index() and cli(). Click on any item to see its documentation.

Package Organization

The epydoc package contains the following subpackages and modules:

Package Tree for epydoc
Package Tree for epydoc

The user interfaces are provided by the gui and cli modules. The apidoc module defines the basic data types used to record information about Python objects. The programmatic interface to epydoc is provided by docbuilder. Docstring markup parsing is handled by the markup package, and output generation is handled by the docwriter package. See the submodule list for more information about the submodules and subpackages.


Author: Edward Loper

Requires: Python 2.3+

Version: 3.0.1

See Also:
The epydoc webpage, The epytext markup language manual
To Do:

Bug: UserDict.* is interpreted as imported .. why??

License: IBM Open Source License

Copyright: © 2006 Edward Loper

Contributors (Alphabetical Order):
Submodules [hide private]
    User Interface
    Basic Data Types
  • epydoc.apidoc: Classes for encoding API documentation about Python programs.
    Documentation Generation
  • epydoc.docbuilder: Construct data structures that encode the API documentation for Python objects.
  • epydoc.docintrospecter: Extract API documentation about python objects by directly introspecting their values.
  • epydoc.docparser: Extract API documentation about python objects by parsing their source code.
    Docstring Processing
    Output Generation
    Completeness Checking
    Miscellaneous
  • epydoc.compat: Backwards compatibility with previous versions of Python.
  • epydoc.log: Functions used to report messages and progress updates to the user.
  • epydoc.test: Regression testing.
  • epydoc.util: Miscellaneous utility functions that are used by multiple modules.

Variables [hide private]
  DEBUG = True
True if debugging is turned on.
  __author__ = 'Edward Loper <edloper@gradient.cis.upenn.edu>'
The primary author of eypdoc
  __license__ = 'IBM Open Source License'
The license governing the use and distribution of epydoc
  __url__ = 'http://epydoc.sourceforge.net'
The URL for epydoc's homepage
  __version__ = '3.0.1'
The version of epydoc