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gh-109510: Clearly explain "Which Docstrings Are Examined" #109696

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merged 15 commits into from
Oct 19, 2023
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27 changes: 24 additions & 3 deletions Doc/library/doctest.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -277,13 +277,34 @@ Which Docstrings Are Examined?
The module docstring, and all function, class and method docstrings are
searched. Objects imported into the module are not searched.

In addition, if ``M.__test__`` exists and "is true", it must be a dict, and each
In addition, there are cases when you want tests to be part of a module but not part
of the help text, which requires that the tests not be included in the docstring.
Doctest looks for a module-level variable called ``__test__`` and uses it to locate other
tests. If ``M.__test__`` exists and is truthy, it must be a dict, and each
entry maps a (string) name to a function object, class object, or string.
Function and class object docstrings found from ``M.__test__`` are searched, and
strings are treated as if they were docstrings. In output, a key ``K`` in
``M.__test__`` appears with name ::
``M.__test__`` appears with name ``M.__test__.K``.

<name of M>.__test__.K
For example, place this block of code at the top of :file:`example.py`:

.. code-block:: python

__test__ = {
'numbers': """
>>> factorial(6)
720

>>> [factorial(n) for n in range(6)]
[1, 1, 2, 6, 24, 120]
"""
}

The value of ``example.__test__["numbers"]`` will be treated as a
docstring and all the tests inside it will be run. It is
important to note that the value can be mapped to a function,
class object, or module; if so, :mod:`!doctest`
searches them recursively for docstrings, which are then scanned for tests.

Any classes found are recursively searched similarly, to test docstrings in
their contained methods and nested classes.
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