[FIXED] why help() command under ipdb gives an error

Issue

In ipython I can issue following command and it gives me help:

In [1]: help(["foo", "bar", "baz"])

class list(object)
 |  list() -> new empty list
 |  list(iterable) -> new list initialized from iterable's items
 |
 |  Methods defined here:
 |
 |  __add__(...)
 |      x.__add__(y) <==> x+y
 |
 |  __contains__(...)
 |      x.__contains__(y) <==> y in x
...

But when I do the same inside ipdb I get an error:

ipdb> help(["foo", "bar", "baz"])
*** No help on (["foo", "bar", "baz"])

Why?

Solution

help is a special command in pdb. You'll need to explicitly call p help(obj) instead of help(obj). You can see the difference if you just call help by itself in pdb.

Answered By - Daenyth