Python - pprint module

Overview

See [Python doco|http://docs.python.org/lib/module-pprint.html] for an overview of the module.

Examples

Here is an [example|http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/02/13/joy_of_python_dir_help_and_pprint.html] of a how it can be used to assist in exploring python code.

import pprint
p = pprint.PreyyPrint(4)
p.pprint(pprint.__dict__)

Info

The dictionary contains info about all the methods, variables and values contained within the module

pprint Dictionary

>>> import pprint
>>> p = pprint
>>> p.pprint(p.__dict__)

{'PrettyPrinter': <class pprint.PrettyPrinter at 0x7fcde7dc>,
 '_StringIO': <built-in function StringIO>,
 '__all__': ['pprint',
             'pformat',
             'isreadable',
             'isrecursive',
             'saferepr',
             'PrettyPrinter'],
 '__builtins__': {'ArithmeticError': <type 'exceptions.ArithmeticError'>,
                  'AssertionError': <type 'exceptions.AssertionError'>,
                  'AttributeError': <type 'exceptions.AttributeError'>,
                  'BaseException': <type 'exceptions.BaseException'>,
                  'DeprecationWarning': <type 'exceptions.DeprecationWarning'>,
                  'EOFError': <type 'exceptions.EOFError'>,
                  'Ellipsis': Ellipsis,
                  'EnvironmentError': <type 'exceptions.EnvironmentError'>,
                  'Exception': <type 'exceptions.Exception'>,
                  'False': False,
                  'FloatingPointError': <type 'exceptions.FloatingPointError'>,
                  'FutureWarning': <type 'exceptions.FutureWarning'>,
                  'GeneratorExit': <type 'exceptions.GeneratorExit'>,
                  'IOError': <type 'exceptions.IOError'>,
                  'ImportError': <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>,
                  'ImportWarning': <type 'exceptions.ImportWarning'>,
                  'IndentationError': <type 'exceptions.IndentationError'>,
                  'IndexError': <type 'exceptions.IndexError'>,
                  'KeyError': <type 'exceptions.KeyError'>,
                  'KeyboardInterrupt': <type 'exceptions.KeyboardInterrupt'>,
                  'LookupError': <type 'exceptions.LookupError'>,
                  'MemoryError': <type 'exceptions.MemoryError'>,
                  'NameError': <type 'exceptions.NameError'>,
                  'None': None,
                  'NotImplemented': NotImplemented,
                  'NotImplementedError': <type 'exceptions.NotImplementedError'>,
                  'OSError': <type 'exceptions.OSError'>,
                  'OverflowError': <type 'exceptions.OverflowError'>,
                  'PendingDeprecationWarning': <type 'exceptions.PendingDeprecationWarning'>,
                  'ReferenceError': <type 'exceptions.ReferenceError'>,
                  'RuntimeError': <type 'exceptions.RuntimeError'>,
                  'RuntimeWarning': <type 'exceptions.RuntimeWarning'>,
                  'StandardError': <type 'exceptions.StandardError'>,
                  'StopIteration': <type 'exceptions.StopIteration'>,
                  'SyntaxError': <type 'exceptions.SyntaxError'>,
                  'SyntaxWarning': <type 'exceptions.SyntaxWarning'>,
                  'SystemError': <type 'exceptions.SystemError'>,
                  'SystemExit': <type 'exceptions.SystemExit'>,
                  'TabError': <type 'exceptions.TabError'>,
                  'True': True,
                  'TypeError': <type 'exceptions.TypeError'>,
                  'UnboundLocalError': <type 'exceptions.UnboundLocalError'>,
                  'UnicodeDecodeError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeDecodeError'>,
                  'UnicodeEncodeError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'>,
                  'UnicodeError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeError'>,
                  'UnicodeTranslateError': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeTranslateError'>,
                  'UnicodeWarning': <type 'exceptions.UnicodeWarning'>,
                  'UserWarning': <type 'exceptions.UserWarning'>,
                  'ValueError': <type 'exceptions.ValueError'>,
                  'Warning': <type 'exceptions.Warning'>,
                  'ZeroDivisionError': <type 'exceptions.ZeroDivisionError'>,
                  '__debug__': True,
                  '__doc__': "Built-in functions, exceptions, and other objects.\n\nNoteworthy: None is the `nil' object; Ellipsis represents `...' in slices.",
                  '__import__': <built-in function __import__>,
                  '__name__': '__builtin__',
                  'abs': <built-in function abs>,
                  'all': <built-in function all>,
                  'any': <built-in function any>,
                  'apply': <built-in function apply>,
                  'basestring': <type 'basestring'>,
                  'bool': <type 'bool'>,
                  'buffer': <type 'buffer'>,
                  'callable': <built-in function callable>,
                  'chr': <built-in function chr>,
                  'classmethod': <type 'classmethod'>,
                  'cmp': <built-in function cmp>,
                  'coerce': <built-in function coerce>,
                  'compile': <built-in function compile>,
                  'complex': <type 'complex'>,
                  'copyright': """Copyright (c) 2001-2007 Python Software Foundation.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright (c) 2000 BeOpen.com.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright (c) 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam.
All Rights Reserved.""",
                  'credits':     Thanks to CWI, CNRI, BeOpen.com, Zope Corporation and a cast of thousands
    for supporting Python development.  See www.python.org for more information.,
                  'delattr': <built-in function delattr>,
                  'dict': <type 'dict'>,
                  'dir': <built-in function dir>,
                  'divmod': <built-in function divmod>,
                  'enumerate': <type 'enumerate'>,
                  'eval': <built-in function eval>,
                  'execfile': <built-in function execfile>,
                  'exit': Use exit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit,
                  'file': <type 'file'>,
                  'filter': <built-in function filter>,
                  'float': <type 'float'>,
                  'frozenset': <type 'frozenset'>,
                  'getattr': <built-in function getattr>,
                  'globals': <built-in function globals>,
                  'hasattr': <built-in function hasattr>,
                  'hash': <built-in function hash>,
                  'help': Type help() for interactive help, or help(object) for help about object.,
                  'hex': <built-in function hex>,
                  'id': <built-in function id>,
                  'input': <built-in function input>,
                  'int': <type 'int'>,
                  'intern': <built-in function intern>,
                  'isinstance': <built-in function isinstance>,
                  'issubclass': <built-in function issubclass>,
                  'iter': <built-in function iter>,
                  'len': <built-in function len>,
                  'license': Type license() to see the full license text,
                  'list': <type 'list'>,
                  'locals': <built-in function locals>,
                  'long': <type 'long'>,
                  'map': <built-in function map>,
                  'max': <built-in function max>,
                  'min': <built-in function min>,
                  'object': <type 'object'>,
                  'oct': <built-in function oct>,
                  'open': <built-in function open>,
                  'ord': <built-in function ord>,
                  'pow': <built-in function pow>,
                  'property': <type 'property'>,
                  'quit': Use quit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit,
                  'range': <built-in function range>,
                  'raw_input': <built-in function raw_input>,
                  'reduce': <built-in function reduce>,
                  'reload': <built-in function reload>,
                  'repr': <built-in function repr>,
                  'reversed': <type 'reversed'>,
                  'round': <built-in function round>,
                  'set': <type 'set'>,
                  'setattr': <built-in function setattr>,
                  'slice': <type 'slice'>,
                  'sorted': <built-in function sorted>,
                  'staticmethod': <type 'staticmethod'>,
                  'str': <type 'str'>,
                  'sum': <built-in function sum>,
                  'super': <type 'super'>,
                  'tuple': <type 'tuple'>,
                  'type': <type 'type'>,
                  'unichr': <built-in function unichr>,
                  'unicode': <type 'unicode'>,
                  'vars': <built-in function vars>,
                  'xrange': <type 'xrange'>,
                  'zip': <built-in function zip>},
 '__doc__': "Support to pretty-print lists, tuples, & dictionaries recursively.\n\nVery simple, but useful, especially in debugging data structures.\n\nClasses\n-------\n\nPrettyPrinter()\n    Handle pretty-printing operations onto a stream using a configured\n    set of formatting parameters.\n\nFunctions\n---------\n\npformat()\n    Format a Python object into a pretty-printed representation.\n\npprint()\n    Pretty-print a Python object to a stream [default is sys.stdout].\n\nsaferepr()\n    Generate a 'standard' repr()-like value, but protect against recursive\n    data structures.\n\n",
 '__file__': '/usr/lib/python2.5/pprint.pyc',
 '__name__': 'pprint',
 '_commajoin': <built-in method join of str object at 0x7fce1360>,
 '_id': <built-in function id>,
 '_len': <built-in function len>,
 '_perfcheck': <function _perfcheck at 0x7fce710c>,
 '_recursion': <function _recursion at 0x7fce70d4>,
 '_safe_repr': <function _safe_repr at 0x7fcdde9c>,
 '_sys': <module 'sys' (built-in)>,
 '_type': <type 'type'>,
 'isreadable': <function isreadable at 0x7fcdde2c>,
 'isrecursive': <function isrecursive at 0x7fcdde64>,
 'pformat': <function pformat at 0x7fcdddbc>,
 'pprint': <function pprint at 0x7fcddd84>,
 'saferepr': <function saferepr at 0x7fcdddf4>}
>>>

__str__

>>> print p.__doc__
Support to pretty-print lists, tuples, & dictionaries recursively.

Very simple, but useful, especially in debugging data structures.

Classes
-------

PrettyPrinter()
    Handle pretty-printing operations onto a stream using a configured
    set of formatting parameters.

Functions
---------

pformat()
    Format a Python object into a pretty-printed representation.

pprint()
    Pretty-print a Python object to a stream [default is sys.stdout].

saferepr()
    Generate a 'standard' repr()-like value, but protect against recursive
    data structures.