Adding docstrings to namedtuples?

Question

Is it possible to add a documentation string to a namedtuple in an easy manner?

I tried

from collections import namedtuple

Point = namedtuple(\"Poin         


        

Answer 1

No, you can only add doc strings to modules, classes and function (including methods)

Answer 2

You can achieve this by creating a simple, empty wrapper class around the returned value from namedtuple. Contents of a file I created (nt.py):

from collections import namedtuple

Point_ = namedtuple("Point", ["x", "y"])

class Point(Point_):
    """ A point in 2d space """
    pass

Then in the Python REPL:

>>> print nt.Point.__doc__
 A point in 2d space 

Or you could do:

>>> help(nt.Point)  # which outputs...

Help on class Point in module nt:

class Point(Point)
 |  A point in 2d space
 |  
 |  Method resolution order:
 |      Point
 |      Point
 |      __builtin__.tuple
 |      __builtin__.object
 ...

If you don't like doing that by hand every time, it's trivial to write a sort-of factory function to do this:

def NamedTupleWithDocstring(docstring, *ntargs):
    nt = namedtuple(*ntargs)
    class NT(nt):
        __doc__ = docstring
    return NT

Point3D = NamedTupleWithDocstring("A point in 3d space", "Point3d", ["x", "y", "z"])

p3 = Point3D(1,2,3)

print p3.__doc__

which outputs:

A point in 3d space

Answer 3

In Python 3, no wrapper is needed, as the __doc__ attributes of types is writable.

from collections import namedtuple

Point = namedtuple('Point', 'x y')
Point.__doc__ = '''\
A 2-dimensional coordinate

x - the abscissa
y - the ordinate'''

This closely corresponds to a standard class definition, where the docstring follows the header.

class Point():
    '''A 2-dimensional coordinate

    x - the abscissa
    y - the ordinate'''
    <class code>

This does not work in Python 2.

AttributeError: attribute '__doc__' of 'type' objects is not writable.

Answer 4

In Python 3.6+ you can use:

class Point(NamedTuple):
    """
    A point in 2D space
    """
    x: float
    y: float

Answer 5

Since Python 3.5, docstrings for namedtuple objects can be updated.

From the whatsnew:

Point = namedtuple('Point', ['x', 'y'])
Point.__doc__ += ': Cartesian coodinate'
Point.x.__doc__ = 'abscissa'
Point.y.__doc__ = 'ordinate'

Answer 6

I created this function to quickly create a named tuple and document the tuple along with each of its parameters:

from collections import namedtuple


def named_tuple(name, description='', **kwargs):
    """
    A named tuple with docstring documentation of each of its parameters
    :param str name: The named tuple's name
    :param str description: The named tuple's description
    :param kwargs: This named tuple's parameters' data with two different ways to describe said parameters. Format:
        <pre>{
            str: ( # The parameter's name
                str, # The parameter's type
                str # The parameter's description
            ),
            str: str, # The parameter's name: the parameter's description
            ... # Any other parameters
        }</pre>
    :return: collections.namedtuple
    """
    parameter_names = list(kwargs.keys())

    result = namedtuple(name, ' '.join(parameter_names))

    # If there are any parameters provided (such that this is not an empty named tuple)
    if len(parameter_names):
        # Add line spacing before describing this named tuple's parameters
        if description is not '':
            description += "\n"

        # Go through each parameter provided and add it to the named tuple's docstring description
        for parameter_name in parameter_names:
            parameter_data = kwargs[parameter_name]

            # Determine whether parameter type is included along with the description or
            # if only a description was provided
            parameter_type = ''
            if isinstance(parameter_data, str):
                parameter_description = parameter_data
            else:
                parameter_type, parameter_description = parameter_data

            description += "\n:param {type}{name}: {description}".format(
                type=parameter_type + ' ' if parameter_type else '',
                name=parameter_name,
                description=parameter_description
            )

            # Change the docstring specific to this parameter
            getattr(result, parameter_name).__doc__ = parameter_description

    # Set the docstring description for the resulting named tuple
    result.__doc__ = description

    return result

You can then create a new named tuple:

MyTuple = named_tuple(
    "MyTuple",
    "My named tuple for x,y coordinates",
    x="The x value",
    y="The y value"
)

Then instantiate the described named tuple with your own data, ie.

t = MyTuple(4, 8)
print(t) # prints: MyTuple(x=4, y=8)

When executing help(MyTuple) via the python3 command line the following is shown:

Help on class MyTuple:

class MyTuple(builtins.tuple)
 |  MyTuple(x, y)
 |
 |  My named tuple for x,y coordinates
 |
 |  :param x: The x value
 |  :param y: The y value
 |
 |  Method resolution order:
 |      MyTuple
 |      builtins.tuple
 |      builtins.object
 |
 |  Methods defined here:
 |
 |  __getnewargs__(self)
 |      Return self as a plain tuple.  Used by copy and pickle.
 |
 |  __repr__(self)
 |      Return a nicely formatted representation string
 |
 |  _asdict(self)
 |      Return a new OrderedDict which maps field names to their values.
 |
 |  _replace(_self, **kwds)
 |      Return a new MyTuple object replacing specified fields with new values
 |
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Class methods defined here:
 |
 |  _make(iterable) from builtins.type
 |      Make a new MyTuple object from a sequence or iterable
 |
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Static methods defined here:
 |
 |  __new__(_cls, x, y)
 |      Create new instance of MyTuple(x, y)
 |
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Data descriptors defined here:
 |
 |  x
 |      The x value
 |
 |  y
 |      The y value
 |
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Data and other attributes defined here:
 |  
 |  _fields = ('x', 'y')
 |  
 |  _fields_defaults = {}
 |  
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Methods inherited from builtins.tuple:
 |  
 |  __add__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self+value.
 |  
 |  __contains__(self, key, /)
 |      Return key in self.
 |  
 |  __eq__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self==value.
 |  
 |  __ge__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self>=value.
 |  
 |  __getattribute__(self, name, /)
 |      Return getattr(self, name).
 |  
 |  __getitem__(self, key, /)
 |      Return self[key].
 |  
 |  __gt__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self>value.
 |  
 |  __hash__(self, /)
 |      Return hash(self).
 |  
 |  __iter__(self, /)
 |      Implement iter(self).
 |  
 |  __le__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self<=value.
 |  
 |  __len__(self, /)
 |      Return len(self).
 |  
 |  __lt__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self<value.
 |  
 |  __mul__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self*value.
 |  
 |  __ne__(self, value, /)
 |      Return self!=value.
 |  
 |  __rmul__(self, value, /)
 |      Return value*self.
 |  
 |  count(self, value, /)
 |      Return number of occurrences of value.
 |  
 |  index(self, value, start=0, stop=9223372036854775807, /)
 |      Return first index of value.
 |      
 |      Raises ValueError if the value is not present.

Alternatively, you can also specify the parameter's type via:

MyTuple = named_tuple(
    "MyTuple",
    "My named tuple for x,y coordinates",
    x=("int", "The x value"),
    y=("int", "The y value")
)