---
name: "pydoc"
section: "1"
platform: "macos"
package: "python"
version: "184"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pydoc"
---

# pydoc(1)

the Python documentation tool

## NAME

**pydoc** – the Python documentation tool

## SYNOPSIS

**pydoc** *name*

**pydoc** **-k** *keyword*

**pydoc** **-p** *port*

**pydoc** **-g**

**pydoc** **-w** *module* *...*

**pydoc** **--help**

## DESCRIPTION

**pydoc** shows text documentation on something related to [python(1)](/python/1.md). The *name* argument may be the name of a Python keyword, topic, function, module, or package, or a dotted reference to a class or function within a module or module in a package. If *name* contains a '/', it is used as the path to a Python source file to document. If *name* is 'keywords', 'topics', or 'modules', a listing of these things is displayed.

## OPTIONS

- **-k** *keyword*

  Search for a keyword in the synopsis lines of all available modules.

- **-p** *port*

  Start an HTTP server on the given port on the local machine.

- **-g**

  Pop up a graphical interface for finding and serving documentation.

- **-w** *module* *...*

  Write out the HTML documentation for a module to a file in the current directory. If *module* contains a '/', it is treated as a filename; if it names a directory, documentation is written for all the contents.

- **--help**

  Prints out a help message.

## AUTHOR

Moshe Zadka, based on "pydoc --help"

## SEE ALSO

[python(1)](/python/1.md)