[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

Change by Steven D'Aprano : -- nosy: +steven.daprano versions: +Python 3.8 -Python 2.7, Python 3.5 ___ Python tracker ___ ___

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

Changes by Jesús Cea Avión j...@jcea.es: -- nosy: +jcea ___ Python tracker rep...@bugs.python.org http://bugs.python.org/issue21625 ___ ___ Python-bugs-list mailing list

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

Ned Batchelder added the comment: Serhiy, thanks for the configuration tip. But you seem to be missing my point, which is that beginners need the default to be a little more friendly. I don't want to make it bad for experienced users, of course. I doubt Unix users will be confused by

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

eryksun added the comment: You can use '-P?e(END) .(q to quit)' to add (END) just on the last line. Or show the line count instead: os.environ['LESS'] = '-Pline %lB?L/%L. (press h for help or q to quit)' -- ___ Python tracker

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

R. David Murray added the comment: There is also an option to make less quit if enter is pressed on the last line (-e/--quit-at-eof). These more beginner friendly options could be provided by pydoc if there is no existing PAGER or LESS environment variable. -- nosy: +r.david.murray

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

New submission from Ned Batchelder: From the #python IRC channel: ``` [07:55:29] tonysar hello.new to programming and python, i use mac terminal but problem i have is , when i use help function of python to look up something , i lose my prompt and i have no idea how to go back , what i

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

eryksun added the comment: Why does help() enter a more-mode for even short help? `more` exits if there's less than a page of a text. The default for `less` is to quit when q is entered. You may be interested in the option -e (quit-at-eof). Why doesn't ENTER get you out of it? ENTER

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

Ned Batchelder added the comment: Thanks, this is a very complete explanation of the machinery behind the scenes. I think we would do beginners a service if we made the behavior a bit less obscure. Are there ways that we could (for example) have the prompt say END (q to quit) instead of

[issue21625] help()'s more-mode is frustrating

Serhiy Storchaka added the comment: Are there ways that we could (for example) have the prompt say END (q to quit) instead of just END? Add following command to your profile file (~/.profile, ~/bashrc, or ~/.bash_aliases): export LESS='-PEND (q to quit)' And please don't break help().