How can I print a Python file's docstring when executing it?

Solution 1:

The docstring is stored in the module's __doc__ global.

print(__doc__)

By the way, this goes for any module: import sys; print(sys.__doc__). Docstrings of functions and classes are also in their __doc__ attribute.

Solution 2:

Here is an alternative that does not hardcode the script's filename, but instead uses sys.argv[0] to print it. Using %(scriptName)s instead of %s improves readability of the code.

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
Usage: %(scriptName)s

This describes the script.
"""

import sys
if len(sys.argv) < 2:
   print __doc__ % {'scriptName' : sys.argv[0].split("/")[-1]}
   sys.exit(0)