[Python-checkins] r61871 - python/trunk/Doc/library/functions.rst

Tue Mar 25 08:20:16 CET 2008

Author: georg.brandl
Date: Tue Mar 25 08:20:15 2008
New Revision: 61871
Modified:
 python/trunk/Doc/library/functions.rst
Log:
#868845: document <...> reprs.
Modified: python/trunk/Doc/library/functions.rst
==============================================================================

--- python/trunk/Doc/library/functions.rst	(original)
+++ python/trunk/Doc/library/functions.rst	Tue Mar 25 08:20:15 2008
@@ -1004,11 +1004,15 @@
 
 .. function:: repr(object)
 
- Return a string containing a printable representation of an object. This is the
- same value yielded by conversions (reverse quotes). It is sometimes useful to be
- able to access this operation as an ordinary function. For many types, this
- function makes an attempt to return a string that would yield an object with the
- same value when passed to :func:`eval`.
+ Return a string containing a printable representation of an object. This is
+ the same value yielded by conversions (reverse quotes). It is sometimes
+ useful to be able to access this operation as an ordinary function. For many
+ types, this function makes an attempt to return a string that would yield an
+ object with the same value when passed to :func:`eval`, otherwise the
+ representation is a string enclosed in angle brackets that contains the name
+ of the type of the object together with additional information often
+ including the name and address of the object. A class can control what this
+ function returns for its instances by defining a :meth:`__repr__` method.
 
 
 .. function:: reversed(seq)
