In a python repl dir(object) and help, help(object) are what you are looking for. Both these functions are in the default namespace dir(__builtins__) Ret

In a python repl dir(object) and help, help(object) are what you are looking for. Both these functions are in the default namespace dir(__builtins__) Returns a list of strings for all the names bound in the prelude namespace. dir(list) Returns a list of strings for all the methods on the list class. dir([]) Will return a all the methods on a particular instance. etc… the same caveats apply to dir with getattr etc as to method_missing. additional caveat i dont care to test; it may not work on an old style class instance. help has its __repr__ defined to tell you how to use it. It will allow you to read the doc strings for a namespace, object or function. However i prefer to run 'pydoc -p 8888' in my projects top level; this will start an http server on port 8888 that lets you interactively browser your projects docstrings and all the modules on its pythonpath. Hope that helps