What Is A Docstring?

Docstrings typically refer to specially formatted comments or strings that provide documentation about functions, classes, methods, or modules within the code. Developers commonly use comments or specially formatted comments to achieve this.

For instance, PHP developers might use comments with specific conventions to document functions, classes, or methods:

🚫 Wrap Code📋 Copy
01: /**
02:  * This function calculates the sum of two numbers.
03:  *
04:  * @param int $a The first number
05:  * @param int $b The second number
06:  * @return int The sum of $a and $b
07:  */
08: function calculateSum($a, $b) {
09:     return $a + $b;
10: }

In the example above:

• The multi-line comment above the calculateSum function serves as documentation.
• It describes what the function does.
• It uses @param to document the parameters and their types.
• It uses @return to document the return type and what the function returns.

Although PHP for example, doesn't have an official concept of docstrings, using comments in this manner helps developers understand code better, generate documentation using tools like PHPDoc, and maintain codebases more effectively by providing clear and concise documentation alongside the code.

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