Google Tips¶

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Google Tips for Python¶

People frequently have trouble finding stuff on the Python websites. Sometimes they are just too lazy to search. Other times they don’t shine a light in the proper corner. Google pokes in every corner, but you sometimes need a little help coaxing information out of it. This page gives a few idioms useful for searching Google effectively for content on the Python websites.

Searching a Single Site¶

Google enables you to restrict your search to a single site.

site:www.python.org spam

will search www.python.org for ‘spam’.

The next few sub-sections illustrate handy examples.

Searching Mailing Lists¶

site:mail.python.org listname terms

Search for discussions of packages in python-dev: site:mail.python.org python-dev packages
Search for BDFL pronouncements in python-list: site:mail.python.org python-list guido pronouncement

Searching the Library Reference Manual¶

site:www.python.org library reference terms

Search for information about regular expressions: site:www.python.org library reference regular expressions
Search for examples of using the logging module: site:www.python.org library reference logging example

Searching the Language Reference Manual¶

site:www.python.org reference manual terms

Search for reference description of list comprehensions: site:www.python.org reference manual list comprehension

Searching the PEPs¶

site:www.python.org PEP terms

* Search for PEP 289: site:www.python.org PEP 289

* Search for PEPs about rational numbers: site:www.python.org PEP Rational

Searching for a Phrase¶

If you simply type your seach terms into the google search box, google will return pages that use all of your search terms, no matter where they occur. If, instead, you surround your search terms with double quote marks, you will get back an exact-phrase search.

Thus, searching for

python wiki engine

will return any pages that mention all three terms, many of which won’t be about python wiki engines, per se. By contrast, a search for

“python wiki engine”

will only return pages which uses this exact phrase.

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