It’s that little blurb of text at the top of your function or class definition that tells you what it does and how to use it. Well, sometimes those docstrings can get a bit… wonky. Maybe they have typos, maybe they don’t accurately describe what the function actually does. That’s where Python docstring testing comes in!
Now, before we dive into this, let me just say that I know some of you out there are thinking “Who has time for all this extra documentation? Can’t we just get on with writing code?” And to those people, I say: lighten up, Francis. Docstrings aren’t just for the benefit of other developers who might be using your code they can also help YOU remember what that function does a few months down the line when you’ve forgotten all about it.
So how do we test these docstrings? Well, first off, let me introduce you to our trusty friend: unittest. This is Python’s built-in testing framework, and it makes writing tests for your code super easy. Here’s an example of what a basic test might look like:

# Import the necessary modules
import unittest
from my_module import my_function

# Create a class for testing docstrings
class TestDocstrings(unittest.TestCase):
    # Create a test method
    def test_docstring(self):
        # Use the assertEqual method to check if the docstring of my_function is equal to the given string
        self.assertEqual(my_function.__doc__, "This is the docstring for my function.")

# Check if the script is being run directly
if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Run the tests using the unittest module
    unittest.main()

# Explanation:
# The first line imports the necessary unittest module for testing and the my_function from the my_module.
# The TestDocstrings class is created to contain the test methods.
# The test_docstring method is created to test the docstring of my_function.
# The assertEqual method checks if the docstring of my_function is equal to the given string.
# The if statement checks if the script is being run directly.
# The unittest.main() method runs the tests using the unittest module.

In this example, we’re creating a new class called `TestDocstrings`, which inherits from Python’s built-in `TestCase` class. We then define a test method (called `test_docstring`) that uses the `assertEqual` function to check if our docstring matches what we expect it to be.
Now, let me just say: this is not the most exciting way to spend your time as a developer. But trust me once you’ve written enough code and forgotten all about how it works, you’ll thank yourself for taking the extra few minutes to write those docstrings (and test them!). And if nothing else, at least you can say that you’re doing something productive while watching Netflix in bed on a lazy Sunday afternoon.