Can type hint in python 3 be used to generate docstring?

Question

We can indicate the types of function parameters using docstring in python:

def f1(a):
    """
    :param a: an input.
    :type a: int
    :return: the input integer.
    :rtype: int
    """
    return a

For f1, autodoc generates the following document:

fun1(a)
    Parameters : a (int) – an input.
    Returns    : the input integer.
    Return type: int

In python 3, the types can be indicated by type hint as well:

def f2(a: int):
    """
    :param a: an input.
    :return: the input integer.
    :rtype: int
    """
    return a

When we run autodoc, it puts the type by the parameter declaration, but not in the description:

f2(a: int)
    Parameters : a – an input.
    Returns    : the input integer.
    Return type: int

Would it be possible to generate the documentation as f1 using annotation instead of docstring? I'm using python 3.6. Thank you!

Answer 1

Not yet, from what I'm aware Sphinx yet doesn't support this. The bug referenced in a comment was about the representation of the type-hints and not their positioning.

I do know there's currently an extension for Sphinx that takes care of this for you though, called sphinx-autodoc-typehints. You could probably use that for the time being.