What order should these elements be in a Python module?

Question

When present, what is the order that these elements should be declared in a Python module?

• Hash bang (#!/usr/bin/env python)
• Encoding (# coding: utf-8)
• Future imports (from __future__ import unicode_literals, ...)
• Docstring

If declared last, will the docstring work in a call help(module)?

Answer 1

1. Hash bang. The kernel literally looks at the first two bytes of the file to see if they are equal to #!, so it won't work otherwise.

2. Encoding. According to the Python Language Reference it must be "on the first or second line".

3. Docstring. According to PEP 257, a docstring is "a string literal that occurs as the first statement in a module, function, class, or method definition", so it cannot go after any import statements. You can see for yourself that help(module) no longer reports your docstring if you put it in a different place.

4. Future imports, because they cannot go before any of the above.