=== modified file 'Doc/library/cmd.rst'
--- Doc/library/cmd.rst	2009-04-05 21:20:44 +0000
+++ Doc/library/cmd.rst	2010-02-11 18:12:41 +0000
@@ -80,7 +80,13 @@
    method, called with an argument ``'bar'``, invokes the corresponding method
    :meth:`help_bar`.  With no argument, :meth:`do_help` lists all available help
    topics (that is, all commands with corresponding :meth:`help_\*` methods), and
-   also lists any undocumented commands.
+   also lists any undocumented commands.  If a `do` method has a doc string,
+   the method is also considered documented, and the doc string is displayed as
+   the help text for the command.  A number of characters equal to the number
+   of whitespace characters on the first non-blank line of the doc string is
+   stripped from the front of all subsequent doc string lines.  This allows the
+   doc string to be indented naturally but to display without the extra
+   indentation.
 
 
 .. method:: Cmd.onecmd(str)

=== modified file 'Lib/cmd.py'
--- Lib/cmd.py	2010-01-09 18:53:06 +0000
+++ Lib/cmd.py	2010-02-11 18:17:10 +0000
@@ -297,7 +297,16 @@
                 try:
                     doc=getattr(self, 'do_' + arg).__doc__
                     if doc:
-                        self.stdout.write("%s\n"%str(doc))
+                        lines = iter(doc.splitlines())
+                        for line in lines:
+                            if line.strip():
+                                padlen = len(line) - len(line.lstrip())
+                                self.stdout.write(line[padlen:]+'\n')
+                                break
+                            else:
+                                self.stdout.write(line+'\n')
+                        for line in lines:
+                            self.stdout.write(line[padlen:]+'\n')
                         return
                 except AttributeError:
                     pass

=== modified file 'Lib/test/test_cmd.py'
--- Lib/test/test_cmd.py	2010-01-09 18:53:06 +0000
+++ Lib/test/test_cmd.py	2010-02-11 18:39:45 +0000
@@ -77,17 +77,21 @@
     *** No help on testet
     >>> mycmd.do_help("add")
     help text for add
+    >>> mycmd.onecmd("help exit")
+    <BLANKLINE>
+    exit the loop
+    <BLANKLINE>
     >>> mycmd.onecmd("help add")
     help text for add
     >>> mycmd.do_help("")
     <BLANKLINE>
     Documented commands (type help <topic>):
     ========================================
-    add
+    add  exit
     <BLANKLINE>
     Undocumented commands:
     ======================
-    exit  help  shell
+    help  shell
     <BLANKLINE>
 
     Test for the function print_topics():
@@ -114,6 +118,8 @@
     and let it execute
     This test includes the preloop(), postloop(), default(), emptyline(),
     parseline(), do_help() functions
+    Note that the expected output depends on which command was executed
+    last in the tests before this one: 'help add' is the expectation.
     >>> mycmd.use_rawinput=0
     >>> mycmd.cmdqueue=["", "add", "add 4 5", "help", "help add","exit"]
     >>> mycmd.cmdloop()
@@ -124,11 +130,11 @@
     <BLANKLINE>
     Documented commands (type help <topic>):
     ========================================
-    add
+    add  exit
     <BLANKLINE>
     Undocumented commands:
     ======================
-    exit  help  shell
+    help  shell
     <BLANKLINE>
     help text for add
     Hello from postloop
@@ -166,6 +172,9 @@
         return
 
     def do_exit(self, arg):
+        """
+        exit the loop
+        """
         return True
 
 def test_main(verbose=None):