In order to run a certain function via doctest run_docstring_examples() can be used:
http://stackoverflow.com/a/10081450/376587
The function returns None though.
I am in a situation where I want to run a single function's doctest from a unittest and want to "fail" in case the doctest fails.
Patch in attachment makes run_docstring_examples() return a list of TestResults instances so that you can do:

class TestFoo(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_foo(self):
        ret = doctest.run_docstring_examples(somefun, globals())
        self.assertFalse(ret[0].failed)

Patch lacks tests because run_docstring_examples() is currently not tested. I will open a separate ticket for that.

Patch looks straightforward enough to me, and I think it's a good idea; tests would be nice though (was another issue opened for that?).

So, I think this needs a test; returning a generator would be nice but would be an API break.

Also the doc update needs to say 3.6 now.

Thanks; moving back to patch review.