How to selectively override the text from python's help(MYclass) with something shorter and customized?

Question

I'm learning to write user-friendly classes and methods and I'd like for users to know how to use them from a terminal. Python's standard help(MYclass) returns eighteen lines I don't want, and that's half a screen for a small window and those just learning python will lose continuity with the previous lines disappearing from the top.

Is there any way I can override what using help(MYclass) (or help(MYmethod)) shows so that it only displays the (in this case) one-line docstring?

While some IDEs show the docstrings in bubbles, terminals don't cooperate. (Do the triple-quoted (docstring) messages in Python appear while typing in IDEs other than IDLE?):

So instead, I've turned to help for help, but help is overly helpful with all those extra lines of template.

Then I thought of redefining help:

def hhelp(x):
    return x.__doc__
help = hhelp

but I decided that this is evil; like redefining the number 7, and I would like help(some builtin) to still work normally, and the selective hijacking to occur only for MYclasses.

There is always

def doc(x):
    return x.__doc__

if I can't find anything that selectively hijacks help().

---

class A(object):
    """instantiate a = A(x), then use a.sqr() to get x**2"""
    def __init__(self, x):
            self.x = x
    def sqr(self):
            return x**2

results in nineteen lines. I'd only like my one-line docstring to show.

Help on class A in module __main__:

class A(__builtin__.object)
 |  instantiate a = A(x), then use a.sqr() to get x**2
 |  
 |  Methods defined here:
 |  
 |  __init__(self, x)
 |  
 |  sqr(self)
 |  
 |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 |  Data descriptors defined here:
 |  
 |  __dict__
 |      dictionary for instance variables (if defined)
 |  
 |  __weakref__
 |      list of weak references to the object (if defined)

Answer 1

You can monkeypatch the built-in help function to show the __doc__ string for classes and to fall back on the original help for other objects:

import inspect
import pydoc

class Helper(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.help = __builtins__.help

    def __call__(self, obj):
        if inspect.isclass(obj):
            return pydoc.pager(obj.__doc__)
        else:
            return self.help(obj)

__builtins__.help = Helper()

Which produces the following output:

class Foo:
    """This is the docstring."""

    def foo(self):
        return None

help(Foo)

# Output:
# This is the docstring.