DOC: clarify array_{2string,str,repr} defaults

Point users to get_printoptions(), which returns the current
print defaults.

1 files changed, 29 insertions, 26 deletions

diff --git a/numpy/core/arrayprint.py b/numpy/core/arrayprint.py
index 4d9ec954c..3e8cdf6ab 100644
--- a/numpy/core/arrayprint.py
+++ b/numpy/core/arrayprint.py
@@ -531,18 +531,19 @@ def array2string(a, max_line_width=None, precision=None,
     a : array_like
         Input array.
     max_line_width : int, optional
-        The maximum number of columns the string should span. Newline
-        characters splits the string appropriately after array elements.
-        See `linewidth` in `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Inserts newlines if text is longer than `max_line_width`.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['linewidth']``.
     precision : int or None, optional
-        Floating point precision. Default is the current printing precision
-        (usually 8), which can be altered using `set_printoptions`.
+        Floating point precision.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['precision']``.
     suppress_small : bool, optional
-        Represent very small numbers as zero. A number is "very small" if it
-        is smaller than the current printing precision.
-        See `suppress` in `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Represent numbers "very close" to zero as zero; default is False.
+        Very close is defined by precision: if the precision is 8, e.g.,
+        numbers smaller (in absolute value) than 5e-9 are represented as
+        zero.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['suppress']``.
     separator : str, optional
-        Inserted between elements (default ' ').
+        Inserted between elements.
     prefix : str, optional
     suffix: str, optional
         The length of the prefix and suffix strings are used to respectively
@@ -587,20 +588,21 @@ def array2string(a, max_line_width=None, precision=None,
     threshold : int, optional
         Total number of array elements which trigger summarization
         rather than full repr.
-        See `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['threshold']``.
     edgeitems : int, optional
         Number of array items in summary at beginning and end of
         each dimension.
-        See `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['edgeitems']``.
     sign : string, either '-', '+', or ' ', optional
         Controls printing of the sign of floating-point types. If '+', always
         print the sign of positive values. If ' ', always prints a space
         (whitespace character) in the sign position of positive values.  If
         '-', omit the sign character of positive values.
-        See `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['sign']``.
     floatmode : str, optional
         Controls the interpretation of the `precision` option for
-        floating-point types. See `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        floating-point types.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['floatmode']``.
         Can take the following values:
 
         - 'fixed': Always print exactly `precision` fractional digits,
@@ -1465,17 +1467,17 @@ def array_repr(arr, max_line_width=None, precision=None, suppress_small=None):
     arr : ndarray
         Input array.
     max_line_width : int, optional
-        The maximum number of columns the string should span. Newline
-        characters split the string appropriately after array elements.
-        See `linewidth` in `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Inserts newlines if text is longer than `max_line_width`.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['linewidth']``.
     precision : int, optional
-        Floating point precision. Default is the current printing precision
-        (usually 8), which can be altered using `set_printoptions`.
+        Floating point precision.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['precision']``.
     suppress_small : bool, optional
-        Represent very small numbers as zero, default is False. Very small
-        is defined by `precision`, if the precision is 8 then
-        numbers smaller than 5e-9 are represented as zero.
-        See `suppress` in `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Represent numbers "very close" to zero as zero; default is False.
+        Very close is defined by precision: if the precision is 8, e.g.,
+        numbers smaller (in absolute value) than 5e-9 are represented as
+        zero.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['suppress']``.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -1547,15 +1549,16 @@ def array_str(a, max_line_width=None, precision=None, suppress_small=None):
         Input array.
     max_line_width : int, optional
         Inserts newlines if text is longer than `max_line_width`.
-        See `linewidth` in `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['linewidth']``.
     precision : int, optional
-        Floating point precision. Default is the current printing precision
-        (usually 8), which can be altered using `set_printoptions`.
+        Floating point precision.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['precision']``.
     suppress_small : bool, optional
         Represent numbers "very close" to zero as zero; default is False.
         Very close is defined by precision: if the precision is 8, e.g.,
         numbers smaller (in absolute value) than 5e-9 are represented as
-        zero. See `suppress` in `set_printoptions` for defaults.
+        zero.
+        Defaults to ``numpy.get_printoptions()['suppress']``.
 
     See Also
     --------