How can I read a function's signature including default argument values?

import inspect

def foo(a, b, x='blah'):
    pass

print(inspect.getargspec(foo))
# ArgSpec(args=['a', 'b', 'x'], varargs=None, keywords=None, defaults=('blah',))

However, note that inspect.getargspec() is deprecated since Python 3.0.

Python 3.0--3.4 recommends inspect.getfullargspec().

Python 3.5+ recommends inspect.signature().

Arguably the easiest way to find the signature for a function would be help(function):

>>> def function(arg1, arg2="foo", *args, **kwargs): pass
>>> help(function)
Help on function function in module __main__:

function(arg1, arg2='foo', *args, **kwargs)

Also, in Python 3 a method was added to the inspect module called signature, which is designed to represent the signature of a callable object and its return annotation:

>>> from inspect import signature
>>> def foo(a, *, b:int, **kwargs):
...     pass

>>> sig = signature(foo)

>>> str(sig)
'(a, *, b:int, **kwargs)'

>>> str(sig.parameters['b'])
'b:int'

>>> sig.parameters['b'].annotation
<class 'int'>

#! /usr/bin/env python

import inspect
from collections import namedtuple

DefaultArgSpec = namedtuple('DefaultArgSpec', 'has_default default_value')

def _get_default_arg(args, defaults, arg_index):
    """ Method that determines if an argument has default value or not,
    and if yes what is the default value for the argument

    :param args: array of arguments, eg: ['first_arg', 'second_arg', 'third_arg']
    :param defaults: array of default values, eg: (42, 'something')
    :param arg_index: index of the argument in the argument array for which,
    this function checks if a default value exists or not. And if default value
    exists it would return the default value. Example argument: 1
    :return: Tuple of whether there is a default or not, and if yes the default
    value, eg: for index 2 i.e. for "second_arg" this function returns (True, 42)
    """
    if not defaults:
        return DefaultArgSpec(False, None)

    args_with_no_defaults = len(args) - len(defaults)

    if arg_index < args_with_no_defaults:
        return DefaultArgSpec(False, None)
    else:
        value = defaults[arg_index - args_with_no_defaults]
        if (type(value) is str):
            value = '"%s"' % value
        return DefaultArgSpec(True, value)

def get_method_sig(method):
    """ Given a function, it returns a string that pretty much looks how the
    function signature would be written in python.

    :param method: a python method
    :return: A string similar describing the pythong method signature.
    eg: "my_method(first_argArg, second_arg=42, third_arg='something')"
    """

    # The return value of ArgSpec is a bit weird, as the list of arguments and
    # list of defaults are returned in separate array.
    # eg: ArgSpec(args=['first_arg', 'second_arg', 'third_arg'],
    # varargs=None, keywords=None, defaults=(42, 'something'))
    argspec = inspect.getargspec(method)
    arg_index=0
    args = []

    # Use the args and defaults array returned by argspec and find out
    # which arguments has default
    for arg in argspec.args:
        default_arg = _get_default_arg(argspec.args, argspec.defaults, arg_index)
        if default_arg.has_default:
            args.append("%s=%s" % (arg, default_arg.default_value))
        else:
            args.append(arg)
        arg_index += 1
    return "%s(%s)" % (method.__name__, ", ".join(args))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    def my_method(first_arg, second_arg=42, third_arg='something'):
        pass

    print get_method_sig(my_method)
    # my_method(first_argArg, second_arg=42, third_arg="something")