pydoc.pager does not promise to use $PAGER.

Doc/library/pdb.rst

@@ -207,10 +207,9 @@ by the local file.
 
    Without argument, print the list of available commands.  With a *command* as
    argument, print help about that command.  ``help pdb`` displays the full
-   documentation (the docstring of the :mod:`pdb` module); if the environment
-   variable :envvar:`PAGER` is defined, the string is piped through that command
-   instead.  Since the *command* argument must be an identifier, ``help exec``
-   must be entered to get help on the ``!`` command.
+   documentation (the docstring of the :mod:`pdb` module).  Since the *command*
+   argument must be an identifier, ``help exec`` must be entered to get help on
+   the ``!`` command.
 
 .. pdbcommand:: w(here)
 

Lib/pdb.py

@@ -1123,7 +1123,7 @@ class Pdb(bdb.Bdb, cmd.Cmd):
         print("""h(elp)
 Without argument, print the list of available commands.
 With a command name as argument, print help about that command
-"help pdb" pipes the full documentation file to the $PAGER
+"help pdb" shows the full pdb documentation
 "help exec" gives help on the ! command""", file=self.stdout)
 
     def help_where(self):