

help(1)                     14 Nov 77                     help(1)



NAME
     help -- print system documentation


SYNOPSIS
             help [-p] [-eccc] [-lnnn] [docname [chapter]]



DESCRIPTION
     Help is a program which  allows  an  inexperienced  user  to
     browse  through system documentation without knowing exactly
     what he is looking for; it also allows an  experienced  user
     instant access, by name, to existing documents.

     If no name is given, HELP starts at the  documentation  root
     (/usr/news),  and  begins  there  in interactive mode.  If a
     file is given, HELP first looks for it in the  documentation
     root directory, then in the directory for chapter one of the
     UNIX manual.  If it is not found, HELP issues a message  and
     exits.   If it is found, HELP prints the file and exits.  If
     a chapter number is also specified, HELP looks for the  file
     in the given chapter of the UNIX manual, and then prints the
     file or exits with a diagnostic.

     Whenever the selected documentation target is  a  directory,
     HELP changes to that directory, and enters interactive mode.
     This continues until a file name is selected.  Then the file
     is  printed,  and  HELP  retypes the entries for the current
     directory.  The interactive mode allows the  user  to  prowl
     the  documentation directories to find topical documentation
     withoug knowing the name of the document he seeks.

     In this interacive mode, HELP prints all the  directory  en-
     tries  (along with a number), and waits for input.  The user
     may then enter:



     ^D      (Control-D) to terminate the session.
     $       (dollar sign) to terminate the session


     The name of any file listed to print that file.

     The number which was listed by the file to print that  file.
             This  is a convenience so that the file names may be
             nice and long and descriptive, yet still  be  easily
             selected by novice typists.

     "/"     To return to the documentation root.

     ".."    To  return  to  the  previous  documentation  level.
             ("../..", etc., work as one would expect.)

     "?"     To print out a short help message.

     Typing any other existing file or directory will cause  HELP
             to  change to that directory and continue.  Normally
             this would be within the HELP  documentation  direc-
             tories,  but  HELP  allows any existing directory in
             the system to be  viewed.  "!"     followed  by  any
             shell  command  will  cause that shell command to be
             executed.  (This is not allowed if help is called as
             your "login" process.)


     The "-p" option selects "pause" mode.  In  this  mode,  help
     prints  about  24  lines, and then waits for a newline to be
     entered on the terminal; then it prints the next  24  lines,
     and  etc.   This  is  an invaluable option on high speed CRT
     devices.

     In pause mode, a string, called the erase string  is  output
     before  each page.  This string is normally set to erase the
     SuperBee terminals.  The "-eccc"  option  allows  it  to  be
     changed  to  "ccc", for use on other terminals.  "-e" causes
     it to be set to the null string.

     The number of lines per page in PAUSE mode  may  be  changed
     with  the  "-lnnn"  option.  "-lnnn" sets the line length to
     nnn.



FILES
     All files  reside  in  /usr/news.   HELP  normally  accesses
     files in this directory and it's subdirectories.  In partic-
     ular, HELP knows about the subdirectories

     /usr/news/man/man1  which is the default chapter, and

     /usr/news/man/man?, which can be selected by an optional di-
     git on the command line.

     HELP can also browse through any part of the UNIX filesystem
     hierarchy,  merely  by typing the full pathname of the place
     you want to start.  This  is  useful  for  browsing  through
     filesystems  in  general.  (However, note that "/" means the
     documentation root, and not the system root.  Type  "//"  or
     "/." for the system root.)


SEE ALSO
     man(I)

AUTHORS
     Jim Besemer (jim) and Jim Meese (pavo)


FUTURE EXTENSIONS
     The following things should be added someday:

     A way to divert output to the line printer (and/or a file).

     Recognition of unique abbreviations to documentation names.


BUGS

     Since "quit", "stop", etc., are HELP commands, documentation
     by  those  names can only be extracted by number in interac-
     tive mode.  Once and  a while help has  bombed  out  with  a
     memory-fault  or something.  All known bugs have been fixed,
     but a problem exists when it does bomb, because if  core  is
     dumped, it is dumped into whichever directory help was using
     at the time of the crash, and this may confuse the debugger.
