Routine Name:
help
Description:
Displays help on GENESIS topics.
Usage:
help [ topic [help-directory-list] ]
Example:
topic
string (typically a routine name)
help-directory
list of directories containing
ascii help files
genesis > help CONTENTS | more
genesis > help synchan | more
genesis > help myroutine /myhelpdirectory /basichelp
Notes:
Help searches specified help directories for
documentation on
the given topic (typically a routine name). If no directory
is specified then the current default help directory (the
last
help directory referenced) will be used. If no default help
directory exists (e.g., when help is used for the first
time),
the value of the environment variable GENESIS_HELP is used as
the help directory (cf. setenv, getenv); this variable is
set to the genesis/Doc directory, using the full path
given in the default .simrc file.
As most of these files are longer than a single screen,
it is
best to pipe the output into "more".
If no topic is given, the genesis/Doc/README file is
printed
to the screen.
This gives further information about the
current version of the one-line help, the GENESIS
Reference
Manual, and the hypertext documentation.
[for help writers:]
The Help facility allows text to be included from other files
(use ## as first characters on a line, followed by the local
file name; you can omit the .doc suffix). For instance, you
might create the following file trig.doc:
TRIG Routines
##cos
##sin
##tan
When you type "help trig" to view this file, instead of
seeing
the text "##cos" etc., the contents of the file cos.doc would
be read in and displayed at that point in the file.