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--- status: Rewritten June 2020
--- author(s): Mahrud Sayrafi
--- notes: functions below are all defined in help.m2
--- FIXME: help "Macaulay2" doesn't do what this page ways
doc ///
Key
help
(help, Array)
(help, DocumentTag)
(help, List)
(help, Sequence)
(help, String)
(help, Symbol)
(help, Thing)
Headline
view documentation nodes
Description
Text
Various ways to get help:
@UL {
(TT "help \"Macaulay2\"", " -- displays the base of the online documentation tree."),
(TT "help X", " -- displays the online documentation for ", TT "X", "."),
(TT "help methods T", " -- displays help messages about the methods that take an object of class ", TT "T", "as input."),
(TT "help methods res", " -- displays help messages about various uses the function ", TT "res", "."),
(TT "help methods symbol **", " -- displays help messages about various uses and meanings of the operator ", TT "**", "."),
(TT "help methods (map, Module)", " -- displays help messages about various ways to use the function ", TT "map", " and a module."),
(TT "help methods (symbol **, T)", " -- displays help messages about various ways to use the operator ", TT "**", " and an object of class ", TT "T", "."),
(TT "help methods (X, Y)", " -- displays help messages about the methods usable with an object of class ", TT "X", " and an object of class ", TT "Y", "."),
(TT "help apropos \"hilbert\"", " -- displays help messages about all functions whose name contains the string ", TT "hilbert", "."),
(TT "help about X", " -- displays documentation nodes from all installed packages whose keys contain ", TT "X", "."),
(TT "help about(X, Body => true)", " -- displays documentation nodes from all installed packages whose keys or contents contain ", TT "X", ".")
}@
The @TT "help"@ command is used to display online documentation, as in the following suggestions.
Use @TO viewHelp@ to display the corresponding documentation in your web browser.
@UL {
TT "help",
TT "help ideal",
TT "help(ideal, List)"
}@
Some other potential help topics:
@UL {
TT "help \"monomial orderings\"",
TT "help \"Gröbner bases\"",
TT "help \"multigraded polynomial rings\""
}@
SeeAlso
"initial help"
(symbol?, Symbol)
viewHelp
infoHelp
apropos
about
code
methods
examples
///
doc ///
Key
viewHelp
(viewHelp, Thing)
(viewHelp, String)
(viewHelp, DocumentTag)
Headline
view online documentation in a web browser
Usage
viewHelp
viewHelp X
Inputs
X:Thing
a descriptor for a documentation node (see below for examples)
Consequences
Item
The given documentation page is displayed using the function @TO show@
which opens the page in the default web browser.
Description
Text
If no argument is given to @TT "viewHelp"@ then the top page of your local html documentation is displayed.
Some example uses:
@UL {
(TT "viewHelp", " -- top of local copy of the documentation, including installed packages"),
(TT "viewHelp \"Macaulay2\"", " -- top of Macaulay2 doc"),
(TT "viewHelp ideal", " -- online doc for the 'ideal' function"),
(TT "viewHelp \"matrices\"", " -- overview of matrices in Macaulay2"),
(TT "viewHelp (ideal, List)", " -- online doc for ideal(List) method"),
(TT "viewHelp (diff, Matrix, Matrix)", " -- online doc for the diff function taking two matrices as arguments"),
(TT "viewHelp [gb, DegreeLimit]", " -- view doc for the optional argument DegreeLimit to gb function"),
(TT "viewHelp (symbol**, Matrix, Matrix)", " -- view doc for Matrix**Matrix")
}@
Caveat
The @TO help@ command allows other possible arguments, such as @TT "help methods ideal"@,
but for @TT "viewHelp"@ the argument @TT "X"@ must refer to only one web page.
SeeAlso
infoHelp
help
about
apropos
makePackageIndex
///
doc ///
Key
infoHelp
(infoHelp, Thing)
(infoHelp, DocumentTag)
Headline
view documentation in Info format
Usage
infoHelp
infoHelp X
Inputs
X:Thing
a descriptor for a documentation node (see below for examples)
Consequences
Item
The given documentation page is displayed using info, if you are running Macaulay2 in a terminal window.
If you are running Macaulay2 in Emacs, then the page is opened in another window using Info mode.
If no argument is given to @TT "infoHelp"@, then the top node of the Macaulay2 documentation is displayed.
Description
Text
Some example uses:
@UL {
(TT "infoHelp \"Macaulay2\"", " -- top of Macaulay2 doc"),
(TT "infoHelp ideal", " -- online doc for the 'ideal' function"),
(TT "infoHelp \"matrices\"", " -- overview of matrices in Macaulay2"),
(TT "infoHelp (ideal, List)", " -- online doc for ideal(List) method"),
(TT "infoHelp (diff, Matrix, Matrix)", " -- online doc for the diff function taking two matrices as arguments"),
(TT "infoHelp [gb, DegreeLimit]", " -- view doc for the optional argument DegreeLimit to gb function"),
(TT "infoHelp (symbol**, Matrix, Matrix)", " -- view doc for Matrix**Matrix")
}@
While in the @TT "info"@ program, there are many ways to navigate and search.
Besides the arrow keys to move around on the page, here is a list of the most useful key strokes:
@UL {
(TT "?", " -- display information about all of the possible keystrokes"),
(TT "q", " -- quit info, return to Macaulay2"),
(TT "n", " -- go to the next documentation node"),
(TT "p", " -- go to the previous node"),
(TT "m", " -- follow the menu link"),
(TT "r", " -- follow a cross-reference"),
(TT "l", " -- go to the last node visited"),
}@
Caveat
The @TO help@ command allows other possible arguments, such as @TT "help methods ideal"@,
but @TT "infoHelp"@ requires that the argument @TT "s"@ refer to only one documentation page.
@HEADER2 "Viewing Info files in Emacs"@
If you read the info form of the documentation in Emacs, we recommend configuring
the value of the Emacs variable @TT "Info-hide-note-references"@ to @TT "hide"@ in order to
prevent Emacs from inserting a superfluous @TT "See"@ or @TT "see"@ in front of the hyperlinks.
This is done automatically for you by running @TO setup@ or @TO setupEmacs@.
SeeAlso
viewHelp
help
about
apropos
///
doc ///
Node
Key
(symbol?, Symbol)
(symbol?, ScriptedFunctor)
(symbol?, Function)
(symbol?, Keyword)
(symbol?, Package)
(symbol?, Type)
Headline
view brief documentation of a symbol
Description
Text
A question mark followed by a symbol representing a function, type, option name, or package
prints a brief, compact list of various ways to use the given symbol.
@UL {
(TT "? Tally", " -- displays brief information about ways to use objects of class ", TT "Tally", "."),
(TT "? betti", " -- displays brief information about ways to use the function ", TT "betti", "."),
(TT "? Weights", " -- displays brief information about ways to use the option ", TT "Weights", "."),
(TT "? Package", " -- displays brief information about the package ", TT "Package", "."),
(TT "? symbol>>", " -- displays brief information about ways to use the operator ", TT ">>", "."),
(TT "? HH", " -- displays brief information about ways to use the scripted functor ", TT "HH", ".")
}@
If the object is defined by the user, brief information about the object and its class are printed.
When using Macaulay2 in Emacs, moving the cursor to each line of the output beginning with
@TT "*"@ and pressing Enter results in showing the full documentation node corresponding to that line.
SeeAlso
"initial help"
methods
help
code
about
///
doc ///
Node
Key
about
[about, Body]
(help, ZZ)
(viewHelp, ZZ)
(infoHelp, ZZ)
(about, Function)
(about, String)
(about, Symbol)
(about, Type)
Headline
search the documentation
Usage
about s
Inputs
s:{String, Function, Symbol, Type}
Body=>Boolean
whether also to search the bodies of the documentation nodes. By default, just their keys are searched.
Outputs
:NumberedVerticalList
a list of documentation node keys matching the regular expression in the string @TT "s"@, if @TT "s"@ is a string.
Otherwise the search matches against the name of @TT "s"@ as a complete word.
Description
Text
The documentation corresponding to the keys in the list returned can be displayed by applying the function
@TO "help"@ to it. To see the documentation corresponding to just one or some of the keys, give @TO "help"@
an integer or a list of integers to be used as indices in the list returned by the most recent application
of @TO "about"@. The functions @TO "viewHelp"@ and @TO "infoHelp"@ can also be given an integer for viewing
the documentation.
The packages searched are the loaded packages and the packages installed under one of the prefixes listed
in @TO "prefixPath"@. The first search will take a few seconds while it reads all the documentation keys
into memory.
-- this example won't work until after Macaulay2Doc is installed.
CannedExample
about resolution
help 5
Caveat
Since @TT "s"@ is taken as a regular expression, parentheses serve
for grouping subexpressions, rather than matching themselves.
SeeAlso
(help, ZZ)
(symbol?, Symbol)
apropos
findSynonyms
"regular expressions"
Node
Key
apropos
(apropos, String)
Headline
symbols matching a pattern
Usage
apropos pattern
Inputs
pattern:String
a regular expression pattern to match
Outputs
:List
of global symbols matching the given pattern
Description
Text
In the simplest case, the list of symbols containing the given string is returned.
Example
apropos "atrix"
Text
@TO2 {"regular expressions", "Regular expressions"}@ allow for more complicated requests.
For example, to find all functions that start with @TT "mat"@ or @TT "Mat"@:
Example
apropos "^[mM]at"
SeeAlso
help
about
findSynonyms
"regular expressions"
///
-- the node displayed by the help command by default
doc ///
Node
Key
"initial help"
Description
Text
Welcome to Macaulay2
Try entering '2+2' at your next input prompt, which begins with @TT "i"@.
The two output prompts begin with @TT "o"@. The first one, with the
equal sign, '=', gives the value computed from your input, and the second one, with
the colon, ':', tells what type of thing the value is.
Type one of these commands to get started reading the documentation:
@UL {
SPAN (////copyright////, //// -- the copyright////),
SPAN (////help "Macaulay2"////, //// -- top node of the documentation.////),
SPAN (////help "reading the documentation"////, //// -- ////),
SPAN (////help "getting started"////, //// -- ////),
SPAN (////help "a first Macaulay2 session"////, //// -- ////),
SPAN (////help x////, //// -- show documentation for ////, TT ////x////),
SPAN (////help about x////, //// -- show documentation about ////, TT ////x////),
SPAN (////help about (x,Body=>true)////, //// -- show documentation mentioning ////, TT ////x////),
SPAN (////? f////, //// -- display brief documentation for a function ////, TT ////f////),
SPAN (////printWidth = 80////, //// -- set print width to 80 characters////),
SPAN (////viewHelp////, //// -- view documentation in a browser////),
SPAN (////viewHelp x////, //// -- view documentation on ////, TT ////x////, //// in browser////),
}@
To read the documentation in info form, in case you happen to be running Macaulay2 in a
terminal window, replace @TO "help"@ by @TO "infoHelp"@ in any of the commands above.
///
|
