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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:
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "help", { " -- display the ", TO "initial help" }},
{ M2CODE "help \"Macaulay2\"", { " -- display the top of the documentation tree" }},
{ M2CODE "help \"matrices\"", { " -- display an overview of matrices in Macaulay2" }},
{ M2CODE "help X", { " -- display the documentation node whose key is ", TT "X" }},
{ M2CODE "help res", { " -- documentation for the function ", TO "OldChainComplexes :: res", " and ways to use it" }},
{ M2CODE "help(res, Module)", { " -- documentation for the method ", TO "OldChainComplexes :: resolution(Module)" }},
{ M2CODE "help Module", { " -- documentation for the type ", TO "Module", " and methods that take one as input" }},
{ M2CODE "help symbol **", { " -- documentation for the operator ", TO "**", " and its various uses and meanings" }},
{ M2CODE "help(symbol **, Ring, Ring)", { " -- documentation for the method ", TO (symbol **, Ring, Ring) }},
{ M2CODE "help[gb, DegreeLimit]", { " -- documentation for the optional argument ", TO [gb, DegreeLimit] }},
{ M2CODE "help methods(map, Module)", { " -- documentation for various ways to use the function ", TO "map", " and a module" }},
{ M2CODE "help methods(symbol **, T)", { " -- documentation for various ways to use the operator ", TO "**", " and an object of class ", TT "T" }},
{ M2CODE "help methods(X, Y)", { " -- documentation for the methods that take an object of class ", TT "X", " and an object of class ", TT "Y" }},
{ M2CODE "help apropos \"hilbert\"", { " -- documentation about all functions whose name contains the string ", TT "hilbert" }},
{ M2CODE "help about X", { " -- documentation nodes from all installed packages whose keys contain ", TT "X" }},
{ M2CODE "help about(X, Body => true)", { " -- documentation nodes from all installed packages whose keys or contents contain ", TT "X" }},
}
Text
The @TT "help"@ command is used to display online documentation, as in the following suggestions.
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "help" },
{ M2CODE "help ideal" },
{ M2CODE "help(ideal, List)" },
}
Text
Some other potential help topics:
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "help \"monomial orderings\"" },
{ M2CODE "help \"Gröbner bases\"" },
{ M2CODE "help \"graded and multigraded polynomial rings\"" },
}
Text
Use @TO viewHelp@ to display the corresponding documentation in your web browser.
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.
Item
If no argument is given to @TT "viewHelp"@, then @TT "~/.Macaulay2/index.html"@ opens,
which contains a list of all packages installed locally.
Description
Text
Some example uses:
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "viewHelp", { " -- open the list of local packages and their documentation" }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp \"Macaulay2\"", { " -- open the top of the online documentation tree" }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp \"matrices\"", { " -- open an overview of matrices in Macaulay2" }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp X", { " -- open the documentation node whose key is ", TT "X" }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp ideal", { " -- documentation for the function ", TO ideal, " and ways to use it" }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp(ideal, List)", { " -- documentation for the method ", TO (ideal, List) }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp[gb, DegreeLimit]", { " -- documentation for the optional argument ", TO [gb, DegreeLimit] }},
{ M2CODE "viewHelp(symbol **, Ring, Ring)", { " -- documentation for the method ", TO (symbol **, Ring, Ring) }},
}
Caveat
The @TO help@ command allows other possible arguments, such as @TT "help methods ideal"@,
but for @TT "viewHelp"@ the argument must refer to only one web page.
Note that the Safari browser may prevent loading of the style files for the online documentation.
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 within a terminal window using the command @TT "info"@.
Item
If you are running Macaulay2 in Emacs, then the page is opened in another window using Info mode.
Item
If no argument is given to @TT "infoHelp"@, then the top node of the Macaulay2 documentation is displayed.
Description
Text
Some example uses:
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "infoHelp", { " -- open the top of the online documentation tree" }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp \"Macaulay2\"", { " -- open the top of the online documentation tree" }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp \"matrices\"", { " -- open an overview of matrices in Macaulay2" }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp X", { " -- open the documentation node whose key is ", TT "X" }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp ideal", { " -- documentation for the function ", TO ideal, " and ways to use it" }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp(ideal, List)", { " -- documentation for the method ", TO (ideal, List) }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp[gb, DegreeLimit]", { " -- documentation for the optional argument ", TO [gb, DegreeLimit] }},
{ M2CODE "infoHelp(symbol **, Ring, Ring)", { " -- documentation for the method ", TO (symbol **, Ring, Ring) }},
}
Text
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:
Code
TABLE {
{ TT "?", " -- 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 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?, Command)
(symbol?, Keyword)
(symbol?, Package)
--(symbol?, Thing)
(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.
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "? BGG", { " -- brief information about the package ", TO "BGG::BGG" }},
{ M2CODE "? Tally", { " -- brief information about ways to use objects of class ", TO "Tally" }},
{ M2CODE "? betti", { " -- brief information about ways to use the function ", TO "betti" }},
{ M2CODE "? Weights", { " -- brief information about ways to use the option ", TO "Weights" }},
{ M2CODE "? symbol >>", { " -- brief information about ways to use the operator ", TO ">>" }},
{ M2CODE "? HH", { " -- brief information about ways to use the scripted functor ", TT "HH" }},
}
Text
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]
(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.
Example
about firstFunction
help 1
Text
It is also possible to view a table of headlines corresponding to the results.
Example
headlines about firstFunction
Caveat
Since @TT "s"@ is taken as a regular expression, parentheses serve
for grouping subexpressions, rather than matching themselves.
SeeAlso
(symbol?, Symbol)
apropos
headlines
findSynonyms
"regular expressions"
(examples, ZZ)
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"
Text
It is also possible to view a table of headlines corresponding to the results.
Example
headlines apropos "hilbert"
SeeAlso
help
about
headlines
findSynonyms
"regular expressions"
Node
Key
headlines
(headlines, List)
-- TODO: move to separate node
(help, ZZ)
(viewHelp, ZZ)
(infoHelp, ZZ)
Headline
display a table of documentation headlines
Usage
headlines about s
headlines apropos p
headlines methods f
Description
Text
This method displays a table of documentation headlines for the input list.
If the input is a list of documentation nodes generated using the function @TO about@,
the method @TO (help, ZZ)@ can be used to select and open one of the documentation nodes.
Example
headlines about firstFunction
help 0
Text
This is also true for a list of symbols generated using the function @TO apropos@.
Example
headlines apropos "hilbert"
-- help 0
Text
If the input was a list of method keys generated using @TO methods@, then in addition
the method @TO (code, ZZ)@ can be used to view the source code for the selected entry.
Example
headlines methods syz
-- help 1
code 1
SeeAlso
help
viewHelp
about
apropos
methods
--(help, ZZ)
(code, ZZ)
///
-- the node displayed by the help command by default
doc ///
Node
Key
"initial help"
Headline
Welcome to Macaulay2
Description
Text
Try entering @KBD "2+1.5"@ at your next input prompt, which begins with @KBD "i"@ (e.g. @KBD "i2 : "@). @BR()@
The two output prompts begin with @KBD "o"@.
Code
UL{ LI{"the first one, for instance ", KBD "o2 = ", ", gives the value computed from your input;"},
LI{"the second one, for instance ", KBD "o2 : ", ", tells what type of thing the value is."} }
Text
Type one of these commands to get started reading the documentation:
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "copyright", "-- the copyright" },
{ M2CODE "help \"Macaulay2\"", "-- top node of the documentation." },
{ M2CODE "help \"reading the documentation\"", "" },
{ M2CODE "help \"getting started\"", "" },
{ M2CODE "help \"a first Macaulay2 session\"", "" },
{ M2CODE "help coker", "-- show documentation for coker" },
{ M2CODE "help about Ext", "-- show documentation about Ext" },
{ M2CODE "help about(\"Yoneda\", Body=>true)", "-- show documentation mentioning \"Yoneda\"" },
{ M2CODE "printWidth = 80", "-- set print width to 80 characters" },
{ M2CODE "viewHelp", "-- view documentation in a browser" },
{ M2CODE "viewHelp coker", "-- view documentation for coker in browser" },
{ M2CODE "? hilbertFunction", "-- display brief documentation about Hilbert functions" },
}
Text
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.
To get BibTeX code for citing Macaulay2 or one of its packages, type one
of the following commands.
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "cite", "-- how to cite Macaulay2" },
{ M2CODE "cite \"FirstPackage\"", "-- how to cite a package" }
}
Text
To get information about the startup of Macaulay2, type one of the
following commands.
Code
TABLE {
{ M2CODE "loadedPackages", "-- a list of the currently loaded packages" },
{ M2CODE "help \"packages provided with Macaulay2\"", "-- a list of all the available packages" },
{ M2CODE "help \"initialization file\"", "-- show documentation about the file init.m2" }
}
///
|
