On-Line Documentation

DESCRIPTION:
Shows documentation on-line.

USAGE:
help(name = "help", offline = F, call = F, pager = options()$pager,
        window = help.running(), display = getenv("DISPLAY"))

OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS:
name:
a name or a character string giving the name of a function, operator, or other S-PLUS object. If omitted, documentation on help is given (this documentation).
offline:
if TRUE, the requested documentation is run through the troff command and sent to an appropriate printer.
call:
logical flag: if TRUE, only the calling sequence is printed to the screen. If FALSE, the entire help file is given.
pager:
character string naming a pager program with which to page through the help file. Examples are the UNIX programs more, pg and view. The pager program will be passed a file name as argument, and should read from that file. If argument pager is omitted, the S-PLUS pager option is used. That option has a default value of less, a public domain pager resembling UNIX more and vi.
window:
If TRUE, the help file appears in its own window, where possible. This option is currently implemented only under the X11 window system.
display:
character string specifying which X11 server should get the help window. The DISPLAY environment variable is examined by default. If display is given, the window argument is assumed to be TRUE.

SIDE EFFECTS:
if information is found on name, the documentation will be printed, otherwise a message is printed stating that no documentation is available. The directories on the current search list are searched for documentation.

DETAILS:

If S-PLUS is run under the SunTools or X window systems and window is TRUE, the help file will be displayed in its own window. If the help window system is not running (see help.start), then this window disappears when the paging command is finished. Make sure to stop the pager to leave the window. Killing the window can leave extra processes running.

You can create documentation on your own functions by creating a .Help subdirectory to a .Data and putting help files into the .Help directory. The prompt function can be used to get the outline of the help file for a function.

The offline argument is installation-dependent and must be set up appropriately by the administrator of S-PLUS on each system. Preformatted versions of the help documentation may be set up by the administrator in directories named .Cat.Help, parallel to the .Help directories.


SEE ALSO:
args , attach , help.start , Question.mark , prompt .

EXAMPLES:
help()                    # this help file
help(stem)                # documentation for function stem()
help("+")                 # addition (and other arithmetic)
help("state", offline = T)  # print state data offline
help(plot, window = T)
amp;# documentation for plot, function placed in a window if possible
help("AUDIT", display = "fay:0"))
amp;# display the S-PLUS audit utility on a window on the console
amp;# of the X11 server "fay"