Ahelp for CIAO 4.2
To learn how to use the help system for CIAO, type:
unix% ahelp
The help documents are accessed by subject (a single word, case insensitive). To get help on the tool dmextract:
unix% ahelp dmextract
To search on a word, use about (it is an alias to ahelp -k) which will bring up a list of all matching documents or - if there is only one match - display that document. Here we look for any document on "stacks":
unix% about stacks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SUBJECT | CONTEXT | SYNOPSIS |
|--------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| parameter | concept | Describes the parameter interface used by CIAO. |
|--------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| stack | concept | How to set a parameter to more than one value |
| | | using a stack. |
|--------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| stk_build | tools | stk_build is used to build a stack from a |
| | | user-defined string. The output is to stdout, |
| | | stderr, or a file. |
|--------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| stk_count | tools | stk_count is used to count the number of items in |
| | | a stack. The output is to the stk_count parameter |
| | | file. |
|--------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| stk_read_num | tools | stk_read_num is used to read one element of a |
| | | user-defined stack. The output is to the |
| | | outelement field of the stk_read_num parameter |
| | | file. |
|--------------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| stk_where | tools | stk_where finds the location of an item in a stack |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use "ahelp subject" ("ahelp context subject" for non-unique cases) e.g.:
ahelp stk_where
ahelp tools stk_where
In general you will be now be able to say "ahelp <subject>" to read the help for that document. However, if the same subject matches different contexts, you have to say "ahelp <context> <subject>" as described at the end of the list of matches ("ahelp tools stk_where").
Read the ahelp document for more information on the ahelp system, such as reading parts of the document - e.g. only the examples or the parameter list.
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