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.