The R Project SVN R

% File src/library/utils/man/help.Rd
% Part of the R package, http://www.R-project.org
% Copyright 1995-2010 R Core Development Team
% Distributed under GPL 2 or later

\name{help}
\alias{help}
\title{Documentation}
\description{
  \code{help} is the primary interface to the help systems.
}
\usage{
help(topic, package = NULL, lib.loc = NULL,
     verbose = getOption("verbose"),
     try.all.packages = getOption("help.try.all.packages"),
     help_type = getOption("help_type"))
}
\arguments{
  \item{topic}{usually, a \link{name} or character string specifying the
   topic for which help is sought.  A character string (enclosed in
   explicit single or double quotes) is always taken as naming a topic.

   If the value of \code{topic} is a length-one
   character vector the topic is taken to be the value of the only
   element.  Otherwise \code{topic} must be a name or a \link{reserved}
   word (if syntactically valid) or character string.
   
   See \sQuote{Details} for what happens if this is omitted.
 }
 \item{package}{a name or character vector giving the packages to look
   into for documentation, or \code{NULL}. By default, all packages in
   the search path are used. To avoid a name being deparsed use e.g.
   \code{(pkg_ref)}.}
 \item{lib.loc}{a character vector of directory names of \R libraries,
   or \code{NULL}.  The default value of \code{NULL} corresponds to all
   libraries currently known.  If the default is used, the loaded
   packages are searched before the libraries.}
 \item{verbose}{logical; if \code{TRUE}, the file name is reported.}
 \item{try.all.packages}{logical; see \code{Note}.}
 \item{help_type}{character string: the type of help required.
   Possible values are \code{"text"}, \code{"html"},
   \code{"postscript"}, \code{"ps"} and \code{"pdf"}.  Case is ignored,
   and partial matching is allowed.}
}
\details{
  The following types of help are available:
  \itemize{
    \item Plain text help
    \item HTML help pages with hyperlinks to other topics, shown in a
    browser by \code{\link{browseURL}}.
#ifdef unix
    (Where possible an existing browser window is re-used: the Mac OS X
    GUI uses its own browser window.)
#endif
    If for some reason HTML help is unavailable (see
    \code{\link{startDynamicHelp}}), plain text help will be used
    instead.
    \item For \code{help} only, typeset as a PostScript or PDF file --
    see the section on \sQuote{Offline help}.
  }
#ifdef unix
  The \sQuote{factory-fresh} default is text help except from the Mac OS
  GUI, which uses HTML help displayed in its own browser window.
#endif
#ifdef windows
  The default for the type of help is selected when \R is installed --
  the \sQuote{factory-fresh} default is HTML help.
#endif

  The rendering of text help will use directional quotes in suitable
  locales (UTF-8 and single-byte Windows locales): sometimes the fonts
  used do not support these quotes so this can be turned off by setting
  \code{\link{options}(useFancyQuotes = FALSE)}.

  \code{topic} is not optional: if it is omitted \R will give (text)
  information on the package (including hints to suitable help topics)
  if a package is specified, a (text) list of available packages if
  \code{lib.loc} only is specified, and help on \code{help} itself if
  none of the first three arguments is specified.

  Some topics need to be quoted (by \link{backtick}s) or given as a
  character string.  There include those which cannot syntactically
  appear on their own such as unary and binary operators,
  \code{function} and control-flow \link{reserved} words (including
  \code{if}, \code{else} \code{for}, \code{in}, \code{repeat},
  \code{while}, \code{break} and \code{next}.  The other \code{reserved}
  words can be used as if they were names, for example \code{TRUE},
  \code{NA} and \code{Inf}.

  If multiple help files matching \code{topic} are found, in interactive
  use a menu is presented for the user to choose one: in batch use the
  first on the search path is used.  (For HTML help the menu will be an
  HTML page, otherwise a graphical menu if possible if
  \code{\link{getOption}("menu.graphics")} is true, the default.)
}

\section{Offline help}{
  Typeset documentation is produced by running the LaTeX version of the
  help page through \command{latex} and \command{dvips} or, if
  \code{help_type = "PDF"}, \command{pdflatex}.  This will produce
  either a PostScript or PDF file and possibly (depending on the
  configuration of \command{dvips}) send a PostScript file to a printer.
  You can set \code{\link{options}("dvipscmd")} to customize how
  \command{dvips}) is called.

  The appearance of the output can be customized through a file
  \file{Rhelp.cfg} somewhere in your LaTeX search path: this will be
  input as a LaTeX style file after \code{Rd.sty}.  Some 
  \link{environment variables} are consulted, notably \env{R_PAPERSIZE}
  (\emph{via} \code{getOption("papersize")}) and \env{R_RD4DVI} /
  \env{R_RD4PDF} (see \sQuote{Making manuals} in the
  \sQuote{R Installation and Administration Manual}).

  If there is a function \code{offline_help_helper} in the workspace or
  further down the search path it is used to do the typesetting,
  otherwise the function of that name in the \code{utils} name space
  (to which the first paragraph applies).  It should have two 
  arguments, the name of the LaTeX file to be typeset and the type.
}

\note{
  Unless \code{lib.loc} is specified explicitly, the loaded packages are
  searched before those in the specified libraries.  This ensures that
  if a library is loaded from a library not in the known library trees,
  then the help from the loaded library is used.  If \code{lib.loc} is
  specified explicitly, the loaded packages are \emph{not} searched.

  If this search fails and argument \code{try.all.packages} is
  \code{TRUE} and neither \code{packages} nor \code{lib.loc} is
  specified, then all the packages in the known library trees are
  searched for help on \code{topic} and a list of (any) packages where
  help may be found is displayed (with hyperlinks for \code{help_type =
  "html"}).  \strong{NB:} searching all packages can be slow, especially
  the first time (caching of files by the OS can expedite subsequent
  searches dramatically).
}

\references{
  Becker, R. A., Chambers, J. M. and Wilks, A. R. (1988)
  \emph{The New S Language}.
  Wadsworth & Brooks/Cole.
}
\seealso{
  \code{\link[=Question]{?}} for shortcuts to help topics.
  
  \code{\link{help.search}()} or \code{\link{??}} for finding help pages
  on a vague topic;
  \code{\link{help.start}()} which opens the HTML version of the \R
  help pages;
  \code{\link{library}()} for listing available packages and the
  help objects they contain;
  \code{\link{data}()} for listing available data sets;
  \code{\link{methods}()}.

  Use \code{\link{prompt}()} to get a prototype for writing \code{help}
  pages of your own package.
}
\examples{
help()
help(help)              # the same

help(lapply)

help("for")             # or ?"for", but quotes/backticks are needed

help(package="splines") # get help even when package is not loaded

topi <- "women"
help(topi)

try(help("bs", try.all.packages=FALSE)) # reports not found (an error)
help("bs", try.all.packages=TRUE)       # reports can be found
                                        # in package 'splines'
}
\keyword{documentation}