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Last modified: 7 December 2007

URL: http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao4.0/ahelp/index.html
Hardcopy (PDF): A4 | Letter

Ahelp for CIAO 4.0

List of all Ahelp files: alphabetical or by context.

To learn how to use the help system for CIAO (ahelp), say:

unix% ahelp

The help documents are accessed by subject (a single word, case insensitive), so to get help on the tool dmextract try

and 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.

Hardcopy (PDF): A4 | Letter
Last modified: 7 December 2007


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