NAME

help − ask for help

SYNOPSIS

help [args]

DESCRIPTION

Help finds information to explain a message from a command or explain the use of a command.  Zero or more arguments may be supplied.  If no arguments are given, help will prompt for one. 

The arguments may be either message numbers (which normally appear in parentheses following messages) or command names, of one of the following types:

type 1 Begins with non-numerics, ends in numerics.  The non-numeric prefix is usually an abbreviation for the program or set of routines which produced the message (e.g., ge6, for message 6 from the get command). 

type 2 Does not contain numerics (as a command, such as get)

type 3 Is all numeric (e.g., 212)

The response of the program will be the explanatory information related to the argument, if there is any. 

When all else fails, try “help stuck”. 

DIAGNOSTICS

Use help(1) for explanations.

WARNINGS

Only SCCS and a very few other commands currently use help.

FILES

/usr/lib/help directory containing files of message text. 

/usr/lib/help/helploc file containing locations of help files not in /usr/lib/help. 

SEE ALSO

SCCS User’s Guide, in HP-UX Concepts and Tutorials: Programming Environment. 

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

8- and 16-bit data, 8-bit file names, messages. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  May 11, 2021