view scripts/help/help.m @ 19231:09bc8304f182

doc: Improvements to help() and info() docstrings. * help.m: Put 1-line summary of function first in docstring. Clarify why one needs to use 'help comma' to get help on ',' operator. Use list as a more meaningful variable name than tmp. Add more BIST tests. * info.m: Improve wording describing Octave Wiki in docstring.
author Rik <rik@octave.org>
date Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:51:43 -0700
parents 2217bc116aa9
children 0e1f5a750d00
line wrap: on
line source

## Copyright (C) 2009-2013 Søren Hauberg
##
## This file is part of Octave.
##
## Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
## under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
## the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
## your option) any later version.
##
## Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
## WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
## General Public License for more details.
##
## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
## along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
## <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

## -*- texinfo -*-
## @deftypefn  {Command} {} help @var{name}
## @deftypefnx {Command} {} help @code{--list}
## @deftypefnx {Command} {} help @code{.}
## @deftypefnx {Command} {} help
## Display the help text for @var{name}.
##
## For example, the command @kbd{help help} prints a short message describing
## the @code{help} command.
##
## Given the single argument @code{--list}, list all operators,
## keywords, built-in functions, and loadable functions available
## in the current session of Octave.
##
## Given the single argument @code{.}, list all operators available
## in the current session of Octave.
##
## If invoked without any arguments, @code{help} display instructions
## on how to access help from the command line.
##
## The help command can provide information about most operators, for example
## @code{help +}, but not the comma and semicolon characters which are used
## by the Octave interpreter as command separators.  For help on either of
## these type @kbd{help comma} or @kbd{help semicolon}.
## @seealso{doc, lookfor, which, info}
## @end deftypefn

function retval = help (name)

  if (nargin == 0)

    text = "\n\
  For help with individual commands and functions type\n\
\n\
    help NAME\n\
\n\
  (replace NAME with the name of the command or function you would\n\
  like to learn more about).\n\
\n\
  For a more detailed introduction to GNU Octave, please consult the\n\
  manual.  To read the manual from the prompt type\n\
\n\
    doc\n\
\n\
  GNU Octave is supported and developed by its user community.\n\
  For more information visit http://www.octave.org.\n\n";

    if (nargout == 0)
      puts (text);
    else
      retval = text;
    endif

  elseif (nargin == 1 && ischar (name))

    if (strcmp (name, "--list"))
      list = do_list_functions ();
      if (nargout == 0)
        printf ("%s", list);
      else
        retval = list;
      endif
      return;
    endif

    if (strcmp (name, "."))
      list = do_list_operators ();
      if (nargout == 0)
        printf ("%s", list);
      else
        retval = list;
      endif
      return;
    endif

    ## Get help text
    [text, format] = get_help_text (name);

    ## Take action depending on help text format
    switch (lower (format))
      case "plain text"
        status = 0;
      case "texinfo"
        [text, status] = __makeinfo__ (text, "plain text");
      case "html"
        [text, status] = strip_html_tags (text);
      case "not documented"
        error ("help: '%s' is not documented\n", name);
      case "not found"
        do_contents (name);
        return;
      otherwise
        error ("help: internal error: unsupported help text format: '%s'\n", format);
    endswitch

    ## Print text
    if (status != 0)
      warning ("help: Texinfo formatting filter exited abnormally; raw Texinfo source of help text follows...\n");
    endif

    if (nargout == 0)
      which (name);
      printf ("\n%s\n%s", text, __additional_help_message__ ());
    else
      retval = text;
    endif

  else
    error ("help: invalid input\n");
  endif

endfunction

function retval = do_list_operators ()
  
  retval = sprintf ("*** operators:\n\n%s\n\n",
                    list_in_columns (__operators__ ()));
endfunction

function retval = do_list_functions ()

  operators = do_list_operators ();

  keywords = sprintf ("*** keywords:\n\n%s\n\n",
                      list_in_columns (__keywords__ ()));

  builtins = sprintf ("*** builtins:\n\n%s\n\n",
                      list_in_columns (__builtins__ ()));

  dirs = ostrsplit (path, pathsep);
  flist = "";
  for i = 2:numel (dirs)
    files = sort ({dir(fullfile (dirs{i}, "*.m")).name, ...
                   dir(fullfile (dirs{i}, "*.oct")).name, ...
                   dir(fullfile (dirs{i}, "*.mex")).name});

    if (! isempty (files))
      flist = sprintf ("%s*** functions in %s:\n\n%s\n\n",
                       flist, dirs{i}, list_in_columns (files));
    endif
  endfor

  retval = [operators, keywords, builtins, flist];

endfunction

function do_contents (name)

  found = false;

  dlist = dir_in_loadpath (name, "all");

  for i = 1:numel (dlist)
    fname = make_absolute_filename (fullfile (dlist{i}, "Contents.m"));

    [text, format] = get_help_text_from_file (fname);

    ## Take action depending on help text format
    switch (lower (format))
      case "plain text"
        status = 0;
      case "texinfo"
        [text, status] = __makeinfo__ (text, "plain text");
      case "html"
        [text, status] = strip_html_tags (text);
    endswitch

    if (! isempty (text))
      found = true;
      ## Print text.
      if (status != 0)
        warning ("help: Texinfo formatting filter exited abnormally; raw Texinfo source of help text follows...\n");
      endif
      printf ("%s:\n\n%s\n", fname, text);
    endif

  endfor

  if (found)
    puts (__additional_help_message__ ());
  else
    msg = feval (missing_function_hook, name);

    if (isempty (msg))
      msg = sprintf ("'%s' not found", name);
    endif

    error ("help: %s\n", msg);
  endif

endfunction


%!assert (! isempty (strfind (help ("ls"), "List directory contents")))
%!assert (! isempty (strfind (help ("."), "||")))

## Test input validation
%!error <invalid input> help (42)
%!error <invalid input> help ("abc", "def")
%!error <'_!UNLIKELY_FCN!_' not found> help ("_!UNLIKELY_FCN!_")