

help {base}                                  R Documentation

_D_o_c_u_m_e_n_t_a_t_i_o_n

_D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n_:

     These functions provide access to documentation.  Docu-
     mentation on a topic with name `name' (typically, an R
     object or a data set) can be printed with either
     `help(name)' or `?name'.

_U_s_a_g_e_:

     help(topic, offline = FALSE, package = c(.packages(), .Autoloaded),
          lib.loc = .lib.loc, verbose = .Options$verbose,
          htmlhelp = .Options$htmlhelp)
     ?topic

_A_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s_:

   topic: a name or character string on which documentation
          is sought (but not a variable containing a charac-
          ter string!).

 offline: a logical indicating whether documentation should
          be displayed on-line to the screen (the default)
          or hardcopy of it should be produced.

 package: a name or character vector giving the packages to
          look into for documentation.  By default, all
          packages in the search path are used.

 lib.loc: A character vector of directory names of R
          libraries.  Defaults to all libraries currently
          known.

 verbose: logical; if `TRUE', the file name is reported.

htmlhelp: logical (or `NULL').  If `TRUE' (which is the
          default after `help.start' has been called), the
          HTML version of the help will be shown in a
          browser.

_D_e_t_a_i_l_s_:

     In the case of unary and binary operators and control-
     flow special forms, the name may need to be quoted.

     If `offline' is `TRUE', hardcopy of the documentation
     is produced by running the LaTeX version of the help
     page through `latex' (note that LaTeX 2e is needed) and
     `dvips'.  Depending on your `dvips' configuration,
     hardcopy will be sent to the printer or saved in a
     file.  If the programs are in non-standard locations
     and hence were not found at compile time, you can
     either set the options `latexcmd' and `dvipscmd', or
     the environment variables `R_LATEXCMD' and `R_DVIPSCMD'
     appropriately.  The appearance of the output can be
     customized through a file `Rhelp.cfg' somewhere in your
     LaTeX search path.

_N_o_t_e_:

     Currently, you only get help for R objects in your
     `search()' path, i.e., `help(dist)' will only work
     after `library(mva)'.  This is bound to be changed in
     the future.

     The help files can be many small files. On some file
     systems it is desirable to save space, and the text
     files in the `help' directory of an installed package
     can be zipped up as a zip archive `Rhelp.zip'. Ensure
     the files `AnIndex' and `00Titles' remain un-zipped.
     Similarly, all the files in the `latex' directory can
     be zipped to `Rhelp.zip'.

_S_e_e _A_l_s_o_:

     `help.search()' for finding help pages on a `vague'
     topic.  `help.start()' which opens the HTML version of
     the R Manual; `library()' for listing available pack-
     ages and the user-level objects they contain; `data()'
     for listing available data sets; `methods()'.

     See `prompt()' to get a prototype for writing `help'
     pages of private packages.

_E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s_:

     help()
     help(help)              # the same

     help(lapply)
     ?lapply                 # the same

     help("for")             # or ?"for", but the quotes are needed
     ?"+"

     help(package = stepfun) # get help even when it's not present

     data()                  # list all available data sets
     ?women                  # information about data set "women"

     topi <- "women"
     help(topi) ##--> Error: No documentation for `topi'

