help                  package: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. Documentation 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 = .packages()
          lib.loc = .lib.loc, verbose = getOption("verbose"),
          htmlhelp = getOption("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 character 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:

     You will only get help for R objects in your `search()' path,
     i.e., `help(dist)' will only work after `library(mva)'. To look in
     all the packages in all the current libraries, use `help(topic,
     package=.packages(all=T), lib.loc=.lib.loc)'

     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 packages 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'

