Re: Proposal for an improved `help-for-help'

[Howard Melman]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> I have attached a rough draft for what an improved version of might look
> like.  It would be great to get some feedback.

I think this is a good improvement.  I'd like to see some of
the help text normalized to be more consistent.  Here's an
attempt at that, though it could us another pass too.


Basic Help

m           Display documentation of current major and minor modes and their 
commands.
x COMMAND   Display documentation of the command.
k KEYS      Display documentation of the key sequence.
f FUNCTION  Display documentation of the function.
v VARIABLE  Display documentation and value of the variable.
o SYMBOL    Display documentation and value of the function or variable.
c KEYS      Display the command name bound to the key sequence.
b           Display all bindings of commands to keys.
w COMMAND   Display which keys are bound to the command.
.           Display any available local help at point.

Documentation

t           Start the Emacs learn-by-doing tutorial.
r           Show the Emacs manual in Info mode.
F COMMAND   Show the Emacs manual's section for the command.
K KEYS      Show the Emacs manual's section for the command bound to KEYS.
i           Show the Info documentation reader listing all available manuals.
S SYMBOL    Show the section of the relevant Info manual for the symbol.

SEARCHING AND PACKAGES

a PATTERN   Show commands whose name matches the PATTERN (a list of words or a 
regexp).  See also the `apropos' command.
d PATTERN   Show a list of functions, variables, and other items whose 
documentation matches the PATTERN (a list of words or a regexp).
P PACKAGE   Describe the given Emacs Lisp package.
p TOPIC     Find packages matching a given topic keyword.

OTHER

e           Go to the *Messages* buffer which logs echo-area messages.
l           Show last 300 input keystrokes (lossage).
C CODING    Describe the given coding system, or RET for current ones.
I METHOD    Describe a specific input method, or RET for current.
L LANG-ENV  Describes a specific language environment, or RET for current.
s           Display contents of current syntax table, plus explanations.

g           Display information about the GNU project.
n           Display news of recent Emacs changes.
h           Display the HELLO file which illustrates various scripts.

C-a         Information about Emacs.
C-c         Emacs copying permission (GNU General Public License).
C-d         Instructions for debugging GNU Emacs.
C-e         External packages and information about Emacs.
C-f         Emacs FAQ.
C-m         How to order printed Emacs manuals.
C-n         News of recent Emacs changes.
C-o         Emacs ordering and distribution information.
C-p         Info about known Emacs problems.
C-s         Search forward \"help window\".
C-t         Emacs TODO list.
C-w         Information on absence of warranty for GNU Emacs."


-- 

Howard