.so pndoc:nman
.part NM-SELFDOC manual
@chapter[Help]
@node("help")
@fncindex{apropos-command}
@fncindex{help-dispatch}
NMODE has a great deal of internal
documentation. There are two basic commands, the Apropos command and
the Help Dispatch command. The Apropos command can be started by
typing a "+" on the key pad at the far right hand side of the hp9836
keyboard or by typing M-X Apropos. The Help Dispatch command can be
started by typing C-?, M-/, or M-?.
The Help Dispatch command tells you what function is connected to a
given key or key combination. The function names are often
descriptive, so you can sometimes find out which key does what with
the Help Dispatch command. To find out the function of a key or key
combination, type M-?, then type the keys exactly as if you wanted
NMODE to act on them.
The Apropos command basically looks up command names containing a
given word or phrase, or relating to a given topic. When you have
started it, it will ask you for the word or phrase you are looking for
in a command name (like "Move" or "Text" or "Remove", for instance).
It will then temporarily cover up your text and show you a list of
commands that match the phrase you typed in. At this point you can
move up and down the list with the normal NMODE move commands,
or you can look at the documentation for a particular
command by typing V (for view). This temporarily covers up the list
of commands while showing documentation for the command that you
choose. Among other things this documentation tells you what key calls
the command. You can get back to the list of commands by typing "Q"
(for quit) or C-M-L. You can then get a more specific list
of commands by typing "F" (for filter) and another phrase relevant to
the command(s) you want to find. You can get back from the list of
commands to your original text by typing "Q" (for quit).
Here is a set of Apropos strings that covers many classes of
NMODE commands, since there are strong conventions for naming the
standard NMODE commands. By giving you a feel for the naming
conventions, this set should also serve to aid you in developing a
technique for picking Apropos strings.
@begin[quotation]
character, line, word, sentence, paragraph, region, page, buffer,
screen, window, bounds, file, dir, beginning, end, case, mode,
forward, backward, next, previous, up, down, search, kill, delete, mark,
fill, indent, change.
@end[quotation]
There is also a convention for how command names start for
certain common kinds of operations: many commands
start with one of the words "Edit", "View", "Insert", "List", or
"What" "Move" "Mark".
Note that the ability to apply filters allows you to search for
commands which contain a set of strings, even if you don't know the
order of the strings in the command name.
If you find the list of commands containing or otherwise tied to "word",
you can then filter the list to find the sublist that is also tied to
"kill" and to "back" (in two filter operations), without knowing that
the operation being searched for is kill-backward-word-command, rather than
backward-kill-word-command or some other permutation.
Because topics and action types and modes are also searched for, it is
possible to find broader classes of commands than would be possible
from names alone. "Remove", for instance, is given as an action type
for both kill commands and delete commands, so one can search for both
at once by searching for "remove" and other specifying words.