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Manual

search online help system

Syntax
? key
?? key
where key is a literal string (without quotes)

Description
The ? operator is used to search the online help system for information matching a keyword.

The command has the form ?key where key is a string without quotes. The ? operator is case insensitive and ignores blank space before or after key. Also, the semicolon usually required at the end of a line of CoCoA input is optional. The ? operator was introduced in CoCoA 4.2.

The online help comprises a descriptive page for each CoCoA command/function. Each page summarises the syntax, gives a short verbal description, and some examples of use. Often there are also references to other closely related command/functions.

The search system is fairly simple. The searching algorithm looks through the title and keywords of each manual page. If the given key appears as a (case-insensitive) substring of the title/keywords of just one manual page, or if it matches exactly then that page is displayed. In any case the titles of all other pages where a match was found are printed in "menu" style.

Example
/**/ ?pol

All matches for "pol":
 ? CharPoly
 ? DensePoly

     --( Further output suppressed )--

/**/ ?hvec
==============[ HVector ]===============
--====  syntax  ====--
-- HVector(R: RING or TAGGED("Quotient")): LIST
--====  description  ====--
This function returns the h-vector of M, i.e., the...

            --( Output suppressed )--