--- name: "gphelp" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "pari" version: "2.19.0-4" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/gphelp" --- # gphelp(1) GP-PARI online help script ## NAME gphelp - GP-PARI online help script ## SYNOPSIS **gphelp** \[-to\_pod *file*\] \[-raw\] \[-detex\] \[-noskip\] \[-utf8\] \[-k\] \[-ch *c1*\] \[-cb *c2*\] \[-cu *c3*\] \[keyword \[ @{1,2,3,4,5} \]\] \[tutorial\] \[refcard\]... ## DESCRIPTION Invokes the PARI-GP online help script. By default, *keyword* is understood as a section heading (a GP function name), and **gphelp** looks for it in Chapter 3 of PARI User's Manual. If it is found, the corresponding section is copied to a temporary file in /tmp (or **$GPTMPDIR**), **TeX** is run then the corresponding section is displayed in a separate window, using **xdvi** (or **$GPXDVI**). If more than one keyword is given on a single command line, the outputs are concatenated. If *keyword* is omitted, open the whole manual *users.dvi*. The keywords *tutorial* and *refcard* open the GP tutorial and reference card respectively. GP defaults, help sections (1 to 11) as well as some keywords (readline, bnf, ell, all operators...) are recognized and treated in a special way to make sure they match a section heading. For instance **&&** is translated to *Comparison and boolean operators* which isn't that obvious to guess. Make sure to enclose *keyword* between quotes if it contains dangerous characters (e.g spaces). For instance, you need to type gphelp -k "elliptic curves" and not gphelp -k elliptic curves which would look for "elliptic" then for "curves" and output e.g. **ploth** among the relevant sections. ## FULL SEARCH: @ MARKERS The pattern **@**x (where x is a chapter number between 1 and 5) at the end of *keyword* conducts the search in the corresponding chapter instead of the default Chapter 3. If the number is omitted, search the whole manual. For instance gphelp -k gc\_GEN@4 will look for **gc\_GEN** in Chapter 4 of users manual. gphelp -k gc\_GEN@ will search the whole manual. All chapters of the manual (usersch\[1-5\].tex) are assumed to be in **$GPDOCDIR** (*default*value*set*by Configure). You are allowed to gzip (or compress) them, this won't affect the search. ## OPTIONS The following command line options are available: - **-cb, -color\_bold** *c2* color used for bold. See **-color\_help**. - **-ch, -color\_help** *c1* color (between 1 and 16) used for general printing. Only significant in **detex** mode. - **-cu, -color\_underline** *c3* color used for underline. See **-color\_help**. - **-detex** Use **detex** mode. The TeX file is converted to readable screen output that is directly written to the terminal; don't use tex or xdvi. - **-noskip** By default, the help text is continued when a new section is tagged with a %GPHELPskip marker (on the same line). If this option is set, do not honor markers: end the help text as soon as a new section is started. - **-utf8** In **detex** mode, use UTF-8 encoding for characters, .e.g. use é (é) instead of 'e. - **-k** Switch to **apropos** mode. Only write to standard output the list of section headings in manual which contain *keyword*. The search is case insensitive whenever the keyword contains lowercase characters and case sensitive otherwise. For instance, if the keyword is "LLL" we obtain all sections mentioning the LLL algorithm. Whereas looking for "lll" will also output sections mentioning the elllog or the ellL1 functions (case insensitive search). You can then choose an element in the list and use it as argument for **gphelp** (surround it by quotes if it includes spaces), possibly followed by a trailing **@** marker (see above). - **-raw** use internal format for output (using @x markers). For debugging only. - **-to\_pod** *file* try to convert *file* from TeX to POD format. Will only work on some subset of PARI User's Manual (Chapter 3, reference card). This should be the only arguments on the command line. ## ENVIRONMENT - COLUMNS number of columns available on screen (for **detex** mode) - DISPLAY where to launch the dvi previewer. If unset, **detex** mode is assumed automatically. - GP\_PDF\_VIEWER an application able to display PDF files. Used to display PDF documentation on systems where the default DVI documentation is not desired or available. When gphelp is called by gp and this variable is unset, the calling gp may set it automatically on some systems (for instance according to user's preferences from Windows registry). - GPDOCDIR directory where PARI help files are located. Default value set at Configure time. - GPTEX TeX typesetting program to use. Defaut value: tex. This may for instance be changed to 'pdftex' to let the gphelp system produce PDF output. To make this example work, make sure to set GP\_PDF\_VIEWER to a sensible value, whether a specific previewer or a general system tool using user's preferrences (such as 'xdg-open' on Linux or 'open' on macOS); another option is to change GPXDVI to a PDF previewer. - GPTMPDIR directory where temporary files are written - GPXDVI previewer to use to open documents produced by $GPTEX. Default value: xdvi. By default $GPTEX is 'tex' and produces dvi files; you may use GPXDVI to specify options for vanilla xdvi, for instance "xdvi -s 7" to select a shrink factor. If you change GPTEX to produce another format then GPXDVI can be changed accordingly, for instance to a PDF previewer or a generic 'xdg-open' (Linux) or 'open' (macOS). - GPXDVIREF previewer to use when displaying reference cards. Default value: $GPXDVI. You may use this to specify options for vanilla xdvi, for instance "xdvi -s 5 -fullscreen" to ensure the whole reference card is shown. ## FILES - *gp* the gp calculator - *gphelp* the gphelp script - *users.dvi* PARI/GP User's Manual - *tutorial.dvi* PARI/GP tutorial - *refcard.dvi* GP reference card - *refcard.ps* GP reference card, printer ready ## BUGS The search algorithm is rather crude and the data searched rather unstructured. Hence, searching outside of Chapter 3 may not yield useful results, except in **apropos** mode (sections may be truncated too soon for instance). Multiword search patterns have a tendency to fail due to various TeX constructs in the source. ## AUTHORS Originally written by Ilya Zakharevitch for the Math::Pari perl package. Rewritten and expanded by Karim Belabas for the main PARI distribution. ## SEE ALSO [*gp*(1)](/gp/1.md), [*gzip*(1)](/gzip/1.md), *readline*(1), [*tex*(1)](/tex/1.md), [*xdg-open*(1)](/xdg-open/1.md), [*xdvi*(1)](/xdvi/1.md). ## COPYING This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.