Extension to "help"?

[John W. Eaton]

On 28-Feb-1997, Ted Harding <address@hidden> wrote:

| I'd like to suggest a useful extension to octave's "help".

This was already in the PROJECTS file:

  * As the number of m-files with octave grows perhaps a 'Contents.m'
    file for each toolbox (directory) would be appropriate so one
    knows exactly what functions are in a toolbox with a quick look.
    It would be best to generate information for each function directly
    from the M-files, so that the information doesn't have to be
    duplicated, and will remain current if the M-files change.  It
    would also be best to do as much of this as possible in an M-file,
    though I wouldn't mind adding some basic support for listing the
    names of all the directories in the LOADPATH, and the names of all
    the M-files in a given directory if that is needed.

I've added the following text to this item:

    Also make it possible to recursively search for Contents files:

      help dir        -- Contents from dir
      help dir//      -- Contents from dir and all its subdirectories
      help dir1/dir2  -- Contents from dir2 which is under dir1

Thanks,

jwe