HELP Command

This post was updated for OS version 2.5.1

The HELP command provides basic information about syntax and options for each and every command. If issued without parameters it lists all of the commands available to you at the JANOS Command Line.

bruce_dev /> help
Available Commands:
  arc       arp       bye       cat       cd        certmgr   chdir     chgrp     chmod   
  chown     copy      cp        date      del       dir       echo      ed        edit    
  egrep     exec      exit      extern    find      gc        grep      groupadd  groupdel
  groups    head      help      hist      history   hostname  iolog     ipconfig  jar     
  java      jrflash   jrmon     jrupdate  kill      logger    ls        man       manifest
  md        mkdir     mode      more      move      mv        nbtstat   netstat   nslookup
  nv        passwd    phome     ping      ps        quit      rd        reboot    reg     
  registry  ren       rename    rm        rmdir     run       sendmail  set       setenv  
  stats     tail      telnet    thd       touch     type      useradd   userdel   usermod 
  users     whoami    zip             

bruce_dev />

Note that this list depends on the user’s permission level. The list above covers all commands. It is displayed for Administrator accounts.

The list is reduced when not an Administrator. These are the command available to a user with the Control permissions flag.

bruce_dev /> help
Available Commands:
  bye      cat      cd       chdir    chmod    copy     cp       del      dir      echo   
  egrep    exit     extern   find     grep     head     help     hist     history  java   
  jrmon    ls       man      md       mkdir    more     move     mv       passwd   ping   
  quit     rd       ren      rename   rm       rmdir    stats    tail     type     whoami       

bruce_dev />

And if you are logged in as a guest with an account that neither has the Administrator flag or the Control Flag then this is all you can use.

bruce_dev /> help
Available Commands:
  bye      cat      cd       chdir    dir      echo     egrep    exit     find     grep   
  head     help     hist     history  jrmon    ls       man      more     passwd   ping   
  quit     stats    tail     type     whoami         

bruce_dev />

The HELP command has an alias MAN. JANOS wants to seem familiar to new users and so tries to be a bit flexible. For this reason both DIR and LS perform the same function.

If you provide the name of a command as a parameter details for that command are displayed.

bruce_dev /> help dir
DIR/LS/FIND                      User Commands

NAME
    dir - File Directory List Utility

ALIASES
    DIR, LS, FIND

SYNOPSIS
    dir [OPTIONS] [FILESPEC]

DESCRIPTION
    Lists files stored in the File System. FILESPEC may define a specific
    file or contain '*' and '?' wildcards.

    -L, -V
        Long or Verbose mode lists file details such as permissions, size
        and last modification date.

    -A
        Lists ALL files including Hidden files. Hidden files and folders have
        names beginning with a period '.' .

    -F
        Lists only Files. Folders or Directorys are not listed. This is the
        default for the FIND alias.

    -D
        Lists only Directories or Folders. Files are not listed.

    -S, -R
        Recurses sub-directories or sub-folders listing content in each. This
        is the default for the FIND alias.

    -W
        Lists files in columnar format. Not valid with verbose listings.

    -X
        Includes the '.' file entry (current folder) when used with a
        recursive (-S or -R) verbose (-V) listing.

FORMAT
    The long format (option -L) is interpreted by other systems and protocols
    such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP). It is therefore somewhat cryptic
    and may look foreign to some. A header is not provided as it might be
    misinterpreted in processing. The output appears as follows:

        -rw-r--r--   1 root      root         387 May 27 08:45 jniorsys.log

    -rw-r--r--
        The initial column displays the Permissions for the file or directory.
        It comprises of 10 characters in the format 'drwxrwxrwx'.

    1
        The digit '1' is always listed. JANOS does not support multiple
        hard-links.

    root
        Next the file Owner is listed using the account username or 'root' if
        the file or directory was created by the system. The USERS command
        lists the current users.

    root
        The Group to which the file has been assigned. The GROUPS command lists
        the currently defined Groups. The 'root' group includes all users and
        is always available.

    387
        The file size in bytes. If the listing is a directory (first char in the
        permissions is a 'd') then this is the count of entries in the folder.

    May 27 08:45
        The date of the last file or directory modification. The format may
        change to include the year when the entry is sufficiently old.

    jniorsys.log
        Finally the file or directory name is listed.

NOTES
    The FIND alias aids in locating files throughout the file system. The
    resulting search is performed recursively from the root or the path
    provided. The results are limited to files. Wildcards are automatically
    inserted before and after the filename to create a lazy match on similar
    files.

SEE ALSO
    HELP Topics: PERMISSIONS, USERS, GROUPS

Hint: You can use HELP -P to display a page at a time.

bruce_dev />

That includes itself.

bruce_dev /> help help
HELP/MAN                         User Commands

NAME
    help - Help System

ALIASES
    HELP, MAN

SYNOPSIS
    help [OPTIONS] [TOPIC]

DESCRIPTION
    The Help System is designed to make information more readily available
    to users during Command Line Console sessions. The HELP command issued
    without parameters lists the available commands. Help information for any
    of the available commands can then be displayed using the name as the
    TOPIC.

    Additional HELP Topics are available for Registry keys and reference
    information.

    -S
        When a topic is not found HELP displays search results displaying
        topics which contain the TOPIC keyword. By default only a limited
        number of matches are displayed. This option skips the search for
        a specific TOPIC, performs the content search, and shows ALL results.
        Results are listing in order of decreasing relevance.

    -I [CATEGORY]
        Generates an index including all of the available HELP topics. If a
        valid CATEGORY is specified the list is limited to a related subset.

    -C
        List all available categories. Most HELP topics belong to at least one
        category.

    -P
        This option pages the Help response 24 lines at a time. The user
        can page through the information using any keyboard keystroke. This
        eliminates the need to scroll back for reading. A Ctrl-C disables
        the paging for the balance of the text. (See note below)

    -L
        Displays the brief legacy Help text as is available for commands. The
        option '-?' may be used with most commands to access their short help
        text.

NOTES
    The Topic may contain '*' and '?' wildcards but only matches legacy Help
    text in that case.

    Help output can be lengthy as there can be a lot of information available for
    display. In addition to the -P option that pages the output for you, you may
    also 'pipe' the output using the pipe character '|' from the command to MORE .
    This opens the screen editor with the output in read-only mode. Here you can
    scroll, page and even search the results. Keep in mind that Ctrl-Q exits this
    tool.


SEE ALSO
    HELP Topics: SUPPORT, MANUAL, MORE

Hint: You can use HELP -P to display a page at a time.

bruce_dev />

bruce_dev /> help j*

----------
JAR archive [filespec ...]

Options: (-LV Default)
 -E             Extract contents
 -A             Add files
 -U             Update files
 -F             Freshen archive
 -M             Move files
 -D             Delete files
 -L             List contents
 -S             Recurse folders
 -P spec        Path override
 -V             Verbose format
 -O             Overwrite when extracting
 -T             Test archive

List/Add/Extract files from a ZIP/JAR archive.
Aliases: ARC, ZIP, JAR

----------
JAVA filespec [&]

Options:
 &              Executes in background ('&' must be last on the line)
 filespec       Either a .class file or .jar library containing classes to execute

Executes the given Java program.

----------
JRFLASH

Options:
 -C             Display cache status
 -F             Format (all data will be lost)
 -R             Perform reclamation pass

Displays Flash File System status.

----------
JRMON

options:
 -C             Enable control commands
 -D             Enable control including diagnostics functions
 -M             Monitors processor load
 -X cmd         Execute commands and return

I/O monitoring utility

----------
JRUPDATE [options] file/URL

Options:
 -U             Update
 -G             Download
 -I             Run Installer
 -F             Skip confirmation
 -P             Reboot after
 -R             Rollback
 -C             Cancel update

Perform installation and updates.

bruce_dev />