Ted: Your .xthelp is extremely useful, help on Linux being otherwise quite awkward to use since a pager in the same window make it hard to cut/paste examples --- where 'more' or 'less' really means 'instead of' :-)
Suggestion: include -title cat("cat > $HLPFIL\nxterm -title 'R-help' -e less $HLPFIL &\n", file=con) <hint>It would be nice if this solution made it into the R-FAQ or R-Admin manual.</hint> Failing that, it is a good example of something that would work well in a wiki. But, thankfully, you included the subject line from the original thread to make it searchable in the news archives. (Ted Harding) wrote: > [R] help output paged in separate window > > The solution I finally opted for, and still use, > is based (in a Linux environment) on including > the following code in your .Rprofile file: > > > .xthelp <- function() { > tdir <- tempdir() > pgr <- paste(tdir, "/pgr", sep="") > con <- file(pgr, "w") > cat("#! /bin/bash\n", file=con) > cat("export HLPFIL=`mktemp ", tdir, "/R_hlp.XXXXXX`\n", > sep="", file=con) > cat("cat > $HLPFIL\nxterm -e less $HLPFIL &\n", file=con) > close(con) > system(paste("chmod 755 ", pgr, sep="")) > options(pager=pgr) > } > .xthelp() > rm(.xthelp) > > > (and it's also specific to the 'bash' shell because > of the "#! /bin/bash\n", but you should be able to > change this appropriately). The above was posted by > Roger Bivand on 27 May. > > When you start an R session, this code is executed as > part of sourcing your .Rprofile, and it has the effect that > any output from R which would be paged is stored in a > temporary file which is then read by 'less' in a > separate X window which is detached from your R session > (i.e. your command interface will not hang while it is > being displayed). You can close the X window displaying > the 'less' output by closing 'less' (e.g. type "q"), or > you can leave it open and any new paged output will go > into a new window -- so you can for instance do > > ?glm > ?family > ?binomial > > and you will have three mutually relevant help windows > open at once between which you can cross-reference. > > As to extracting the code for examples, this is easy > in X windows since you just use your mouse: left-button > drag to hghlight a block of text, middle-button click > to paste the block into another window (of course the > mouse must be over the correct window!) > > So you can use the mouse to copy code from the "help" > pages to the command window. > > As I say, this is a Linux-oriented solution, and I don't > know what details would be required for anything similar > in a Windows environment. > > It is also worth reading the various contributions to > the above thread, since several suggestions were made. > > Hoping this helps, > Ted. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 > Date: 10-Jan-06 Time: 13:30:35 > ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > -- Michael Friendly Email: friendly AT yorku DOT ca Professor, Psychology Dept. York University Voice: 416 736-5115 x66249 Fax: 416 736-5814 4700 Keele Street http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/friendly.html Toronto, ONT M3J 1P3 CANADA ______________________________________________ R-help@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html