How can I read documentation about built in zsh commands?

Question

It's frustrating when I do something like man bindkey and i get:

BUILTIN(1)                BSD General Commands Manual               BUILTIN(1)

NAME
     builtin, !, %, ., :, @, {, }, alias, alloc, bg, bind, bindkey, break, breaksw, builtins, case, cd, chdir, command,
     complete, continue, default, dirs, do, done, echo, echotc, elif, else, end, endif, endsw, esac, eval, exec, exit,
     export, false, fc, fg, filetest, fi, for, foreach, getopts, glob, goto, hash, hashstat, history, hup, if, jobid,
     jobs, kill, limit, local, log, login, logout, ls-F, nice, nohup, notify, onintr, popd, printenv, pushd, pwd, read,
     readonly, rehash, repeat, return, sched, set, setenv, settc, setty, setvar, shift, source, stop, suspend, switch,
     telltc, test, then, time, times, trap, true, type, ulimit, umask, unalias, uncomplete, unhash, unlimit, unset,
     unsetenv, until, wait, where, which, while -- shell built-in commands

SYNOPSIS
     builtin [-options] [args ...]

DESCRIPTION
     Shell builtin commands are commands that can be executed within the running shell's process.  Note that, in the

Is there an easy way to access the documentation for such commands?

Answer 1

The key information for getting a more useful help utility is actually included with Zsh, it's just a matter of finding the critical—and poorly discoverable—man page: man zshcontrib (here on the web), which describes the run-help widget:

By default, run-help is an alias for the man command, so this often fails when the command word is a shell builtin or a user-defined function. By redefining the run-help alias, one can improve the on-line help provided by the shell.

It further explains how to replace it with a built-in improvement.

# Remove the default of run-help being aliased to man
unalias run-help.
# Use zsh's run-help, which will display information for zsh builtins.
autoload run-help

After setting this up, calling run-help for names of builtins, completion functions and so forth will now try to show you extracted documentation, or show you the right containing man page, etc. For example run-help bindkey outputs:

bindkey
   See the section `Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1).

which could be better. For a better example, run-help history shows the Zsh man page section for fc, which is the command that underlies history.

Also handy to note: ESC-h will call run-help for the command on the current input line.

I presume this setup isn't the default because extracting the granular help data and setting HELPDIR to point to it might be a packaging decision left to OS distributions. There's also a user choice: the autoload run-help util is useful without setting HELPDIR at all. It seems to be good at taking you to the right man page even if it can't jump to the exact section for one item. Some may prefer this to running into cases like the bindkey example above which just wastes time. (Why they default to alias run-help=man then, I cannot fathom).

For Zsh version 5.0.3 or newer

The helpfiles extractions are likely included with the Zsh distribution. It's just a matter of finding them on your system to set HELPDIR if you wish—likely candidates are in /usr/share/zsh or /usr/local/share/zsh, look for a help subdirectory.

For versions of Zsh before 5.0.3

You will likely need to follow the procedure detailed in man zshcontrib yourself to generate the help files. It's a little annoying to need to do this, but otherwise quick and painless.

Find your installed version with zsh --version and obtain the corresponding source tarball from the sourceforge archive. Then run the helpfiles script as shown in the man page and set the target as HELPDIR in your ~/.zshrc.

Answer 2

Try either of these:

man zshbuiltins

or

man zshall

The man pages for zsh are divided up by topic, man zsh is mostly a table of contents and introduction while man zshall is everything (24628 lines on my system compared to 5242 for man bash).

As for bindkey, man zshbuiltins will refer you to man zshzle.

Answer 3

You can add those lines to your .zshrc profile:

unalias run-help 2>/dev/null
autoload run-help
HELPDIR=/path/to/zsh_help_directory
alias help=run-help

where /path/to/zsh_help_directory must be substituted by your zsh help folder. If you are on OS X with zsh installed via Homebrew, this folder is /usr/local/share/zsh/help

This will enable bash-like help for zsh.

It should be pointed out that if the default installation path of your zsh login shell's help files exists and contains the desired files, the third line HELPDIR=/path/to/zsh_help_directory won't be required.

Source your .zshrc ($ source .zshrc) and check that everything works fine with for instance (pick up any zsh builtin you want, here I picked autoload):

$ help autoload

Notice that the 2>/dev/null part is needed because without it, std error 'unalias: no such hash table element: run-help' would occur every time you source your .zshrc file while run-help is already unaliased.

Answer 4

Other answers are too long...

Set up the run-help function by adding the following to your .zshrc:

unalias run-help
autoload run-help

Tip: Reload the config with . ~/.zshrc.

Now you should see a manual entry when you run run-help bindkey. If it doesn't work, you need to see more instructions for Accessing On-Line Help (man zshcontrib).

In some cases, run-help will not find a manual entry and you have to search through man zshall.

If run-help does not scroll to the specific command, you need to override HELPDIR to match your installation of zsh.

Answer 5

I finally got sick of hunting through man pages and online searches each time I needed to get some Zsh info. I went through all of Zsh's man pages and put together a good "help" function that's fairly expansive.

To use this, I would create a file called "help" somewhere in your fpath and add autoload -Uz help to your zshrc.

# better help function than zsh's crappy run-help
local ZSHPAGE=zshall LESSQUERY
LESS="-RM~gIsw"
LESS_TERMCAP_mb=$'\E[01;31m'
LESS_TERMCAP_md=$'\E[01;31m'
LESS_TERMCAP_me=$'\E[0m'
LESS_TERMCAP_se=$'\E[0m'
LESS_TERMCAP_so=$'\E[01;44;33m'
LESS_TERMCAP_ue=$'\E[0m'
LESS_TERMCAP_us=$'\E[01;32m'

case "$@" in
    ""|--help|-h)
        local cmds='
RESERVED WORDS
do done esac then elif else fi for case if while function  repeat  time until  select  coproc nocorrect foreach end ! [[ { } declare export float integer local readonly typeset

BUILTIN COMMANDS
- . : [ [[ alias autoload bg bindkey break builtin bye cap cd chdir clone command comparguments compcall compctl compdescribe compfiles compgroups compquote comptags comptry compvalues continue declare dirs disable disown echo echotc echoti emulate enable eval exec exit export false fc fg float functions getcap getln getopts hash history integer jobs kill lets limit local log logout noglob popd print printf pushd pushln pwd r read readonly rehash return sched set setcap setopt shift source stat suspend test times trap true ttyctl type typeset ulimit umask unalias unfunction unhash unlimit unset unsetopt vared wait whence where which zcompile zformat zftp zle zmodload zparseopts zprof zpty zregexparse zsocket zstyle ztcp
        '
        if whence -p fold >/dev/null; then
            fold -sw$COLUMNS <<< $cmds
        else
            print -- $cmds
        fi
        return;;
    '-- '*)
        shift
        LESSQUERY="$@";;
    loop*|while|do|done|if|then|elif|else|fi|until)
        LESSQUERY='^COMPLEX COMMANDS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    for)
        LESSQUERY='^       for name \.\.\. '
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    foreach|end)
        LESSQUERY='^       foreach name \.\.\.'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    case|esac)
        LESSQUERY='^       case word'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    coproc)
        LESSQUERY='coproc'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    repeat)
        LESSQUERY='^       repeat word do'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    select)
        LESSQUERY='^       select name \[ in word'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    time)
        LESSQUERY='^       time \[ pipeline \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    list|'('*|'{'*|subshell)
        LESSQUERY='^       time \[ pipeline \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    '!'|not)
        LESSQUERY='^       \! exp  true if exp is false\.'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    .)
        LESSQUERY='^       \. file \[ arg \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    :)
        LESSQUERY='^       : \['
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    alias)
        LESSQUERY='^       alias \['
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    autoload)
        LESSQUERY='^       autoload \['
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    *autoload*)
        LESSQUERY='^AUTOLOADING FUNCTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    bg)
        LESSQUERY='^       bg \['
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    bindkey)
        LESSQUERY='^ZLE BUILTINS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    break)
        LESSQUERY='^       break \[ n \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    -|exec|command|noglob|nocorrect|builtin|precommand*)
        LESSQUERY='^PRECOMMAND MODIFIERS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    bye)
        LESSQUERY='^       bye    Same as exit\.'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    cap)
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/cap Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    cd)
        LESSQUERY='^       cd \[ -qsLP \] \[ arg \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    chdir)
        LESSQUERY='^       chdir  Same as cd\.'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    clone)
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/clone Module'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    compargu*)
        LESSQUERY='^       comparguments$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    compcall)
        LESSQUERY='^       compcall \[ -TD'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    compctl)
        LESSQUERY='^       compctl \[ -CDT'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompctl;;
    compdes*)
        LESSQUERY='^       compdescribe$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    compfiles)
        LESSQUERY='^       compfiles$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    compgroups)
        LESSQUERY='^       compgroups$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    compquote)
        LESSQUERY='^       compquote$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    comptags)
        LESSQUERY='^       comptags$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    comptry)
        LESSQUERY='^       comptry$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    compvalues)
        LESSQUERY='^       compvalues$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    continue)
        LESSQUERY='^       continue \[ n \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    dirs)
        LESSQUERY='^       dirs \[ -c \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    disable)
        LESSQUERY='^       disable \[ -afmprs \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    disown)
        LESSQUERY='^       disown \[ job \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    echo)
        LESSQUERY='^       echo \[ -neE \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    echotc)
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/termcap Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    echoti)
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/terminfo Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    emulate)
        LESSQUERY='^       emulate \[ -LR \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    enable)
        LESSQUERY='^       enable \[ -afmprs \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    eval)
        LESSQUERY='^       eval \[ arg \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    exit)
        LESSQUERY='^       exit \[ n \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    export)
        LESSQUERY='^       export \[ name'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    fc)
        LESSQUERY='^       fc \[ -e ename \] \[ -LI \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    fg)
        LESSQUERY='^       fg \[ job \.\.\. \]S'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    functions)
        LESSQUERY='^       functions \[ \{\+\|-\}UkmtTuz'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    getcap)
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/cap Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    getln)
        LESSQUERY='^       getln \[ -AclneE \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    getopts)
        LESSQUERY='^       getopts optstring name'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    hash)
        LESSQUERY='^       hash \[ -Ldfmrv \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    history)
        LESSQUERY='^HISTORY EXPANSION$';;
    integer)
        LESSQUERY='^       integer \[ \{\+\|-\}Hghlprtux'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    jobs)
        LESSQUERY='^       jobs \[ -dlprs \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    kill)
        LESSQUERY='^       kill \[ -s signal_name'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    limit)
        LESSQUERY='^       limit \[ -hs \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    local)
        LESSQUERY='^       local \[ \{\+\|-\}AHUahlprtux '
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    log)
        LESSQUERY='^       log    List all'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    logout)
        LESSQUERY='^       logout \[ n \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    popd)
        LESSQUERY='^       popd \[ -q \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    print)
        LESSQUERY='^       print \[ -abcDilmnNoOpPrsSz \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    printf)
        LESSQUERY='^       printf format \[ arg \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    pushd)
        LESSQUERY='^       pushd \[ -qsLP \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    pushln)
        LESSQUERY='^       pushln \[ arg \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    pwd)
        LESSQUERY='^       pwd \[ -rLP \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    r)
        LESSQUERY='^       r      Same as fc -e -\.'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    read)
        LESSQUERY='^       read \[ -rszpqAclneE \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    readonly)
        LESSQUERY='^       readonly$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    rehash)
        LESSQUERY='^       rehash Same as hash -r\.'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    return)
        LESSQUERY='^       return \[ n \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    sched|'sched module')
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/SCHED MODULE$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    set)
        LESSQUERY='^       set \[ \{\+\|-\}options'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    setcap)
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/cap Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    setopt)
        LESSQUERY='^       setopt \[ \{\+\|-\}options'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    shift)
        LESSQUERY='^       shift \[ -p \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    source)
        LESSQUERY='^       source file \[ arg'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    stat|zstat|'stat module')
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/stat Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    times)
        LESSQUERY='^       times  Print'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    test|'[['*|'['*)
        LESSQUERY='^CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    trap)
        LESSQUERY='^       trap \[ arg \] \[ sig \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    true)
        LESSQUERY='^       true \[ arg \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    ttyctl)
        LESSQUERY='^       ttyctl \[ -fu \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    type)
        LESSQUERY='^       type \[ -wfpamsS \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    typeset|declare)
        LESSQUERY='^       typeset \[ \{\+\|-\}AHUaghlmprtux \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    ulimit)
        LESSQUERY='^       ulimit \[ -HSa \] \['
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    umask)
        LESSQUERY='^       umask \[ -S \] \[ mask \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    unalias)
        LESSQUERY='^       unalias \[ -ams \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    unfunction)
        LESSQUERY='^       unfunction$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    unhash)
        LESSQUERY='^       unhash \[ -adfms \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    unset)
        LESSQUERY='^       unset \[ -fmv \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    unsetopt)
        LESSQUERY='^       unsetopt \[ \{\+\|-\}options'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    vared)
        LESSQUERY='^       vared \[ -Aache \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    wait)
        LESSQUERY='^       wait \[ job \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    whence)
        LESSQUERY='^       whence \[ -vcwfpamsS \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    where)
        LESSQUERY='^       where \[ -wpmsS \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    which)
        LESSQUERY='^       which \[ -wpamsS \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    zcompile)
        LESSQUERY='^       zcompile \[ -U \] \[ -z \|'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    zformat)
        LESSQUERY='^       zformat -f param format'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zftp|'ftp module')
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/zftp Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zle)
        LESSQUERY='^       zle -l \[ -L \| -a \] \[ string \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    widget)
        LESSQUERY='^              widget \[ -n num \] \[ -Nw \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    zmodload)
        LESSQUERY='^       zmodload \[ -dL \] \[ \.\.\. \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    zparseopts)
        LESSQUERY='^       zparseopts \[ -DKME \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zprof|'zprof module')
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/ZPROF MODULE$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zpty|'zpty module')
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/ZPTY MODULE$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zregexparse)
        LESSQUERY='^       zregexparse$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zsocket|(net|socket)' module')
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/NET/SOCKET MODULE$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zstyle|'zutil module')
        LESSQUERY='^The zsh/zutil Module$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    ztcp|'tcp module')
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/NET/TCP MODULE$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    attr*mod*|zgetattr|zsetattr|zdelattr|zlistattr)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/ATTR MODULE$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    complist*mod*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/COMPLIST MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    computil*mod*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/COMPUTIL MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    curses*|zcurses)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/CURSES MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    datetime*|strftime)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/DATETIME MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    (db|gdbm)*|ztie|zuntie)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/DB/GDBM MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    delto*|delete-to-char|zap-to-char)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/DELTOCHAR MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    example*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/EXAMPLE MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    files*mod*|chgrp|chown|ln|mkdir|mv|rm|rmdir|sync)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/FILES MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    langinfo*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/LANGINFO MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    mapfile*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/MAPFILE MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    mathfunc*mod*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/MATHFUNC MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    param*mod*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/PARAMETER MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    pcre*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/PCRE MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    regex*mod*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/REGEX MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    system*mod*|syserror|sysopen|sysread|sysseek|syswrite|zsystem*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/SYSTEM MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    zselect*)
        LESSQUERY='^THE ZSH/ZSELECT MODULE'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    start*flag*|invok*|initial*)
        LESSQUERY='^INVOCATION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zsh;;
    (start|shut)*file*|*zshenv|*zshrc|*zprofile|*zlogin|*zlogout|*zdotdir*|*ZDOTDIR*)
        LESSQUERY='^STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FILES$'
        ZSHPAGE=zsh;;
    subscript*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Subscript Flags'
        ZSHPAGE=zshparam;;
    simple*|pipe*)
        LESSQUERY='^SIMPLE COMMANDS & PIPELINES'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    function*)
        LESSQUERY='^       function word'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    alt*)
        LESSQUERY='^ALTERNATE FORMS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    reserv*)
        LESSQUERY='^RESERVED WORDS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    error*)
        LESSQUERY='^ERRORS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    alias*)
        LESSQUERY='^ALIASING$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    quot*)
        LESSQUERY='^QUOTING$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    redirect*|*'>'*|*'<'*|*'&>'*|*'2>'*|*'>>'*|*'<<'*)
        LESSQUERY='^REDIRECTION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    file*desc*)
        LESSQUERY='^OPENING FILE DESCRIPTORS USING PARAMETERS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    multios)
        LESSQUERY='^MULTIOS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    anon*func*)
        LESSQUERY='^ANONYMOUS FUNCTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    hook*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Hook Functions$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    trap*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Trap Functions$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    job*)
        LESSQUERY='^JOBS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    math*|'(('*|'$(('|let*|arith*)
        LESSQUERY='^ARITHMETIC EVALUATION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    prompt|promptinit|prompt*theme*)
        LESSQUERY='^       prompt \[ -c \| -l \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    PS1|prompt*|PROMPT*)
        LESSQUERY='^SIMPLE PROMPT ESCAPES$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    history*)
        LESSQUERY='^HISTORY EXPANSION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    proc*sub*|*'<('*|*')>'*)
        LESSQUERY='^PROCESS SUBSTITUTION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    param*flag*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Parameter Expansion Flags$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    param*rule*|nested*sub*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Rules$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    param*ex*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Examples$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    param*|'${')
        LESSQUERY='^PARAMETER EXPANSION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    brace*expan*)
        LESSQUERY='^BRACE EXPANSION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    filename*expan*)
        LESSQUERY='^FILENAME EXPANSION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    expan*|subst*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshexpn - zsh expansion and substitution$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    dyn*dir*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Dynamic named directories$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    static*dir*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Static named directories$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    approx*match*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Approximate Matching$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    recurs*glob*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Recursive Globbing$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    glob*qual*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Glob Qualifiers$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    glob*flag*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Globbing Flags$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    glob*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Glob Operators$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    ksh*glob*)
        LESSQUERY='^   ksh-like Glob Operators'
        ZSHPAGE=zshexpn;;
    array*sub*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Array Subscripts$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshparam;;
    array*)
        LESSQUERY='^ARRAY PARAMETERS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshparam;;
    positional*)
        LESSQUERY='^POSITIONAL PARAMETERS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshparam;;
    shell*(param*|var*)|env*)
        LESSQUERY='^PARAMETERS SET BY THE SHELL$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshparam;;
    watchfmt*)
        LESSQUERY='^       WATCHFMT$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshparam;;
    set*|(shell|spec)*op*)
        LESSQUERY='^SPECIFYING OPTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshoptions;;
    single*opt*|short*flag*|single*letter*)
        LESSQUERY='^SINGLE LETTER OPTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshoptions;;
    (shell|zsh)*builtin*)
        LESSQUERY='^SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshbuiltins;;
    key*)
        LESSQUERY='^KEYMAPS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    widget*)
        LESSQUERY='^USER-DEFINED WIDGETS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    highlight*)
        LESSQUERY='^CHARACTER HIGHLIGHTING$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    comp*wid*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshcompwid - zsh completion widgets'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    complet*param*|*PREFIX*|*CURRENT*|*SUFFIX*)
        LESSQUERY='^COMPLETION SPECIAL PARAMETERS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    compstate)
        LESSQUERY='^       compstate$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    compadd)
        LESSQUERY='^       compadd \[ -akqQfenUlo12C '
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    compset)
        LESSQUERY='^       compset -p number'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    compcall)
        LESSQUERY='^       compcall \[ -TD'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    *match*)
        LESSQUERY='^COMPLETION MATCHING CONTROL$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompwid;;
    *compsys*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshcompsys - zsh completion system'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    compdef*)
        LESSQUERY='^       compdef \[ -ane \]'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    '#'compdef*)
        LESSQUERY='^       #compdef name'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    *completer*)
        LESSQUERY='^       completer$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    *complet*|*'zstyle '*)
        LESSQUERY='^COMPLETION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    utility*func*|_argu*|_descr*)
        LESSQUERY='^UTILITY FUNCTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    control*func*|_func*)
        LESSQUERY='^CONTROL FUNCTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcompsys;;
    calendar*)
        LESSQUERY='^       calendar \[ -abdDsv'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcalsys;;
    calsys*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshcalsys - zsh calendar system'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcalsys;;
    tcp*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshtcpsys - zsh tcp system'
        ZSHPAGE=zshtcpsys;;
    ftp*|zftp*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshzftpsys - zftp function front-end'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzftpsys;;
    contrib*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zshcontrib - user contributions to zsh'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    special*func*)
        LESSQUERY='^SPECIAL FUNCTIONS'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmisc;;
    color*comp*)
        LESSQUERY='^   Colored completion listings'
        ZSHPAGE=zshmodules;;
    colors)
        LESSQUERY='^       colors This  function'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    vcs*|version*control*)
        LESSQUERY='^GATHERING INFORMATION FROM VERSION CONTROL SYSTEMS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zle*)
        LESSQUERY='^ZLE FUNCTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshzle;;
    mime*)
        LESSQUERY='^MIME FUNCTIONS$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zcalc*)
        LESSQUERY='^       zcalc \[ -ef'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zmathfuncdef)
        LESSQUERY='^       zmathfuncdef \['
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    other*func*)
        LESSQUERY='^OTHER FUNCTIONS'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zargs)
        LESSQUERY='       zargs \[ option'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    tetris*)
        LESSQUERY='^       tetris Zsh'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zed)
        LESSQUERY='^       zed \[ -f'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zmv|zcp|zln|zkbd)
        LESSQUERY='^       zmv \[ -finq'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    zstyle+)
        LESSQUERY='^       zstyle\+ context'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    file*)
        LESSQUERY='^FILES$'
        ZSHPAGE=zsh;;
    except*|throw|catch|always)
        LESSQUERY='^EXCEPTION HANDLING$'
        ZSHPAGE=zshcontrib;;
    *)
        LESSQUERY="$@";;
esac
man --pager="less -p'$LESSQUERY'" "$ZSHPAGE"

It uses less as the pager and enables less's termcap support for color man pages. Executing help with no parameters or --help or -h lists reserved words and builtin commands. Typing help with one of those words brings you right to the entry in the appropriate man page. I went through and narrowed down entries in specific man pages to optimize for speed/efficiency, as opposed to just using man ... zshall. This help function finds a lot more than just reserved words and builtin commands. It will locate entries for modules, module commands, certain important completion commands such as compadd, compset, etc.

Many sections on things like arithmetic, completion, globbing, arrays, environment variables, exception handling are shown by typing help math, help complet, help glob, help arrays, help env, help except. There are wildcards and multiple match terms to make the help function more friendly. It's a fairly simple case statement with a little over 210 matching conditions. If nothing's matched it defaults to a zshall search. If the matching conditions don't show what you're looking for or seem to get in the way, type help -- following by your search terms to bypass all matching.

I included a lot of what the Zsh man pages cover, but it could be made smarter or more complete by including things like the underscore prefixed completion functions.

---

edit: I made a bindkey function for ^[h (esc/alt + h). run-help is bound there by default, and this replaces it.

_helpprefix(){
    OLDBUFFER="$BUFFER"
    zle backward-kill-word
    BUFFER="help $CUTBUFFER"
    zle accept-line
    zle -U "$OLDBUFFER"
}
zle -N _helpprefix _helpprefix
bindkey '^[h' _helpprefix

What this does is cut out the last word typed, execute help with that word and then it pushes back in the original line. So you can use it to run help on read in a command like this:

find /usr -print0 | while IFS= read

You'll still be right at the end of your command after viewing the entry for read.

Also something worth noting, if you ever need help with flags for a particular builtin, you can always add a - after the command and hit tab to see short descriptions of each flag, e.g. read - + tab prints this out:

-A  -- first name is taken as an array
-E  -- input read is echoed
-d  -- specify delimiter to terminate input instead of newline
-e  -- input read is echoed and not assigned
-k  -- specify number of characters to read
-q  -- read y or n character from terminal
-r  -- raw mode
-s  -- suppress terminal echoing
-t  -- test if input is available before reading
-u  -- specify file descriptor to read from
-z  -- read entry from editor buffer stack

Answer 6

with Bash, "help" works:

jcomeau@intrepid:~/etc/apache2$ help until
until: until COMMANDS; do COMMANDS; done
    Execute commands as long as a test does not succeed.

    Expand and execute COMMANDS as long as the final command in the
    `until' COMMANDS has an exit status which is not zero.

    Exit Status:
    Returns the status of the last command executed.

Answer 7

I moved from bash to zsh, and missed the "help" builtin. So I wrote an alias that called it. Then I figured out something better. Though I do sometimes have to hit "n" one or more times to get to the line in the manual that I need.

help(){
    #This function used to call the "bash" builtin.
    #bash -c "help $@"

    #Better way: look it up in the man pages. I often look up "test" which doesn't give a usefull result,
    #so I added that as a special case.
    if [[ $1 == "test" ]]; then
        man --pager="less -p'^CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS$'" zshall
    else
        man --pager="less -p'^ *$@ '" zshall
    fi
}

Answer 8

Although this was more involved in the past, as of 2017 (Zsh v5.4), getting a very fast and convenient help hotkey under your fingers is as simple as putting the following into your .zshrc (or equivalent setup files):

unalias run-help
autoload run-help
bindkey "^[h" run-help

Now you can just start typing the full command you're trying to invoke (following opts/args — eg, "hello" — are ignored):

print hello«Alt-h»

and you'll see the run-help listing.

print [ -abcDilmnNoOpPrsSz ] [ -u n ] [ -f format ] [ -C cols ]
  [ -v name ] [ -xX tabstop ] [ -R [ -en ]] [ arg ... ]
   With the `-f' option the arguments are printed as  described  by
   printf...

A short listing is available for most commands, extracted from zshbuiltins(1). I see 109 commands documented on my system in /usr/share/zsh/5.4.2/help/. Love this feature of Zsh!

Note that not everything is integrated into run-help and you'll sometimes need to pull up zshall(1) to find what you're looking for:

% run-help zargs
zargs is an autoload shell function
No manual entry for zargs

---

It's also great that this Alt-h (or M-h if you like) pattern has essentially replaced any call you'd normally make to man, for Zsh commands or anything else. Instead of:

% foo - # oh wait, how does this work
% foo -^C
% ^p^a  # recall, go to beginning of line
% man foo

it's now just:

% foo -«Alt-h»

---

Note for Emacs/vterm etc users: M-h is probably bound to mark-paragraph, and so this solution won't work. But you can instead do S-M-h (that's adding Shift) and get the desired behavior.

Answer 9

for me, setting HELPDIR is the key.

[ -d /usr/share/zsh/help ] && HELPDIR=/usr/share/zsh/help
[ -d /usr/local/share/zsh/help ] && HELPDIR=/usr/local/share/zsh/help

alias help=run-help
bindkey '^[^H' run-help  # ctrl alt h.  Because of zsh-vi-mode  delete-forward-word, I can't use ^[^H] here

The end

---

To use run-help more intelligently

just add:

autoload -Uz run-help-sudo  # A very simple example
autoload -Uz run-help-ip  # A good example
autoload -Uz run-help-git

Press ctrl+alt+h after you type sudo ls, you will see the manpage of ls.

However, this does not show what we expect (maybe because of the use of shift in run-help? ) /usr/share/zsh/functions/Misc/run-help sudo ls

You can put this in .zshrc instead of autoload -Uz run-help-sudo

run-help-sudo(){
if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    man sudo
else
    man $1
fi
}

Prefer tldr to man? Want to find the bin?

h(){
    /usr/bin/tldr $1 | bat
    # todo https://zsh.sourceforge.io/Doc/Release/Expansion.html#Parameter-Expansion-Flags
    # parameter expansion
    VAR="$(/usr/bin/tldr $1)"
    if [[ ${VAR} == *"No tldr entry for"* ]]
    then
        PAGER=LESS run-help $1
    fi

    echo ''
    whence -ca $1

    # todo
    # man --pager="less --pattern 'MY_key word' " zshcontrib
    # man --pager="less --pattern 'keyboard definition'" zshcontrib

    # todo
    # use run-help-git etc
}

---

from https://zsh.sourceforge.io/Doc/Release/User-Contributions.html

if cmd is a file system path, it is first reduced to its rightmost component (the file name).

Help is first sought by looking for a file named cmd in the directory named by the HELPDIR parameter. If no file is found, an assistant function, alias, or command named run-help-cmd is sought. If found, the assistant is executed with the rest of the current command line (everything after the command name cmd) as its arguments. When neither file nor assistant is found, the external command ‘man cmd’ is run. If no file is found, an assistant function, alias, or command named run-help-cmd is sought

what run-help does is :

(maybe have covered this answer's function? )

#!/bin/zsh
#
# Figure out where to get the best help, and get it.
#
# Install this function by placing it in your FPATH and then
# adding to your .zshrc the lines:
#   unalias run-help
#   autoload -Uz run-help
#

emulate -RL zsh

local HELPDIR=${HELPDIR:-/usr/share/zsh/help}

[[ $1 == "." ]] && 1="dot"
[[ $1 == ":" ]] && 1="colon"

# Check whether Util/helpfiles has been used to generate zsh help
if [[ $# == 0 || $1 == "-l" ]]
then
    if [[ -d $HELPDIR ]]
    then
    echo "Here is a list of topics for which special help is available:"
    echo ""
    print -rc $HELPDIR/*(:t)
    else
    echo "There is no list of special help topics available at this time."
    fi
    return 0
elif [[ -n "${HELPDIR:-}" && -r $HELPDIR/$1 && $1 != compctl ]]
then
    ${=PAGER:-/usr/bin/pager} $HELPDIR/$1
    return $?
fi

# No zsh help; use "whence" to figure out where else we might look
local what places noalias newline='
'
integer i=0 didman=0

places=( "${(@f)$(builtin whence -va $1)}" )
if [[ $places = *"not found"* && $1 != ${(Q)1} ]]; then
  # Different when unquoted, so try stripping quotes.
  places=( "${(@f)$(builtin whence -va ${(Q)1})}" )
  if (( ${#places} )); then
      set -- "${(Q)@}"
  fi
  # Quotation is significant to aliases, so suppress lookup.
  noalias=1
fi

{
while ((i++ < $#places))
do
    what=$places[$i]
    [[ -n $noalias && $what = *" is an alias "* ]] && continue
    builtin print -r $what
    case $what in
    (*( is an alias for (noglob|nocorrect))*)
    [[ ${what[(w)7]:t} != ${what[(w)1]} ]] &&
      run_help_orig_cmd=${what[(w)1]} run-help ${what[(w)7]:t}
    ;;
    (*( is an alias)*)
    [[ ${what[(w)6]:t} != ${what[(w)1]} ]] &&
      run_help_orig_cmd=${what[(w)1]} run-help ${what[(w)6]:t}
    ;;
    (*( is a * function))
    case ${what[(w)1]} in
    (comp*) man zshcompsys;;
    (zf*) man zshftpsys;;
    (run-help) man zshcontrib;;
    (*) builtin functions ${what[(w)1]} | ${=PAGER:-/usr/bin/pager};;
    esac;;
    (*( is a * builtin))
    case ${what[(w)1]} in
    (compctl) man zshcompctl;;
    (comp*) man zshcompwid;;
    (bindkey|vared|zle) man zshzle;;
    (*setopt) man zshoptions;;
    (cap|getcap|setcap) ;&
    (clone) ;&
    (ln|mkdir|mv|rm|rmdir|sync) ;&
    (sched) ;&
    (echotc|echoti|sched|stat|zprof|zpty|zsocket|zstyle|ztcp) man zshmodules;;
    (zftp) man zshftpsys;;
    (*) man zshbuiltins;;
    esac
    ;;
    (*( is hashed to *))
    man ${what[(w)-1]:t}
    ;;
    (*( is a reserved word))
    man zshmisc
    ;;
    (*)
    if ((! didman++))
    then
        if whence "run-help-$1:t" >/dev/null
        then
        local cmd_args
        builtin getln cmd_args
        builtin print -z "$cmd_args"
        cmd_args=( ${(z)cmd_args} )
        # Discard environment assignments, etc.
        while [[ $cmd_args[1] != ${run_help_orig_cmd:-$1} ]]
        do
            shift cmd_args || return 1
        done
        eval "run-help-$1:t ${(q@)cmd_args[2,-1]}"
        else
        POSIXLY_CORRECT=1 man $@:t
        fi
    fi
    ;;
    esac
    if ((i < $#places && ! didman))
    then
    builtin print -nP "%SPress any key for more help or q to quit%s"
    builtin read -k what
    [[ $what != $newline ]] && echo
    [[ $what == [qQ] ]] && break
    fi
done
} always {
  unset run_help_orig_cmd
}

Answer 10

The manpage for your shell will probably tell you.

Use the search feature of you pager if reading in the shell (or the find feature of you browser). For less that is /search string to start the search and n to move to the next match.

Answer 11

Is there an easy way to access the documentation for such commands?

man zshbuiltins is available online for all builtin comands in zsh, for all latest versions of zsh. You can check your zsh version with zsh --version.

For documentation on bindkey specifically

You can do man zshbuiltins | less -p bindkey to search for and go directly to the entry for bindkey. This gives a redirecting entry of See the section 'Zle Builtins' in zshzle(1). So you'd go man 1 zshzle | less -p bindkey, and then you are displayed with bindkey can be used to manipulate keymap names, etc, with a lot more info in the section "Zle Builtins" as you scroll down.

As an added note, when using less, press "n" to jump to next search item, and "N" to jump to previous.