On-line help

On-line help on individual tasks is available from the IRAF command language.

1. To obtain help on an individual task on simply type:

   help  task-name

   from the IRAF command line. For example:

   help  imstat

   and the help text for task imstat is displayed. The bottom line of the window gives a summary of the commands available (type q to quit and return to the IRAF cl> prompt).

2. If you are looking for tasks to perform some function but are not sure what the task names are, which packages they are in, or indeed whether they exist, try typing:

   apropos  topic

   For example, if you were looking for commands to mosaic several CCD frames together you might type:

   apropos  mosaic

   This command searches all the available IRAF help databases and lists a summary of all the tasks with (in this example) the word `mosaic' in their title. Note, however, that apropos is part of STSDAS and hence is only available if STSDAS is installed.