R help - Jul 2009 - Navigate to Index page of a package from R command prompt

Hi all,

Is there a way to navigate directly to the "Index" page of help
for a package?

Here's my connundrum:

I download and install package "foo".
I don't know what functions are in package "foo",
so I can't invoke the help for package "foo"
via
> ?someFunction
help(package = "foo")
pops up some non-hyperlinked information page, not
package foo's help Index page.

If the package author kindly made a "foo" object or function
and put that in package "foo", then 
> ?foo
works and yields a help page for package "foo".
Now at the bottom of the help page is a hyperlink "Index"
and I can click that to navigate to the main help Index page
(the page I really want to get to straight from the R
command line).

I see that the link to "Index" for package "foo" appears
always to be
(on my Mac)
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/foo/html/00Index.html

e.g.
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/cmprsk/html/00Index.html

file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/utils/html/00Index.html

Is there a command from the R listener that can take me directly to
this "00Index.html" page of help for package "foo"?

something like
> help("00Index", package = "utils")
(but this does not work)?

Any info appreciated

Best

Steven McKinney

Statistician
Molecular Oncology and Breast Cancer Program
British Columbia Cancer Research Centre

On Jul 23, 2009, at 3:30 PM, Steven McKinney wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Is there a way to navigate directly to the "Index" page of help
> for a package?
>
> Here's my connundrum:
>
> I download and install package "foo".
> I don't know what functions are in package "foo",
> so I can't invoke the help for package "foo" via
>> ?someFunction
>
> help(package = "foo")
> pops up some non-hyperlinked information page, not
> package foo's help Index page.
>
> If the package author kindly made a "foo" object or function
> and put that in package "foo", then
>> ?foo
> works and yields a help page for package "foo".
> Now at the bottom of the help page is a hyperlink "Index"
> and I can click that to navigate to the main help Index page
> (the page I really want to get to straight from the R
> command line).
>
> I see that the link to "Index" for package "foo"
appears always to be
> (on my Mac)
>
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/foo/html/00Index.html
>
> e.g.
>
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/cmprsk/html/00Index.html
>
>
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/utils/html/00Index.html
>
> Is there a command from the R listener that can take me directly to
> this "00Index.html" page of help for package "foo"?
>
> something like
>> help("00Index", package = "utils")
>
> (but this does not work)?
>
> Any info appreciated
>
> Best
>
> Steven McKinney

Steven,

Once a package has been loaded with 'library(PackageName)', you can  
use .path.package("PackageName") to get the path to the main package  
installation folder and then append the remainder:

library(survival)

 > .path.package("survival")
[1] "/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/survival"

 > file.path(.path.package("survival"), "html",
"00Index.html")
[1] "/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/survival/html/ 
00Index.html"

See ?.path.package and ?file.path for more information.

You can also use .find.package() for unloaded packages and that is  
described on the same help page as .path.package.

Finally, you can use browseURL() to bring the index file up in your  
browser:

   browseURL(file.path(.path.package("survival"), "html",  
"00Index.html"))

HTH,

Marc Schwartz

Try

enter at the R console: help.start()
and then when the help comes up in your browser click on Packages
and then click on the package you want
and then click on the help file you want

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM, Steven McKinney<smckinney at bccrc.ca>
wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Is there a way to navigate directly to the "Index" page of help
> for a package?
>
> Here's my connundrum:
>
> I download and install package "foo".
> I don't know what functions are in package "foo",
> so I can't invoke the help for package "foo" via
>> ?someFunction
>
> help(package = "foo")
> pops up some non-hyperlinked information page, not
> package foo's help Index page.
>
> If the package author kindly made a "foo" object or function
> and put that in package "foo", then
>> ?foo
> works and yields a help page for package "foo".
> Now at the bottom of the help page is a hyperlink "Index"
> and I can click that to navigate to the main help Index page
> (the page I really want to get to straight from the R
> command line).
>
> I see that the link to "Index" for package "foo"
appears always to be
> (on my Mac)
>
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/foo/html/00Index.html
>
> e.g.
>
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/cmprsk/html/00Index.html
>
>
file:///Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/library/utils/html/00Index.html
>
> Is there a command from the R listener that can take me directly to
> this "00Index.html" page of help for package "foo"?
>
> something like
>> help("00Index", package = "utils")
>
> (but this does not work)?
>
> Any info appreciated
>
> Best
>
> Steven McKinney
>
> Statistician
> Molecular Oncology and Breast Cancer Program
> British Columbia Cancer Research Centre
>
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