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17<title>Debugging with GDB: Help</title>
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64<a name="Help"></a>
65<div class="header">
66<p>
67Previous: <a href="Command-aliases-default-args.html#Command-aliases-default-args" accesskey="p" rel="previous">Command aliases default args</a>, Up: <a href="Commands.html#Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Commands</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
68</div>
69<hr>
70<a name="Getting-Help"></a>
71<h3 class="section">3.6 Getting Help</h3>
72<a name="index-online-documentation"></a>
73<a name="index-help"></a>
74
75<p>You can always ask <small>GDB</small> itself for information on its commands,
76using the command <code>help</code>.
77</p>
78<dl compact="compact">
79<dd><a name="index-h-_0028help_0029"></a>
80</dd>
81<dt><code>help</code></dt>
82<dt><code>h</code></dt>
83<dd><p>You can use <code>help</code> (abbreviated <code>h</code>) with no arguments to
84display a short list of named classes of commands:
85</p>
86<div class="smallexample">
87<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) help
88List of classes of commands:
89
90aliases -- User-defined aliases of other commands
91breakpoints -- Making program stop at certain points
92data -- Examining data
93files -- Specifying and examining files
94internals -- Maintenance commands
95obscure -- Obscure features
96running -- Running the program
97stack -- Examining the stack
98status -- Status inquiries
99support -- Support facilities
100tracepoints -- Tracing of program execution without
101               stopping the program
102user-defined -- User-defined commands
103
104Type &quot;help&quot; followed by a class name for a list of
105commands in that class.
106Type &quot;help&quot; followed by command name for full
107documentation.
108Command name abbreviations are allowed if unambiguous.
109(gdb)
110</pre></div>
111
112</dd>
113<dt><code>help <var>class</var></code></dt>
114<dd><p>Using one of the general help classes as an argument, you can get a
115list of the individual commands in that class.  If a command has
116aliases, the aliases are given after the command name, separated by
117commas.  If an alias has default arguments, the full definition of
118the alias is given after the first line.
119For example, here is the help display for the class <code>status</code>:
120</p>
121<div class="smallexample">
122<pre class="smallexample">(gdb) help status
123Status inquiries.
124
125List of commands:
126
127info, inf, i -- Generic command for showing things
128        about the program being debugged
129info address, iamain  -- Describe where symbol SYM is stored.
130  alias iamain = info address main
131info all-registers -- List of all registers and their contents,
132        for selected stack frame.
133...
134show, info set -- Generic command for showing things
135        about the debugger
136
137Type &quot;help&quot; followed by command name for full
138documentation.
139Command name abbreviations are allowed if unambiguous.
140(gdb)
141</pre></div>
142
143</dd>
144<dt><code>help <var>command</var></code></dt>
145<dd><p>With a command name as <code>help</code> argument, <small>GDB</small> displays a
146short paragraph on how to use that command.  If that command has
147one or more aliases, <small>GDB</small> will display a first line with
148the command name and all its aliases separated by commas.
149This first line will be followed by the full definition of all aliases
150having default arguments.
151</p>
152<a name="index-apropos"></a>
153</dd>
154<dt><code>apropos [-v] <var>regexp</var></code></dt>
155<dd><p>The <code>apropos</code> command searches through all of the <small>GDB</small>
156commands, and their documentation, for the regular expression specified in
157<var>args</var>.  It prints out all matches found.  The optional flag  &lsquo;<samp>-v</samp>&rsquo;,
158which stands for &lsquo;<samp>verbose</samp>&rsquo;, indicates to output the full documentation
159of the matching commands and highlight the parts of the documentation
160matching <var>regexp</var>.  For example:
161</p>
162<div class="smallexample">
163<pre class="smallexample">apropos alias
164</pre></div>
165
166<p>results in:
167</p>
168<div class="smallexample">
169<pre class="smallexample">alias -- Define a new command that is an alias of an existing command
170aliases -- User-defined aliases of other commands
171</pre></div>
172
173<p>while
174</p>
175<div class="smallexample">
176<pre class="smallexample">apropos -v cut.*thread apply
177</pre></div>
178
179<p>results in the below output, where &lsquo;<samp>cut for 'thread apply</samp>&rsquo;
180is highlighted if styling is enabled.
181</p>
182<div class="smallexample">
183<pre class="smallexample">taas -- Apply a command to all threads (ignoring errors
184and empty output).
185Usage: taas COMMAND
186shortcut for 'thread apply all -s COMMAND'
187
188tfaas -- Apply a command to all frames of all threads
189(ignoring errors and empty output).
190Usage: tfaas COMMAND
191shortcut for 'thread apply all -s frame apply all -s COMMAND'
192</pre></div>
193
194<a name="index-complete"></a>
195</dd>
196<dt><code>complete <var>args</var></code></dt>
197<dd><p>The <code>complete <var>args</var></code> command lists all the possible completions
198for the beginning of a command.  Use <var>args</var> to specify the beginning of the
199command you want completed.  For example:
200</p>
201<div class="smallexample">
202<pre class="smallexample">complete i
203</pre></div>
204
205<p>results in:
206</p>
207<div class="smallexample">
208<pre class="smallexample">if
209ignore
210info
211inspect
212</pre></div>
213
214<p>This is intended for use by <small>GNU</small> Emacs.
215</p></dd>
216</dl>
217
218<p>In addition to <code>help</code>, you can use the <small>GDB</small> commands <code>info</code>
219and <code>show</code> to inquire about the state of your program, or the state
220of <small>GDB</small> itself.  Each command supports many topics of inquiry; this
221manual introduces each of them in the appropriate context.  The listings
222under <code>info</code> and under <code>show</code> in the Command, Variable, and
223Function Index point to all the sub-commands.  See <a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html#Command-and-Variable-Index">Command and Variable Index</a>.
224</p>
225<dl compact="compact">
226<dd><a name="index-info"></a>
227<a name="index-i-_0028info_0029"></a>
228</dd>
229<dt><code>info</code></dt>
230<dd><p>This command (abbreviated <code>i</code>) is for describing the state of your
231program.  For example, you can show the arguments passed to a function
232with <code>info args</code>, list the registers currently in use with <code>info
233registers</code>, or list the breakpoints you have set with <code>info breakpoints</code>.
234You can get a complete list of the <code>info</code> sub-commands with
235<code>help&nbsp;info</code><!-- /@w -->.
236</p>
237<a name="index-set"></a>
238</dd>
239<dt><code>set</code></dt>
240<dd><p>You can assign the result of an expression to an environment variable with
241<code>set</code>.  For example, you can set the <small>GDB</small> prompt to a $-sign with
242<code>set prompt $</code>.
243</p>
244<a name="index-show"></a>
245</dd>
246<dt><code>show</code></dt>
247<dd><p>In contrast to <code>info</code>, <code>show</code> is for describing the state of
248<small>GDB</small> itself.
249You can change most of the things you can <code>show</code>, by using the
250related command <code>set</code>; for example, you can control what number
251system is used for displays with <code>set radix</code>, or simply inquire
252which is currently in use with <code>show radix</code>.
253</p>
254<a name="index-info-set"></a>
255<p>To display all the settable parameters and their current
256values, you can use <code>show</code> with no arguments; you may also use
257<code>info set</code>.  Both commands produce the same display.
258</p></dd>
259</dl>
260
261<p>Here are several miscellaneous <code>show</code> subcommands, all of which are
262exceptional in lacking corresponding <code>set</code> commands:
263</p>
264<dl compact="compact">
265<dd><a name="index-show-version"></a>
266<a name="index-GDB-version-number"></a>
267</dd>
268<dt><code>show version</code></dt>
269<dd><p>Show what version of <small>GDB</small> is running.  You should include this
270information in <small>GDB</small> bug-reports.  If multiple versions of
271<small>GDB</small> are in use at your site, you may need to determine which
272version of <small>GDB</small> you are running; as <small>GDB</small> evolves, new
273commands are introduced, and old ones may wither away.  Also, many
274system vendors ship variant versions of <small>GDB</small>, and there are
275variant versions of <small>GDB</small> in <small>GNU</small>/Linux distributions as well.
276The version number is the same as the one announced when you start
277<small>GDB</small>.
278</p>
279<a name="index-show-copying"></a>
280<a name="index-info-copying"></a>
281<a name="index-display-GDB-copyright"></a>
282</dd>
283<dt><code>show copying</code></dt>
284<dt><code>info copying</code></dt>
285<dd><p>Display information about permission for copying <small>GDB</small>.
286</p>
287<a name="index-show-warranty"></a>
288<a name="index-info-warranty"></a>
289</dd>
290<dt><code>show warranty</code></dt>
291<dt><code>info warranty</code></dt>
292<dd><p>Display the <small>GNU</small> &ldquo;NO WARRANTY&rdquo; statement, or a warranty,
293if your version of <small>GDB</small> comes with one.
294</p>
295<a name="index-show-configuration"></a>
296</dd>
297<dt><code>show configuration</code></dt>
298<dd><p>Display detailed information about the way <small>GDB</small> was configured
299when it was built.  This displays the optional arguments passed to the
300<samp>configure</samp> script and also configuration parameters detected
301automatically by <code>configure</code>.  When reporting a <small>GDB</small>
302bug (see <a href="GDB-Bugs.html#GDB-Bugs">GDB Bugs</a>), it is important to include this information in
303your report.
304</p>
305</dd>
306</dl>
307
308<hr>
309<div class="header">
310<p>
311Previous: <a href="Command-aliases-default-args.html#Command-aliases-default-args" accesskey="p" rel="previous">Command aliases default args</a>, Up: <a href="Commands.html#Commands" accesskey="u" rel="up">Commands</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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