Command Discovery and Help

Command Discovery

using Giac

# Search for commands by prefix
search_commands("sin")        # ["sin", "sinc", "sinh", ...]

# Search with regex
search_commands(r"^a.*n$")    # Commands starting with 'a' and ending with 'n'

# Search by description (find commands by what they do)
search_commands_by_description("polynomial")  # Commands related to polynomials
search_commands_by_description("matrix", n=5) # Limit to 5 results

# Get command metadata
info = command_info(:factor)
info.name                     # "factor"
info.category                 # :algebra

# List available categories
list_categories()             # [:trigonometry, :calculus, :algebra, ...]

# Get commands in a category
commands_in_category(:trigonometry)  # ["sin", "cos", "tan", "asin", ...]
commands_in_category(:calculus)      # ["diff", "integrate", "limit", ...]
commands_in_category(:algebra)       # ["factor", "expand", "simplify", ...]

Help System

Use Julia's native help system to get documentation for GIAC commands:

using Giac
using Giac.Commands: factor, sin

# Use Julia's native help system (recommended)
?factor
#   factor(expr::GiacInput, args...)
#
#   GIAC command: `factor`
#
#   Factorizes a polynomial.
#
#   # Related Commands
#   - `ifactor`
#   - `partfrac`
#   - `normal`
#
#   # Examples (GIAC syntax)
#   factor(x^4-1)
#   factor(x^4-4,sqrt(2))

# Or use @doc macro
@doc factor

# For programmatic access to raw help text
help_text = giac_help(:factor)

# List all available commands
cmds = list_commands()
println("Number of commands: ", length(cmds))  # 2215

# Get help count
println("Help entries: ", help_count())  # 2215

Internal help() Function

The help(:cmd) function is no longer exported. Use ?cmd for interactive help or giac_help(:cmd) for programmatic access to raw help text.

Command Suggestions

When you mistype a command, Giac.jl automatically suggests similar commands:

using Giac

# Get suggestions programmatically
suggest_commands(:factr)        # ["factor", "cfactor", "ifactor", ...]
suggest_commands(:integrat)     # ["integrate", "integral", ...]

# Configure number of suggestions
get_suggestion_count()          # 4 (default)
set_suggestion_count(6)         # Show more suggestions

# Get suggestions with edit distances
Giac.suggest_commands_with_distances(:factr)
# [("factor", 1), ("cfactor", 2), ("ifactor", 2), ...]

The suggestion system uses Levenshtein edit distance with an adaptive threshold based on input length.

Command Discovery & Help

Function	Description
`?cmd`	View help in REPL (after importing cmd from Giac.Commands)
`giac_help(cmd)`	Get raw help text as a string
`list_commands()`	List all available GIAC commands
`help_count()`	Number of commands in help database
`search_commands(pattern)`	Search commands by prefix or regex
`command_info(cmd)`	Get CommandInfo with name, category, aliases
`list_categories()`	List all command categories
`commands_in_category(cat)`	List commands in a category
`suggest_commands(input)`	Suggest similar commands for mistyped input
`set_suggestion_count(n)`	Set number of suggestions (default: 4)
`get_suggestion_count()`	Get current suggestion count
`search_commands_by_description(query; n=20)`	Search commands by help text keywords

Command Access

Function	Description
`available_commands()`	List all commands starting with ASCII letters
`exportable_commands()`	List commands safe to export (no Julia conflicts)
`is_valid_command(name)`	Check if a command name is valid
`conflict_reason(cmd)`	Get why a command conflicts (`:keyword`, `:builtin`, etc.)
`JULIA_CONFLICTS`	Set of commands that conflict with Julia
`reset_conflict_warnings!()`	Reset conflict warning tracker (for testing)

Types

Type	Description
`GiacExpr`	Symbolic expression type
`GiacMatrix`	Symbolic matrix type
`GiacContext`	Evaluation context
`HelpResult`	Parsed help information with `.command`, `.description`, `.related`, `.examples` fields
`CommandInfo`	Command metadata with `.name`, `.category`, `.aliases`, `.doc` fields

Calculus

Use Giac.Commands or invoke_cmd:

Function	Description
`Giac.Commands.diff(f, x)`	Derivative of f with respect to x
`Giac.Commands.integrate(f, x)`	Indefinite integral
`invoke_cmd(:diff, f, x, n)`	nth derivative of f with respect to x
`invoke_cmd(:integrate, f, x, a, b)`	Definite integral from a to b
`invoke_cmd(:limit, f, x, point)`	Limit as x approaches point
`invoke_cmd(:series, f, x, point, order)`	Taylor series expansion

Algebra

Use Giac.Commands or invoke_cmd:

Function	Description
`Giac.Commands.factor(expr)`	Factor polynomial
`Giac.Commands.expand(expr)`	Expand expression
`Giac.Commands.simplify(expr)`	Simplify expression
`Giac.Commands.solve(expr, x)`	Solve equation for x
`Giac.Commands.gcd(a, b)`	Greatest common divisor