#chirp help

Offline docs, built into the binary: the topics listed below, plus the docstring of every bundled module binding and every Janet core binding.

chirp help                          # this text and the topic list
chirp help query '<fts5 query>'     # ranked search, up to 10 hits
chirp help query '<fts5 query>' --limit 3
chirp help read <id>                # print one hit in full

#Query examples

Queries use SQLite FTS5 syntax. Words are stemmed, so certificate also finds certificates.

chirp help query certificate             # one word
chirp help query 'user agent'            # both words, anywhere in the entry
chirp help query '"user agent"'          # the exact phrase
chirp help query 'cert*'                 # prefix: cert, certs, certificate...
chirp help query 'toml OR json'          # either word
chirp help query 'sqlite NOT fts5'       # the first, without the second
chirp help query 'title:server'          # only in titles
chirp help query 'id:sh'                 # only in ids, e.g. the spork/sh bindings
chirp help query 'NEAR(read stream, 5)'  # within 5 words of each other

Hyphens and other punctuation need a quoted phrase: chirp help query '"spork-https"'. An invalid query prints the FTS5 error and exits 1.

#Ids

chirp help read takes an id as printed by a query:

• https: a whole topic file
• https/the-ca-option: one ## section of a topic
• spork-https/get: the docstring of a bundled module's binding
• os/spawn: the docstring of a Janet core binding

An unknown id exits 1 and suggests ids that contain it.