# Links to online help in command line help?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 19, 2025, 12:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281 "2025-10-19T12:00:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 12:00pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/1 "2025-10-19T12:00:23Z")

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Sometimes, the doc strings are too short:

```julia-auto
help?> import
search: import export import_log isqrt ispow2 isperm insorted Cshort sort hypot

  import

  import Foo will load the module or package Foo. Names from the imported Foo
  module can be accessed with dot syntax (e.g. Foo.foo to access the name
  foo). See the manual section about modules for details.

julia> 

```

The notation

```julia-auto
import GLMakie as ma

```

for example is not mentioned at all. And the sentence “See manual section…” is missing a hyperlink.

Is it possible to add hyperlinks that work and keep working in the future to docstrings?

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**Author:** ![WalterMadelim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@WalterMadelim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/WalterMadelim)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 12:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/2 "2025-10-19T12:09:19Z")

</div>

> [@ufechner7](#):
>
> Sometimes, the doc strings are too short:

There is a type of docstring that has double ??

```julia-auto
Extended help is available with `??Threads.@threads`

```

> [@ufechner7](#):
>
> Is it possible to add hyperlinks

Why need this? We are in command line environment.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/3 "2025-10-19T12:11:35Z")

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> [@WalterMadelim](#):
>
> Why need this? We are in command line environment.

Because the help string is referencing the manual. And the help string is insufficient. And there is no extended help for this command available.

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**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/4 "2025-10-19T12:21:47Z")

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That is why in GMT I created the @? macro that automatically opens the extended (web) man page, when it exists ofc.

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**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/5 "2025-10-19T12:37:11Z")

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> [@joa-quim](#):
>
> I created the @? macro

Where is it defined? I could not find it in GMT.jl .

And how does it work, and how can it be used?

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**Author:** ![joa-quim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/joa-quim/32/227_2.png) [@joa-quim](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/joa-quim)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/6 "2025-10-19T12:43:20Z")

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I’ll point to it tonight when I get back to my computer.

Found it. See  
[GMT.jl/src/common\_options.jl at master · GenericMappingTools/GMT.jl](https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/GMT.jl/blob/master/src/common_options.jl#L5123)

It works by opening a html man page in s browser.

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**Author:** ![PeterSimon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/petersimon/32/25193_2.png) [@PeterSimon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PeterSimon)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/7 "2025-10-19T15:45:41Z")

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> [@ufechner7](#):
>
> Is it possible to add hyperlinks that work and keep working in the future

The `@docs` macro of the PkgOnlineHelp.jl package is designed for this purpose. By default, typing

```julia-auto
julia> @docs SomePackage

```

will open your default browser to the package repository site. But you can customize it (only needs to be done once) so that typing the same thing takes you directly to the documentation of the package (or anywhere else you choose). For instance, I have mine set up so that

```julia-auto
julia> @docs julia

```

opens the Julia language documentation.

Disclaimer: I am the author of PkgOnlineHelp.jl.

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**Author:** ![ForceBru](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/forcebru/32/21389_2.png) [@ForceBru](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ForceBru)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/8 "2025-10-19T16:10:48Z")

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I think documentation should be _helpful_. Adding a link to the “full” documentation is definitely helpful, and it’s also probably not that hard. Users shouldn’t have to search “the manual” (beginners may not even know where to find “the manual” itself) or use third-party macro packages to access documentation for the Julia language itself or its standard library.

The obvious response here is “if it’s not that hard, why don’t you submit a PR adding the links?”, and that’s probably the right thing to do…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/links-to-online-help-in-command-line-help/133281/9 "2025-10-19T17:24:02Z")

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I created an issue:

> <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/59909>
>
> The doc strings is too short:
> 
> \`\`\`
> help?\> import
> search: import export import\_lo…g isqrt ispow2 isperm insorted Cshort sort hypot
> 
> import
> 
> import Foo will load the module or package Foo. Names from the imported Foo
> module can be accessed with dot syntax (e.g. Foo.foo to access the name
> foo). See the manual section about modules for details.
> 
> julia\>
> \`\`\`
> 
> The notation
> \`\`\`
> import GLMakie as ma
> \`\`\` 
> 
> for example, it is not mentioned at all. And the sentence “See manual section…” is missing a hyperlink.
> 
> Before creating a pull request, I would like to get your opinion: What is the way forward?
> \- extending the docstring OR
> \- adding a hyperlink that works
> 
> Julia 1.11 and Julia 1.12

I think, using a package like PkgOnlineHelp.jl in the documentation of Base does not make sense.