SYNTAX: help [native] name-of-topic...

SUMMARY
The "help" command gives help on Nameserver commands and concepts.  You
can obtain a list of help topics by simply typing the word "help".

You will notice that the list of topics is divided into two parts, "ph"
help topics and "native" help topics.  The "ph" help topics pertain to
commands and concepts related to the Unix ph client and other clients
similar to it.  The "native" topics may of interest to anyone using the
Nameserver database and are not specific to a particular client.

If you ask for help on a topic, "help" will first look for that topic
in the "ph" topics.  If there is no help specific to "ph" for the topic,
it will look for a "native" help topic with that name.

In the rare event that there you are interested in reading the "native"
help text for a topic that also has a "ph" help text, you can type:
"help native name-of-topic-you-want".

If you find the concept of "ph" versus "native" help to be confusing,
the following categorization of the ph help topics may be of use to you.
The list below assigns each topic to one of five main subject areas:
commands, concepts, fields, services, codes, and miscellaneous:

COMMANDS - commands that can be typed at the ph> prompt: 

   add                 help             me             quit
   change              login            passwd         register
   delete              logout           ph             status
   edit                make             query          switch
   fields

CONCEPTS - introductory information and basic ph concepts:

   aliases             commands         interactive_mode
   command-line_mode   e-mail           introduction

FIELDS - ph fields of special interest:

   alias               nickname         paper          type
   email               no_update        proxy

SERVICES - services or categories of information that the ph
database offers:

   areacodes           people           timetable
   campus_units        restaurants      weather

CODES - explanations of the three digit result codes returned by ph:

   100     300     403     503     508     513     518     523
   101     301     475     504     509     514     519     598
   102     400     500     505     510     515     520     599
   200     401     501     506     511     516     521
   201     402     502     507     512     517     522


MISCELLANEOUS - help topics that do not fall into any of the areas above:

   clients            manpage           policy         sites
   forwarding         ph_news           protocol       vi
