IDL path; IDL help; unix inside IDL

the following are examples of useful commands inside idl:

print, !path will print out the value of the idl path variable

? will start up help browser

?size goes to help browser to find fnc size (it’ll search for closest name to that)

help, /source brings up compiled procedures, compiled functions

help, pola tells you a lot about the variable pola

help, hdr,/st ditto on structure called hdr

print, size(pola) gives a buncha numbers which can be used by idl or deciphered by ?size
doc_library, ‘readcol’ gives documentation of nonnative fncs, like unix man

$ls executes unix ls command

Also see post entitled idl documentation and help commands from drew