help-mode

help-mode: the minor mode that turns a markdown buffer into a help buffer — read-only, with <CR> following links.

On this page

The minor that makes a markdown buffer a help buffer. It composes with markdown-mode, which carries the parsing and rendering; help-mode adds what makes it navigable rather than just readable:

  • ReadOnly — help is a record, not a scratchpad.
  • Link and anchor metadata — the [labeltopic`` targets and the heading anchors they can point at.
  • <CR> follows the link under the cursor, gated on this minor being active. That gate is why <CR> opens a topic in :help and inserts a newline everywhere else, without the dispatcher special- casing buffer names.

You never toggle it: :help, :describe-*, :apropos and the hover popup all bring it with the buffer.

Why it is a minor and not the major

The major is markdown-mode, because a help buffer is markdown and should highlight, fold and move exactly like any other markdown. Help is a role layered on top. Splitting it that way means improvements to markdown rendering reach help for free, and help-specific behaviour (link following, dismissal) has somewhere to live that doesn't touch markdown files you're editing.

Options

ReadOnly = true

Keybindings

<CR> follows the link under the cursor. Dismissal and navigation come from the help buffer's own bindings — see help.

See also

  • help — the help system: :describe-*, :apropos, the <C-h> prefix map.
  • markdown-mode — the major underneath.