help

Syntax

UPPERCASE words are placeholders to replace. Brackets in the syntax line describe optional arguments; do not type those brackets literally.

help [BUILTIN]

Example

help read

Expected result

Help for Bash’s read builtin.

Notes and traps

Use man for external programs. Bash is the shell; grep, find, and cp are separate utilities.

Related commands

• PowerShell: Get-Help
• PowerShell: Get-Command
• CMD: help
• CMD: where

Related tasks may need different flags and have different semantics. Check the entry before translating a command between shells.

Updated 13 September 2026. Examples describe the expected behavior; not every platform is available for execution testing.