The Help Directive is a CPGQL Directive which returns textual descriptions of other directives.
If it is executed by itself, it shows an overview of Top-Level Commands:
joern> help
val res0: Helper = Welcome to the interactive help system. Below you find
a table of all available top-level commands. To get
more detailed help on a specific command, just type
`help.<command>`.
Try `help.importCode` to begin with.
┌────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
│command │description │example │
├────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│close │Close project by name │close(projectName) │
│cpg │CPG of the active project │cpg.method.l │
│delete │Close and remove project from disk │delete(projectName) │
│exit │Exit the REPL │ │
│importCode │Create new project from code │importCode("example.jar")│
│importCpg │Create new project from existing CPG │importCpg("cpg.bin.zip") │
│open │Open project by name │open("projectName") │
│openForInputPath│Open project for input path │ │
│project │Currently active project │project │
│run │Run analyzer on active CPG │run.securityprofile │
│save │Write all changes to disk │save │
│switchWorkspace │Close current workspace and open a different one│ │
│workspace │Access to the workspace directory │workspace │
└────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
If executed with a Top-Level Command CPGQL Component prefix, it describe that Top-Level Command:
joern> help.save
res0: String = """
Close and reopen all loaded CPGs. This ensures that changes have been flushed to
disk.
Returns list of affected projects"""
If executed as part of a traversal, it prints available steps and their description at this point. Note that this list may not be complete - use <tab> completion for the full list.
joern> cpg.help
"Available starter steps:
┌─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│step │description │
├─────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.all │All nodes of the graph │
│.argument │All arguments (actual parameters) │
│.arithmetic │All arithmetic operations, including shorthand assignments that perform arithmetic (e.g., '+=') │
│.arrayAccess │All array accesses │
│.assignment │All assignments, including shorthand assignments that perform arithmetic (e.g., '+=') │
...
joern> cpg.method.help
Available steps for Method:
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│step │description │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.address │Address of the code (for binary code) │
│.ast │All nodes of the abstract syntax tree │
│.body │Alias for `block` │
│.break │All breaks (`ControlStructure` nodes) │
│.cfgLast │Last control flow graph node │
...