## On-line help utility BROWSE

BROWSE displays HTML helpfiles in your webbrowser or in the Matlab help-browser. It provides a convenient way to implement an on-line help system for Matlab toolboxes and Simulink blocksets, relying on HTML formatting and linking.

### Usage

`browse name`, or `browse('name')` opens the specified HTML file in the standard webbrowser; see the example below for the structure of 'name'.

`browse name -mlhelp`, or `browse('name','-mlhelp')` opens the HTML file in the Matlab help browser (this switch is functional only for Matlab release 12 and later, as the Matlab help browser didn't exist in earlier Matlab releases).

By default, BROWSE uses the default webbrowser instead of the Matlab help browser; changing this behaviour requires editing of browse.m. Early versions of the Matlab help browser may have problems with modern web technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets, which is one reason why the Matlab help browser is not used by default. However, the browser choice in general is mainly a matter of personal preference.

BROWSE builds on the WEB command of Matlab, which may not work correctly with browsers other than Netscape 4 or Internet Explorer version 5 and later. If your browser is not supported by the WEB command, it may be more convenient to call BROWSE with the optional argument '-mlhelp'.

### Example

Consider the following helpfile: `c:\toolbox\helpfiles\filename.html`

In order to display this file in the webbrowser, the following entries for 'name' are valid:

- full path plus filename plus extension: `c:\toolbox\helpfiles\filename.html`
- part of the path plus filename plus extension: `helpfiles\filename.html`
- filename plus extension: `filename.html`
- full path plus filename without extension: `c:\toolbox\helpfiles\filename`
- part of the path plus filename without extension: `helpfiles\filename`
- filename only: `filename`

The directory in which the helpfile is located *must* be present in the Matlab search path. If the specified file cannot be found, an error message will be displayed.

Suitable file extensions are: .htm, .html, .HTM, and .HTML. All other extensions will be disregarded and will result in a 'file not found' error, even if the file _does_ exist! For instance, if a file README.TXT exists somewhere on the Matlab path, then browse('README.TXT') will still yield a 'file not found' error, because BROWSE will search for README.TXT.htm and README.TXT.html (upper and lower-case) only.