Services & ResourcesWolfram ForumsMathGroup Archive

[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Some undocumented symbols

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg89493] Some undocumented symbols
• From: "Szabolcs HorvÃt" <szhorvat at gmail.com>
• Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:15:52 -0400 (EDT)

Sometimes one stumbles upon symbols which are useful to end users, but
are not (or not well) documented in the main documentation.  One
example is PolynomialForm, which I found by accident and which turned
out to be useful for some people.  Another one is ToColor, which I did
not know about, but was suggested as a solution to a question I posted
to MathGroup.

So I thought that it would be interesting to do an automatic search
for potentially useful undocumented symbols.  Those System context
symbols that have a usage message but are not in the main
documentation are good candidates.  A list of these is attached at the
end of the message (as strings, to prevent evaluation).  I used the
file names in $InstallationDirectory\Documentation\English\System\ReferencePages\Symbols
to determine whether a symbol name is in the docs (of course this is
not completely reliable)

One might want to filter these further according to the contents of
the usage message.  This can be done like this:

Select[symbolNames,
 ToExpression[#, InputForm,
   Function[s,
    StringFreeQ[
     s::usage, {"is an internal symbol", "is an option",
      "displays as"}], {HoldAll}]] &]

The following command will create a nice clickable table:

Information[Evaluate[Alternatives @@ symbolNames]]

List of symbols:

symbolNames =
{"Above", "AlgebraicRulesData", "Analytic", "ArgumentCountQ",
 "Below", "BlankForm", "CheckAll", "CoefficientDomain",
 "ColonForm", "Connect", "ConvertToPostScriptPacket",
 "DampingFactor", "Decimal", "DefaultValues",
 "DegreeLexicographic", "DegreeReverseLexicographic",
 "Delimiters", "DifferenceOrder", "DOSTextFormat",
 "DoubleLeftTee", "DoubleRightTee", "DoublyInfinite", "DownTee",
 "DumpGet", "Edit", "EditDefinition", "EditIn",
 "EliminationOrder", "EllipticReducedHalfPeriods", "EndAdd",
 "EqualColumns", "EqualRows", "EquatedTo", "ExactRootIsolation",
 "FileInformation", "FontName", "FontPostScriptName",
 "FormatValues", "FullAxes", "Generic", "GetContext", "Gradient",
 "HashTable", "HeadCompose", "HorizontalForm",
 "IncludeSingularTerm", "Inequality", "InexactNumbers",
 "InputToBoxFormPacket", "InterpolationPoints",
 "InterpretTemplate", "Jacobian", "K", "Launch", "LeftTee",
 "Lexicographic", "LicenseID", "LineForm", "LinkError",
 "LinkFlush", "LinkHost", "LinkMode", "LinkReadHeld",
 "LinkWriteHeld", "Listen", "ListQ", "LongForm", "Loopback",
 "MachineID", "MachineName", "MainSolve", "MakeRules",
 "MatchLocalNameQ", "MaxPoints", "MetaCharacters", "MinRecursion",
 "MinSize", "Mode", "Modular", "MonomialOrder", "MouseButtons",
 "Multiplicity", "NBernoulliB", "NonAssociative",
 "NProductFactors", "NSumTerms", "NValues", "OptionQ",
 "OutputMathEditExpression", "ParameterVariables", "ParentForm",
 "Parenthesize", "Pivoting", "PointForm", "Polynomials",
 "PromptForm", "RationalFunctions", "RawMedium", "RealBlockForm",
 "Reinstall", "Removed", "RepeatedString",
 "ReturnInputFormPacket", "RightTee", "RuleCondition", "RuleForm",
 "SequenceLimit", "ShowGroupOpenCloseIcon", "Socket",
 "SolveDelayed", "SpaceForm", "StringByteCount", "StripBoxes",
 "StripWrapperBoxes", "SubValues", "TextRendering", "ThisLink",
 "ToColor", "TooBig", "TraceAction", "TraceInternal",
 "TraceLevel", "UpTee", "Using", "V2Get", "ValueForm",
 "VerifyConvergence", "VerifySolutions", "VerticalForm",
 "$BoxForms", "$ConditionHold", "$DefaultPath", "$DumpDates",
 "$DumpSupported", "$LicenseProcesses", "$LinkSupported",
 "$MaxLicenseProcesses", "$NetworkLicense", "$OutputForms",
 "$PasswordFile", "$PipeSupported", "$PrintForms",
 "$PrintLiteral", "$ProgramName", "$SuppressInputFormHeads",
 "$TracePattern", "$TracePostAction", "$TracePreAction"}

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Some undocumented symbols
    • From: Murray Eisenberg <murray@math.umass.edu>