Syntax
------

HELP search_string

Description
-----------

The HELP command can be used in any MariaDB client, such as the mysql
command-line client, to get basic syntax help and a short description for most
commands and functions.

If you provide an argument to the HELP command, the mysql client uses it as a
search string to access server-side help. The proper operation of this command
requires that the help tables in the mysql database be initialized with help
topic information.

If there is no match for the search string, the search fails. Use HELP
contents to see a list of the help categories:

HELP contents
You asked for help about help category: "Contents"
For more information, type 'help <item>', where <item> is one of the following
categories:
 Account Management
 Administration
 Compound Statements
 Data Definition
 Data Manipulation
 Data Types
 Functions
 Functions and Modifiers for Use with GROUP BY
 Geographic Features
 Help Metadata
 Language Structure
 Plugins
 Procedures
 Sequences
 Table Maintenance
 Transactions
 User-Defined Functions
 Utility

If a search string matches multiple items, MariaDB shows a list of matching
topics:

HELP drop
Many help items for your request exist.
To make a more specific request, please type 'help <item>',
where <item> is one of the following
topics:
 ALTER TABLE
 DROP DATABASE
 DROP EVENT
 DROP FUNCTION
 DROP FUNCTION UDF
 DROP INDEX
 DROP PACKAGE
 DROP PACKAGE BODY
 DROP PROCEDURE
 DROP ROLE
 DROP SEQUENCE
 DROP SERVER
 DROP TABLE
 DROP TRIGGER
 DROP USER
 DROP VIEW

Then you can enter a topic as the search string to see the help entry for that
topic.

The help is provided with the MariaDB server and makes use of four help tables
found in the mysql database: help_relation, help_topic, help_category and
help_keyword. These tables are populated by the mysql_install_db or
fill_help_table.sql scripts which, until MariaDB 10.4.7, contain data
generated from an old version of MySQL.

URL: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/help-command/