The most useful Simics commands are grouped into categories. To list these categories, just type help at the command prompt. The list should look like this:
simics> help [...] To get you started, here is a list of command categories: Breakpoints Changing Simulated State Command-Line Interface Configuration Debugging Disk Ethernet Execution Files and Directories Haps Help Inspecting Simulated State Light Edition Logging Memory Modules Output Profiling Python Real Network Registers Remote Access Simics Central Simics Search Path Speed Symbolic Debugging Test Tracing [...]
Note that since Simics's configuration can change between sessions and even dynamically through loading modules, the commands and command categories may look different.
Type help category for a list of commands, e.g., help "Changing Simulated State" will list all commands belonging to that category:
simics> help "Changing Simulated State" Commands available in category Changing Simulated State set-pc set the current processor's program counter set set physical address to specified value <image>.set set bytes in image to specified value load-file load file into memory load-binary load binary (executable) file into memory <processor>.write-reg write to register write-reg write to register penable switch processor on
Type help command to print the documentation for a specific command.
The help command can do much more than printing command documentation: it gives you access to nearly all Simics documentation on commands, classes, modules, interfaces, API types and functions, haps and more according to the configuration loaded in the simulator. All documentation is also available in the Simics Reference Manual.
Here are some more examples of usage of the help command:
simics> help ptime [... ptime command documentation ...] simics> help cpu0.disassemble [... <processor>.disassemble command documentation ...] simics> help <processor>.disassemble [... <processor>.disassemble command documentation ...] simics> help cpu0 [... <ultrasparc-iii-i> class documentation ...] simics> help ultrasparc-iii-i [... <ultrasparc-iii-i> class documentation ...] simics> help processor [... <processor> interface documentation ...] simics> help cpu0.reorder_buffer_size [... <ultrasparc-iii-i>.reorder_buffer_size attribute documentation ...] simics> help ultrasparc-iii-i.windowed_registers [... <ultrasparc-iii-i>.windowed_registers attribute documentation ...] simics> help Core_Exception [... Core_Exception hap documentation ...] simics> help SIM_get_mem_op_type [... SIM_get_mem_op_type() function declaration ...] simics> help sparc-u3-turbo [... sparc-u3-turbo module documentation ...]
When a name matches several help topics (for example, a command and an attribute, or a module and a class), help will print out the first topic coming in this order: command categories, commands, classes, interfaces, haps, modules, attributes, API functions and symbols. It will also inform you at the end of the documentation output that other topics were matching your search:
simics> help cheerio-hme
[... cheerio-hme class documentation ...]
Note that your request also matched other topics:
module:cheerio-hme
If you type help module:cheerio-hme, the module documentation will be printed instead:
simics> help module:cheerio-hme [... cheerio-hme module documentation ...]
You can use specifiers like module: or class: at any time. It will also allow the help command to provide you better tab-completion, since only items in the selected category of documentation will be proposed. The following specifiers are available: object:, class:, command:, attribute:, interface:, module:, api:, hap: and category:.
The apropos command can search for keywords in the documentation provided by help. Type apropos keyword to get a list of all documentation topics matching this keyword.
simics> apropos step The text 'step' appears in the documentation for the following items: Command <processor>.cycle-break-absolute Command <processor>.step-break Command <processor>.step-break-absolute Command cycle-break-absolute Command log-setup Command print-event-queue [...] Attribute <ultrasparc-iii>.steps Hap Core_Step_Count simics>