EINFO(1)

📦
version 24.0.20250523 · 3 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ EINFO ✨

okay bestie, welcome to einfo — the little cutie from the NCBI Entrez Direct User's Manual whose whole job is looking up general NCBI Entrez database information. she's giving backstage-pass energy 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

einfo — look up general NCBI Entrez database information 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

einfo [-help] [-dbs] [-db name] [-fields] [-links]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so basically, einfo looks up general information about either an individual NCBI Entrez database — the kind that the other Entrez Direct commands can work with — or about the set of available databases as a whole. like, one database's lore, or the entire roster. your call, bestie ✨

🚨 plot twist alert 🚨 einfo is also the name of a tool for accessing contents of local EPUB files. yes, two icons, one name, no cap.

to resolve this ambiguity, Debian systems that have both EPUB utilities and Entrez Direct installed arrange for the EPUB-related executable to have the name einfo.epub(1), and for einfo to be a wrapper script that examines its usage and proceeds to run whichever of einfo.epub(1) or einfo.ncbi looks like a better fit. it's literally doing a vibe check and picking the right twin 😭👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

💜 Database Selection

  • -dbs — print a plain-text list of all available Entrez databases. the whole lineup, no XML, just names 🌈
  • -db name — print information on the specified Entrez database (or all), as an XML eInfoResult document. yes, all is an option too, she contains multitudes 💫

🍓 Data Summaries

  • -fields — print just an XML-structured summary of fields in the specified database. just the fields, nothing extra 🧚
  • -links — print just an XML-structured summary of links to and from the specified database. the connections, the networking, the social graph 💅

⭐ Miscellaneous

  • -help — print usage information, complete with samples of -fields and -links XML output. she comes with examples, periodt 👑

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

einfo.epub(1), elink(1), nquire(1).

and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this one's brought to you by NCBI, dated 2023-01-24, from the NCBI Entrez Direct User's Manual — go forth and look up your databases, you absolute main character 💖✨

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