---
title: "contextHelp(forKey:)"
framework: foundation
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: "foundation/bundle/contexthelp(forkey:)"
---

# contextHelp(forKey:)

Returns the context-sensitive help for the specified key from the bundle’s help file.

## Declaration

```swift
func contextHelp(forKey key: NSHelpManager.ContextHelpKey) -> NSAttributedString?
```

## Parameters

- `key`: A key in your application’s Help.plist file that identifies the context-sensitive help to return.

## Return Value

Return Value The help string or nil if the application does not have a Help.plist file or the file does not contain an entry for the specified key.

## Discussion

Discussion When you build your application, you can merge multiple RTF-based help files together using the /usr/bin/compileHelp tool, which then packages your help file information into a property list named Help.plist. After placing this property-list file in your application bundle, you can use this method to extract context help information from it. To look up a particular entry, you specify the name of the original RTF help file in the key parameter of this method. For example, if your application project contains a help file named Copy.rtf, you would retrieve the text from this file by passing the value @"Copy.rtf" to the key parameter. This method is declared in NSHelpManager.h.

## See Also

### Related Documentation

- [contextHelp(for:)](appkit/nshelpmanager/contexthelp(for:).md)