complete documentation of LOAD_PATH

Author: StefanKarpinski

base/initdefs.jl

@@ -76,7 +76,36 @@ const DEFAULT_LOAD_PATH = ["@", "@v#.#", "@stdlib"]
     LOAD_PATH
 
 An array of paths for `using` and `import` statements to consider as project
-environments or package directories when loading code. See [Code Loading](@ref Code-Loading).
+environments or package directories when loading code. It is populated based on
+the [`JULIA_LOAD_PATH`](@ref JULIA_LOAD_PATH) environment variable if set;
+otherwise it defaults to `["@", "@v#.#", "@stdlib"]`. Entries starting with `@`
+have special meanings:
+
+- `@` refers to the "current active environment", the initial value of which is
+  initially determined by the [`JULIA_PROJECT`](@ref JULIA_PROJECT) environment
+  variable or the `--project` command-line option.
+
+- `@stdlib` expands to the absolute path of the current Julia installation's
+  standard library directory.
+
+- `@name` refers to a named environment, which are stored in depots (see
+  [`JULIA_DEPOT_PATH`](@ref JULIA_DEPOT_PATH)) under the `environments`
+  subdirectory. The user's named environments are stored in
+  `~/.julia/environments` so `@name` would refer to the environment in
+  `~/.julia/environments/name` if it exists and contains a `Project.toml` file.
+  If `name` contains `#` characters, then they are replaced with the major, minor
+  and patch components of the Julia version number. For example, if you are
+  running Julia 1.2 then `@v#.#` expands to `@v1.2` and will look for an
+  environment by that name, typically at `~/.julia/environments/v1.2`.
+
+The fully expanded value of `LOAD_PATH` that is searched for projects and packages
+can be seen by calling the `Base.load_path()` function.
+
+See also:
+[`JULIA_LOAD_PATH`](@ref JULIA_LOAD_PATH),
+[`JULIA_PROJECT`](@ref JULIA_PROJECT),
+[`JULIA_DEPOT_PATH`](@ref JULIA_DEPOT_PATH), and
+[Code Loading](@ref Code-Loading).
 """
 const LOAD_PATH = copy(DEFAULT_LOAD_PATH)
 const HOME_PROJECT = Ref{Union{String,Nothing}}(nothing)