pl(1) - f14

1pl(1L)                                                                  pl(1L)
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NAME

6       pl - SWI-Prolog 5.7.11
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SYNOPSIS

9       pl [--help|--version|--arch|--dump-runtime-variables]
10       pl [options]
11       pl [options] [-o output] -c file ...
12       pl [options] [-o output] -b initfile ...
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DESCRIPTION

15       SWI-Prolog  is an ISO compatible Prolog compiler. It has a good collec‐
16       tion of built-in predicates, a large set of which it shares with  Edin‐
17       burgh  C-Prolog, Quintus Prolog and SICStus Prolog.  Among its features
18       are a  very  fast  compiler,  a  Quintus-like  module  system,  library
19       autoloading,  garbage  collection,  atom  garbage  collection, fast bi-
20       directional C interface, true C++ interface,  execution  profiling  and
21       many more.
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23       Add-on  packages  provide  graphics  (XPCE),  TCP/IP, process controll,
24       SGML/XML/HTML/RDF support and many more. In addition, XPCE  provides  a
25       development  environment,  consisting of hypertext help-system, source-
26       level debugger, integrated editor and many navigation tools.
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28       This manual page only lists the commandline options.   Full  documenta‐
29       tion  is  available  on-line as well as in HTML and PDF format from the
30       WWW home page.
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LICENSE INFORMATION

34       SWI-Prolog is distributed under the LGPL (Lesser  Gnu  Public  License)
35       for maximal compatibility with the Free Software movement, while allow‐
36       ing for use with proprietary software components.  See  the  SWI-Prolog
37       home page at http://www.swi-prolog.org for details.
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OPTIONS

41       --help Gives a summary of the most important options.
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43       --version
44              Displays version and architecture information.
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46       --arch Prints the architecture identifier.
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48       --dump-runtime-variables[=format]
49              Dump  information  that  is  generally  useful  for installation
50              scripts in a form defined by format.   Defines  formats  are  sh
51              (default,  bourne  shell) and cmd (Windows CMD).  This option is
52              used by plld (1) to fetch necessary  information  about  Prolog.
53              It  is  normally  invoked  as eval `pl -dump-runtime-variables`,
54              which assigns the following shell variables:
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56              CC     The C- compiler used to compile SWI-Prolog.
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58              PLBASE The home directory of SWI-Prolog.  This is the same value
59                     as returned by the current_prolog_flag home.
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61              PLARCH The  architecture  identifier used.  Together with PLBASE
62                     this defines the location  of  various  components.   For
63                     example,  the  library  for  embedding is in $PLBASE/run‐
64                     time/$PLARCH/libpl.a
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66              PLLIBS The required libraries for linking libpl.a
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68              PLCFLAGS
69                     Flags that need to be passed to the C-compiler to  gener‐
70                     ate compatible code.
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72              PLLDFLAGS
73                     Flags  that need to be passed to the C-linker for linking
74                     embedded executables.
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76              PLSOEXT
77                     Extension used by the hosting operating system for shared
78                     objects. On most Unix systems this is "so"; on MS-Windows
79                     it is "dll".  AIX uses "o", HPUX "sl".
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81              PLVERSION
82                     Numeric representation of the SWI-Prolog version.
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84              PLSHARED
85                     Has the value  yes  if  Prolog  supports  linking  shared
86                     libraries  using load_foreign_library/[1,2] and no other‐
87                     wise.
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89              PLTHREADS
90                     Has the value yes  if  Prolog  was  compiled  for  multi-
91                     threading and no otherwise.
92
93       -Asize[kmg]
94              Sets  the argument stack size to size.  The default is 1 Mbytes.
95              The argument-size determines the maximum term-nesting  of  terms
96              that  can  be compiled and executed.  Both the compiler and vir‐
97              tual machine use `last-argument optimisation', so -for  example-
98              intptr_t  lists  do not require the argument stack. See also the
99              -L option.
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101       -Gsize[kmg]
102              Sets the global stack size to size.  The default  is  4  Mbytes.
103              The global stack is used to store compound terms, floating point
104              numbers, big integers and strings. See also the -L option.
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106       -Lsize[kmg]
107              Sets the local stack size to size.  The default unit is  Kbytes.
108              The  local  stack  is  used to store environment frames, choice‐
109              points and foreign-language term-references.  Note that SWI-Pro‐
110              log  does  last-call  optimisation  to  minimize the local stack
111              requirements. If the argument ends in m , the argument is inter‐
112              preted  in  Mbytes.  A g suffix is interpreted in Gbytes (64-bit
113              machines only).  This flag sets the maximum value to  which  the
114              stack  is allowed to grow (default 2048). A maximum is useful to
115              prevent buggy programs from claiming all the  memory  resources.
116              -L0 sets the limit to the highest possible value.
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118       -O     Optimised  compilation.  See set_prolog_flag/3 in the SWI-Prolog
119              Reference Manual.
120
121       -Tsize[kmg]
122              Sets the trail stack size to size K bytes. The default is  4096.
123              See -L for more details.
124
125       -b initfile ... -c file ...
126              Boot  compilation.   initfile ...  are compiled by the C written
127              bootstrap compiler, file ...  by the normal Prolog compiler into
128              an intermediate code file. This option is for system maintenance
129              and is given for reference only.
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131       -c file ...
132              Compiles file ...  into an intermediate code file.
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134       -d level
135              Set debug level to level.  This option is for system maintenance
136              and is given for reference only.
137
138       -f file
139              Use  file  as  initialisation file instead of `.plrc'. `-f none'
140              stops SWI-Prolog from searching for an initialisation file.
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142       -F file
143              Select startup script from the SWI-Prolog home directory.   file
144              Specifies  the  base-name  of the script.  The extension is .rc.
145              The default script is deduced from  the  basename  of  the  exe‐
146              cutable,  taking all leading alphanumerical (letters, digits and
147              underscore) from the program name.  Thus if the program is named
148              swi-2.0  it will try to load the file swi.rc from the SWI-Prolog
149              home directory.  If the file does not exist, or the user has  no
150              read-access to it, the script is silently not loaded.
151
152       -s file
153              Load  file  as a script.  This option may be used from the shell
154              to make Prolog load a file before entering the toplevel.  It  is
155              also  used  to  turn  a file into an executable Prolog script on
156              Unix systems using the following first line
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158              #!/usr/bin/pl option ... -s
159
160       --quiet -q
161              Operate silently.  This option suppresses all informational mes‐
162              sages, such as for compiling files.
163
164       -g goal
165              Goal is executed just before entering the top level. The default
166              is a predicate which prints the  welcome  message.  The  welcome
167              message can thus be suppressed by giving -g true.  goal can be a
168              complex term. In this case, quotes are normally needed  to  pro‐
169              tect it from being expanded by the Unix shell.
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171       -o output
172              Used  in  combination with -b or -c to determine the output file
173              for compilation.
174
175       -p alias=pathlist
176              Define a path  alias  for  file_search_path/2.   pathlist  is  a
177              "`":"'"   separated   list   of   values   for  the  alias.  See
178              file_search_path/2 in the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.
179
180       -t goal
181              Use goal as an interactive top level instead of the default goal
182              prolog/0.   goal  can  be  a complex term. If the top level goal
183              succeeds, SWI-Prolog exits with status 0. If it fails, the  exit
184              status  is  1.  This  flag  also  determines the goal started by
185              break/0 and abort/0.  If you want to stop the user from entering
186              interactive  mode, start the application with `-g goal' and give
187              `halt' as the top level.
188
189       -x bootfile
190              Start from an intermediate code file  resulting  from  a  Prolog
191              compilation  using  the  -b  or  -c  option,  or  created  using
192              qsave_program/[1,2].
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194       [+|-]tty
195              Switches tty control (using ioctl(2)) on (+tty) or  off  (-tty).
196              Normally tty control is switched on. This default depends on the
197              installation. You may wish to switch tty control off if SWI-Pro‐
198              log  is  used from an editor such as GNU Emacs. If switched off,
199              get_single_char/1 and  the  tracer  will  wait  for  a  carriage
200              return.
201
202       --nosignals
203              Disable handling of signals.  Often used if SWI-Prolog is embed‐
204              ded in another application on Unix systems.
205
206       --     Stops scanning for more arguments.
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ON-LINE HELP

209       SWI-Prolog has on-line help. This provides a fast lookup  and  browsing
210       facility  to  the  SWI-Prolog  Reference manual. The on-line manual can
211       show predicate definitions as well as entire sections of the manual.
212
213       help   Equivalent to help(help/1).
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215       help(+What)
216              Show a specified part of the manual.  What is one of:
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218              Name/Arity
219                     give help on the specified predicate
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221              Name   give help on the named predicate with any arity  or  a  C
222                     interface function with that name.
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224              Section
225                     display the specified section of the SWI-Prolog Reference
226                     Manual.  Section numbers are dash separated numbers: e.g.
227                     2-3 refers to section 2.3 of the manual.
228
229              If  Prolog is used together with the GUI tool XPCE, these predi‐
230              cates start a graphical interface, providing a  coherent  inter‐
231              face to help/1, apropos/1 and explain/1.
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WARRANTY

245       The  software  is provided as is, without warranty of any kind, express
246       or implied, including  but  not  limited  to  the  warranties  of  mer‐
247       chantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non infringement. In
248       no event shall the author or his employer be liable for any claim, dam‐
249       ages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or oth‐
250       erwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or  the
251       use or other dealings in the software.
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COPYING

254       SWI-Prolog  is  distributed under the LGPL (Lesser GNU Public Licence).
255       The license terms are in the file COPYING or  on  the  GNU  website  at
256       http://www.gnu.org.
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COPYRIGHT

259       Copyright (c) 1986-2007 University of Amsterdam.
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AUTHOR

262       Jan Wielemaker
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267SWI-Prolog 5                      Feb 8, 2006                           pl(1L)