1GDL(1) General Commands Manual GDL(1)
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6 gdl - GNU Data Language incremental compiler
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9 gdl [--help] [-h] [--version] [-v] [-V] [[-]-quiet] [-q] [ -arg value ]
10 [ -args ... ] [ -e statement ] [ -pref=/path/to/preferenceFile ] [
11 batch_file ... ]
12
14 gdl is an incremental compiler for the GNU Data Language (GDL). GDL is
15 being developed with the aim of providing an open-source drop-in re‐
16 placement for Interactive Data Language (IDL) (RSI then ITTVIS then Ex‐
17 elis and now Harris Geospatial Solutions, Inc.). It is also partially
18 compatible with Visual Numerics (VN) PV-WAVE. IDL and PV-WAVE are reg‐
19 istered trademarks of L3Harris and VN, respectively. GDL and its li‐
20 brary routines are designed as a tool for numerical data analysis and
21 visualisation. GDL is dynamically typed, vectorized and has ob‐
22 ject-oriented programming capabilities. The library routines handle
23 numerical calculations, data visualisation, signal/image processing,
24 file input/output (incl. graphical and scientific data formats such as
25 TIFF, PNG, netCDF, HDF etc) and interaction with host OS.
26 Information on GDL/IDL/PV-WAVE syntax and library routines can be found
28 in e.g.:
29 - GDL documentation draft at: http://aramis.ob‐
31 spm.fr/~coulais/GDL/gdl.pdf
32 - IDL manual on-line @ NASA.gov: http://idlas‐
34 tro.gsfc.nasa.gov/idl_html_help/home.html
35 - ITTVIS (ittvis.com) and Visual Numerics (vni.com) websites
37 - comp.lang.idl-pvwave newsgroup
39 - newsletter at: https://sympa.obspm.fr/wws/info/gdl-announces
41 A vast part of GDL library routines is implemented using open-source
43 libraries including GSL, plPlot, and optionally: readline, FFTW,
44 Eigen3, ImageMagick, netCDF, HDF4, HDF5, libproj4, UDUNITS-2, libps and
45 others.
46
48 --help (or -h)
49 Show summary of options
50 --version (or -v, -V)
52 Show version of program
53 --quiet (or -quiet, -q)
55 Suppress welcome messages
56 -arg value
58 Tells COMMAND_LINE_ARGS() to report the following argument (may
59 be specified more than once)
60 -args ...
62 Tells COMMAND_LINE_ARGS() to report all following arguments
63 -e statement
65 Execute given statement and exit (last occurrence taken into ac‐
66 count only, executed after startup file, may not be specified
67 together with batch files)
68 -pref=/path/to/PreferenceFile
70 (only partially working now) setting using external text file
71 few variables including default preferences (e.g. X11 Windows
72 Size)
73 --fakerelease version
75 setting !VERSION.RELASE to that value. !VERSION.RELASE is often
76 tested by procedures to decide whether some function or option
77 should be used. It is sometimes possible to use this option to
78 fool a procedure that request a specific value of !VERSION.RE‐
79 LEASE (e.g. atv.pro)
80 --fussy
82 signals that all used procedures will adhere with modern IDL,
83 where "()" are for functions and "[]" are for arrays. This
84 speeds up (sometimes terribly) compilation but choke on every
85 use of "()" with arrays. Conversion of procedures to modern IDL
86 can be done with D. Landsman's idlv4_to_v5 procedure. Use envi‐
87 romnment variable "GDL_IS_FUSSY" to set up permanently this fea‐
88 ture.
89 Incidentally "being fussy" can help find all places in a proce‐
91 dure that need to be corrected to have it in the modern IDL for‐
92 mat.
93 --sloppy
95 inverse of fussy above. Sets the traditional (default) compil‐
96 ing option where "()" can be used both with functions and ar‐
97 rays. Needed to counteract temporarily the effect of the envi‐
98 romnment variable "GDL_IS_FUSSY".
99 --use-wx
101 Tells GDL to use WxWidgets graphics instead of X11 or Windows.
102 (nicer plots). Also enabled by setting the environment variable
103 GDL_USE_WX to a non-null value.
104 --no-use-wx
106 Tells GDL no to use WxWidgets graphics, even if env. var.
107 "GDL_USE_WX" is set.
108 --no-dSFMT
110 Tells GDL not to use double precision SIMD oriented Fast
111 Mersenne Twister(dSFMT) for random values. Also disabled by
112 setting the environment variable GDL_NO_DSFMT to a non-null
113 value.
114 With dSFMT, although the Mersenne Twister algorithm is the same
116 as in modern IDL, the values are computed in parallel (hence a
117 speed gain) but the output order is not the same as IDL. Also,
118 the seed is different. Theses differences should not be a prob‐
119 lem as it is discouraged to interfere with seed values.
120 The -demo, -em, -novm, -queue, -rt, -ulicense and -vm options
123 are ignored for compatibility with IDL.
124 A list of batch files to be executed before entering the interactive
126 mode (but after executing a startup file, if specified) may be
127 given when not using the -e option.
128
130 $DATADIR/gnudatalanguage/lib/*.pro
131 Library routines implemented in GDL. $DATADIR is specified dur‐
132 ing compilation and usually translates to /usr/share, /usr/lo‐
133 cal/share or alike. GDL includes this directory in its search
134 path unless GDL_PATH or IDL_PATH env. variables are set (see be‐
135 low).
136 $HOME/.gdl/history
138 A file used for storing the history of commands issued in the
139 interactive mode (if GDL compiled within ReadLine)
140
142 The following environment variables have special meaning to gdl. The
143 GDL_* variant, if defined, takes precedence over any corresponding
144 IDL_* variant.
145 GDL_PATH, IDL_PATH
147 The GDL command (script) search path.
148 GDL_STARTUP, IDL_STARTUP
150 A file of commands to be executed on startup.
151 GDL_TMPDIR, IDL_TMPDIR
153 A directory in which temporary files may be created.
154 HOME, SHELL
156 Variables influencing shell invocations from within GDL (SPAWN
157 procedure and the $ interpreter command). Value of HOME deter‐
158 mines as well the location of the GDL history-file.
159 PATH Determines search path when spawning child processes using the
161 SPAWN procedure with the /NOSHELL keyword set.
162 PYTHONPATH
164 Influences behaviour of PYTHON procedure and PYTHON() function
165 (available if GDL is compiled with support for calling Python
166 code)
167 GDL_MPI
169 A message to be sent out using MPI_Send before initialization of
170 the interpreter (available if GDL is compiled with support for
171 MPI)
172 DISPLAY, XENVIRONMENT
174 Tell GDL how to connect to the X server
175 PLPLOT_DRV_DIR
177 Override the default location of PLplot dynamic drivers.
178 LC_* The locale-related settings accessible via LOCALE_GET() (GDL al‐
180 ways uses the C locale internally)
181 GDL_GR_WIN_HEIGHT
183 Sets the preference for the default height of a Windows(tm)
184 graphic window
185 GDL_GR_WIN_QSCREEN
187 if set to true (1) this will prevent the use of the
188 GDL_GR_WIN_HEIGHT and GDL_GR_WIN_WIDTH preferences and the de‐
189 fault dimensions of graphic windows will be 1/4 of the screen
190 dimensions
191 GDL_GR_WIN_WIDTH
193 Sets the preference for the default width of a Windows(tm)
194 graphic window
195 GDL_GR_X_HEIGHT
197 Sets the preference for the default height of an X11 graphic
198 window
199 GDL_GR_X_QSCREEN
201 if set to true (1) this will prevent the use of the
202 GDL_GR_X_HEIGHT and GDL_GR_X_WIDTH preferences and the default
203 dimensions of graphic windows will be 1/4 of the screen dimen‐
204 sions
205 GDL_GR_X_WIDTH
207 Sets the preference for the default width of an X11 graphic win‐
208 dow
209 GDL_WX_BACKEND
211 can be set to [0,1,2] which will select, respectively, the back‐
212 ends 0,1 or 2 of plplot's old wxWidgets driver (plplot versions
213 < 5.10). Backend 2 has antialiasing enabled.
214 GDL_MAPS_DIR
216 If not automatically found, tells GDL where the maps files
217 (coasts rivers, etc, used by MAPS_CONTINENTS) are located.
218 These are in Shapefile format and newer versions can possibly be
219 present on naturalearthdata.com
220
222 Please report bugs, comments, patches or feature requests at
223 https://github.com/gnudatalanguage/gdl/
224
226 The primary author of GDL is Marc Schellens <m_schellens@users.source‐
227 forge.net>. A list of contributors is available in the AUTHORS file
228 shipped with GDL, and on the project website (see above).
229 The original version of this manual page was written by Sergio Gelato
231 <Sergio.Gelato@astro.su.se>. It is currently a part of the GDL pack‐
232 age, and is maintained by the GDL Team.
233
235 netcdf(3), hdf(1), gsl(3), eigen3, plplot, fftw
236The GDL Team 2020-05-19 GDL(1)