Ubuntu Manpage: swipl - SWI-Prolog 7.6.4

name
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license information
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environment variables
on-line help
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Provided by: swi-prolog-nox_7.6.4+dfsg-1build1_amd64

NAME

       swipl - SWI-Prolog 7.6.4

SYNOPSIS

       swipl [--help|--version|--arch|--dump-runtime-variables]
       swipl [options] prolog-file ... [--] [arg ...]
       swipl [options] [-o output] -c file ...
       swipl [options] [-o output] -b initfile ...

       The  first version provides information about the system and exits immediately. The second version is the
       primary way to call Prolog on one or more Prolog source file(s) and provide arguments to the  application
       that can be requested using current_prolog_flag(argv, Argv).  The third version is used to create a saved
       state while the last version is used for boot-compilation of the Prolog parts of the system.

DESCRIPTION

       SWI-Prolog is a comprehensive and stable implementation of the  Prolog  language  with  a  large  set  of
       libraries.  Among  its  distinguishing features are mature support for multi-threading, a mature embedded
       web-server library, graphical  development  tools  (debugger,  profiler,  cross-referencer,  editor),  an
       embedded  efficient RDF store, support for XML/SGML/HTML and Unicode.  More widely supported features are
       support for constraint programming, atom garbage collection, interfaces to databases (ODBC), C,  C++  and
       Java (JPL).

       SWI-Prolog  implements  the  ISO  core standard. Many of its extensions are largely compatible to YAP and
       SICStus Prolog.

       This manual page only lists the commandline options.  Full documentation is available on-line as well  as
       in HTML and PDF format from the WWW home page at http://www.swi-prolog.org

LICENSE INFORMATION

       SWI-Prolog  is  distributed  under the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License) for maximal compatibility
       with the Free Software movement, while allowing for use with proprietary software  components.   See  the
       SWI-Prolog home page at http://www.swi-prolog.org for details.

OPTIONS

--help Gives a summary of the most important options.

--version
Displays version and architecture information.

--arch Prints the architecture identifier.

--dump-runtime-variables[=format]
Dump information that is generally useful for installation scripts in a form defined by format.
Defines formats are sh (default, bourne shell) and cmd (Windows CMD). This option is used by
swipl-ld (1) to fetch necessary information about Prolog. It is normally invoked as eval `swipl
-dump-runtime-variables`, which assigns the following shell variables:

CC The C- compiler used to compile SWI-Prolog.

PLBASE The home directory of SWI-Prolog. This is the same value as returned by the
current_prolog_flag home.

PLARCH The architecture identifier used. Together with PLBASE this defines the location of
various components. For example, the library for embedding is in
$PLBASE/lib/$PLARCH/libswipl.a

PLLIB CC identifier to link to SWI-Prolog. Typically -lswipl

PLLIBS Additional libraries needed for linking PLLIB

PLCFLAGS
Flags that need to be passed to the C-compiler to generate compatible code.

PLLDFLAGS
Flags that need to be passed to the C-linker for linking embedded executables.

PLSOEXT
Extension used by the hosting operating system for shared objects. On most Unix systems
this is "so"; on MS-Windows it is "dll". AIX uses "o", HPUX "sl".

PLSOPATH
Environment variable used by the hosting operating system to extend the search path for
shared objects. For example, on ELF systems this is "LD_LIBRARY_PATH" and on MS-Windows it
is "PATH".

PLVERSION
Numeric representation of the SWI-Prolog version.

PLVERSIONTAG
If present, a version tag such as "rc1".

PLSHARED
Has the value yes if Prolog supports linking shared libraries using
load_foreign_library/[1,2] and no otherwise.

PLTHREADS
Has the value yes if Prolog was compiled for multi-threading and no otherwise.

-Gsize[kmg]
Sets the global stack size to size. The default is 128 Mbytes (64-bit machines: 256 Mbytes). The
global stack is used to store compound terms, floating point numbers, big integers and strings.
See also the -L option.

-Lsize[kmg]
Sets the local stack size to size. The default unit is Kbytes. The local stack is used to store
environment frames, choicepoints and foreign-language term-references. SWI-Prolog performs last-
call optimisation to minimize the local stack requirements. If the argument ends in m , the
argument is interpreted in Mbytes. A g suffix is interpreted in Gbytes (64-bit machines only).
This flag sets the maximum value to which the stack is allowed to grow (default 128 Mbytes for the
32-bit version and 256 Mbytes for the 64-bit version). A maximum is useful to prevent buggy
programs from claiming all the memory resources. -L0 sets the limit to the highest possible
value.

-O Optimised compilation. See set_prolog_flag/3 in the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.

-Tsize[kmg]
Sets the trail stack size to size K bytes. The default is 128 Mbytes (64-bit machines: 256
Mbytes). See -L for more details.

-b initfile ... -c file ...
Boot compilation. initfile ... are compiled by the C written bootstrap compiler, file ... by
the normal Prolog compiler into an intermediate code file. This option is for system maintenance
and is given for reference only.

-c file ...
Compiles file ... into an intermediate code file.

-d level
Set debug level to level. This option is for system maintenance and is given for reference only.

-f file
Use file as initialisation file instead of `.swiplrc'. `-f none' stops SWI-Prolog from searching
for an initialisation file.

-F file
Select startup script from the SWI-Prolog home directory. file Specifies the base-name of the
script. The extension is .rc. The default script is deduced from the basename of the executable,
taking all leading alphanumerical (letters, digits and underscore) from the program name. Thus if
the program is named swi-2.0 it will try to load the file swi.rc from the SWI-Prolog home
directory. If the file does not exist, or the user has no read-access to it, the script is
silently not loaded.

-s file
Load file as a script. This option may be used from the shell to make Prolog load a file before
entering the toplevel. It is also used to turn a file into an executable Prolog script on Unix
systems using the following first line

#!/usr/bin/swipl option ... -s

-l file
Load file as a script. This is a synonym for -s that is compatible with several other Prolog
implementations. If multiple -s or -l arguments are provided, all specified files are loaded in
the order in which they appear on the argument list.

--quiet -q
Operate silently. This option suppresses all informational messages.

-g goal
Goal is executed just before entering the top level. This option may appear multiple times. Goals
are executed in the order of appearance. Possible choice points are pruned. If a goal fails an
error is printed (depending on the -q flag) and the process stops with exit code 1. If a goal
raises an exception the error is printed and the process stops with exit code 2. In no goal is
present version/0 is called to write the welcome message. The welcome message can thus be
suppressed by giving -g true. goal can be a complex term. In this case, quotes are normally
needed to protect it from being expanded by the Unix shell.

-o output
Used in combination with -b or -c to determine the output file for compilation.

-p alias=pathlist
Define a path alias for file_search_path/2. pathlist is a ":" separated list of values for the
alias. See file_search_path/2 in the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.

-t goal
Use goal as an interactive top level instead of the default goal prolog/0. goal can be a complex
term. If the top level goal succeeds, SWI-Prolog exits with status 0. If it fails, the exit status
is 1. This flag also determines the goal started by break/0 and abort/0. If you want to stop the
user from entering interactive mode, start the application with `-g goal' and give `halt' as the
top level.

-x bootfile
Start from an intermediate code file resulting from a Prolog compilation using the -b or -c
option, or created using qsave_program/[1,2].

[+|-]tty
Switches tty control (using ioctl(2)) on (+tty) or off (-tty). Normally tty control is switched
on. This default depends on the installation. You may wish to switch tty control off if SWI-Prolog
is used from an editor such as GNU Emacs. If switched off, get_single_char/1 and the tracer will
wait for a carriage return.

--nosignals
Disable handling of signals. Often used if SWI-Prolog is embedded in another application on Unix
systems.

--sigalert= NUM
Use NUM for unblocking system calls. Default is SIGUSR2. Using 0 disables installing a signal
handler, delaying the delivery of thread signals until the blocking system call completes.

-- Stops scanning for more arguments.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       SWI_HOME_DIR
              Location for finding the startup file boot64.prc and the libraries.  Normally discovered from  the
              executable  or  configured  default  location.  Providing the value through the environment may be
              needed if SWI-Prolog is embedded into another executable.

ON-LINE HELP

       SWI-Prolog has on-line help. This provides  a  fast  lookup  and  browsing  facility  to  the  SWI-Prolog
       Reference  manual.  The  on-line  manual can show predicate definitions as well as entire sections of the
       manual.

       help   Equivalent to help(help/1).

       help(+What)
              Show a specified part of the manual.  What is one of:

              Name/Arity
                     give help on the specified predicate

              Name   give help on the named predicate with any arity or a C interface function with that name.

              Section
                     display the specified section of the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.  Section numbers are dash
                     separated numbers: e.g.  2-3 refers to section 2.3 of the manual.

              If  Prolog  is used together with the GUI tool XPCE, these predicates start a graphical interface,
              providing a coherent interface to help/1, apropos/1 and explain/1.

FILES

This installation of SWI-Prolog has been configured using the configure option --prefix=/usr. If the
files listed below are not at the indicated place, the installation has probably been moved. Use

?- current_prolog_flag(home, Home).

to find the local installation directory of SWI-Prolog.

~/.swiplrc
Personal initialisation files consulted by SWI-Prolog on startup. If both exist .swiplrc is used.

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/bin/amd64/
Location for the executables.

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/include/
Location for the include files. If writable, SWI-Prolog.h is also copied to /usr/include/SWI-
Prolog.h.

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/library/
SWI-Prolog user libraries.

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/boot/
SWI-Prolog kernel parts written in Prolog. The startup file /usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/boot64.prc may
be recreated using the command from the directory /usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4:

bin/amd64/swipl -O -o boot64.prc -b boot/init.pl

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/doc/packages
HTML and/or PDF documentation on the installed add-ons.

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/boot64.prc
Default startup file. This is a `intermediate code' file containing precompiled code from the
boot directory. The -xbootfile option may be used to select a different file.

/usr/lib/swipl-7.6.4/runtime/amd64/libpl.a
SWI-Prolog library for embedding. See also plld(1).

WARRANTY

       The  software  is  provided  as  is,  without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not
       limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non  infringement.  In
       no event shall the author or his employer be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in
       an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or  the
       use or other dealings in the software.

COPYING

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

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 1986-2015 University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam

AUTHOR

       Jan Wielemaker