NAME

       FORM - Symbolic manipulation system

SYNOPSIS

       form [ options ] inputfile

DESCRIPTION

       FORM is a symbolic manipulation system. The form command reads a text file (which should have a name that
       ends with the extension .frm) containing definitions of mathematical expressions as  well  as  statements
       that  tell  it how to manipulate these expressions. It is widely used in the theoretical particle physics
       community, but it is not restricted to applications in this specific field.

       tform is the threaded version using POSIX Threads.

       parform is the multiprocessing version using MPI.

OPTIONS

       -c     Error checking only. Notice that this will not work properly if  there  are  conditionals  in  the
              preprocessor phase that depend on results obtained at earlier stages of the program.

       -d, -D Next  argument/option  is  the name of a preprocessor variable that will be defined before the run
              starts. A specific value can be assigned with the syntax -d VARIABLENAME=VALUE.  The default value
              is 1.

       -f     Output goes only to log file.

       -F     Output only to log file. Further like -L or -ll.

       -h     Wait for some key to be touched before finishing the run. Basically only for some old window based
              systems.

       -I     Next argument/option is the path of a directory for include, procedure and subroutine files.

       -l     Make a regular log file.

       -ll, -L
              Make a log file without intermediate statistics.

       -M     Put the PID (process identifier) in the name of the temporary files. This makes for longer  names,
              but gives a better guarantee of uniqueness. If a file with the created name exists already it will
              be overwritten. This option is for when several instances of FORM are started at nearly  the  same
              time as can happen from minos or make (with the make -j option).

       -p     Next  argument/option  is  the  path  of  a directory for input, include, procedure and subroutine
              files.

       -pipe  Indicates that FORM is started up as the receiving end of a pipe. Action will be taken to  set  up
              the proper communication channels.

       -q, -si
              Quiet option. Only output expressions are printed.

       -R     Recover from a crash.

       -s     Next argument/option is the path of a directory for a setup file.

       -S     Next argument/option is the name of a setup file.

       -t     Next argument/option is the path of a directory for temporary files.

       -ts    Next argument/option is the path of a directory for temporary sort files.

       -T     Puts  FORM  in  a  mode  in  which the maximum totalsize is measured and printed at the end of the
              program.

       -v     Only the version will be printed. The program terminates immediately after it.

       -w     This should be followed immediately by a number without any space. The number indicates the number
              of worker threads for tform. All other versions of FORM ignore this parameter.

       -W     Turn on the wall-clock time mode in the statistics.

       -z     The number following is a timelimit for the program in second.

       -Z     Removes  the  .str file on crash, whatever its contents. Under ordinary circumstances at a crash a
              .str file will not be removed if it has a nonzero content.

       -y     Run only the preprocessor and dump its output.

ENVIRONMENT

       FORMPATH
              The directory in which FORM will look for procedures and header files,  assuming  it  cannot  find
              them in the current directory.

       FORMTMP
              The directory in which FORM will make its temporary files.

       FORMTMPSORT
              The directory in which FORM will make its temporary sort files.

       FORMSETUP
              The full path and name of a setup file.

SEE ALSO

       https://www.nikhef.nl/~form/
              The FORM home site.

       https://github.com/vermaseren/form/
              The repository on GitHub.

                                                   2018-10-04                                            FORM(1)