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)