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, or - to read the standard input) 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

       -      Read the input from stdin instead of from a file.

       -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.

       -C     Next  argument  is the filename of the log file. The default is the filename of the
              FORM script with the .log extension.

       -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)