NAME

       sconvert - convert spice formats

SYNOPSIS

       sconvert fromtype fromfile totype tofile
       sconvert fromtype totype
       sconvert

DESCRIPTION

       Sconvert  translates  spice output files among three formats: the old binary format, a new
       binary format, and a new ascii format.  The formats are  specified  by  the  fromtype  and
       totype  arguments:  `o' for the old format, `b' for the new binary format, and `a' for the
       new ascii format.  Fromtype specifies the format to be  read,  and  totype  specifies  the
       format  to  be written.  If fromfile and tofile are given, then they are used as the input
       and output, otherwise standard input and output are used.  (Note that this  second  option
       is  only  available  on  UNIX  systems  -  on  VMS  and  other systems you must supply the
       filenames.)  If no arguments are given, the parameters are prompted for.

       Binary format is the preferred format for general use, as it is  the  most  economical  in
       terms  of  space and speed of access, and ascii is provided to make it easy to modify data
       files and transfer them between machines with different floating-point formats.   The  old
       format is provided only for backward compatibility. The three formats are as follows:

       Old:

                What          Size in Bytes

            title                    80
            date                8
            time                8
            numoutputs               2
            the integer 4            2
            variable names --
                 char[numoutputs][8] numoutputs * 8
            types of output               numoutputs * 2
            node index               numoutputs * 2
            plot title               numoutputs * 24
            the actual data               numpoints * numoutputs * 8

       Ascii:

            Title: Title Card String
            Date: Date
            [ Plotname: Plot Name
              Flags: complex or real
              No. Variables: numoutputs
              No. Points: numpoints
              Command: nutmeg command
              Variables:   0 varname1 typename1
                      1 varname2 typename2
                      etc...
              Values:
                0     n    n    n    n    ...
                1     n    n    n    n    ...
                And so forth...
            ] repeated one or more times

       If one of the flags is complex, the points look like r,i where r and i
       are floating point (in %e format). Otherwise they are in %e format.
       Only one of real and complex should appear.

       The lines are guaranteed to be less than 80 columns wide (unless the
       plot title or variable names are very long), so this format is safe
       to mail between systems like CMS.

       Any number of Command: lines may appear between the No. Points:
       and the Variables: lines, and whenever the plot is loaded into
       nutmeg they will be executed.

       Binary:

            Title Card            (a NULL terminated string)
            Date, Time            (a NULL terminated string)
            [
              Plot title          (a NULL terminated string)
              Number of variables   (an int)
              Number of data points (an int)
              flags          (a short)
              variable header struct (repeated numoutputs times)
                 variable name    (a NULL terminated string)
                 variable type    (an int)
              set of outputs      (repeated numpoints times)
            ] repeated one or more times.

       A set of outputs is a vector of doubles of length numoutputs, or
       a vector of real-imaginary pairs of doubles if the data is complex.

SEE ALSO

       nutmeg(1), spice(1), writedata(3)

AUTHOR

       Wayne Christopher (faustus@cad.berkeley.edu)

BUGS

       If  variable  names  and  the title and plotname strings have trailing blanks in them they
       will be stripped off when the file is read, if it is in ascii format.

       If a plot title begins with "Title:" nutmeg will be fooled into thinking that this  is  an
       ascii format file. Sconvert always requires the type to be specified, however.