.\" -*- nroff -*-
.TH swipl 1 "Apr 10, 2015" "SWI-Prolog 7"
.SH NAME
swipl \- SWI-Prolog 7.3.35
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B swipl
.RB [ \-\-help | \-\-version | \-\-arch | \-\-dump\-runtime\-variables ]
.br
.B swipl
[options]
.IR prolog-file " ... [--] [" arg " ...]"
.br
.B swipl
[options]
.RB [ "\-o \fIoutput" ]
.BI \-c " file ..."
.br
.B swipl
[options]
.RB [ "\-o \fIoutput" ]
.BI \-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
.BR "current_prolog_flag" "(argv, Argv)."
The third version is used to create a
.I saved state
while the last version is used for boot-compilation of the Prolog parts of the
system.

.SH 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
.BR HTML " and " PDF
format from the WWW home page at
.B http://www.swi-prolog.org

.SH 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
.B http://www.swi-prolog.org
for details.

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-\-help
Gives a summary of the most important options.
.TP
.B \-\-version
Displays version and architecture information.
.TP
.B \-\-arch
Prints the architecture identifier.
.TP
.B \-\-dump\-runtime\-variables[=format]
Dump information that is generally useful for installation scripts in
a form defined by
.IR format .
Defines formats are
.BR sh " (default, bourne shell) and " cmd " (Windows CMD)" .
This option is used by
.B swipl-ld (1)
to fetch necessary information about Prolog.  It is normally invoked as
.I eval `swipl -dump-runtime-variables`,
which assigns the following shell variables:
.RS
.TP
.B CC
The
.B C\-
compiler used to compile SWI-Prolog.
.TP
.B PLBASE
The home directory of SWI-Prolog.  This is the same value as returned
by the
.I current_prolog_flag home.
.TP
.B PLARCH
The architecture identifier used.  Together with
.B PLBASE
this defines the location of various components.  For example,
the library for embedding is in
.B $PLBASE/lib/$PLARCH/libswipl.a
.TP
.B PLLIB
CC identifier to link to SWI-Prolog.  Typically
.B -lswipl
.TP
.B PLLIBS
Additional libraries needed for linking PLLIB
.TP
.B PLCFLAGS
Flags that need to be passed to the C-compiler to generate compatible
code.
.TP
.B PLLDFLAGS
Flags that need to be passed to the C-linker for linking embedded executables.
.TP
.B 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".
.TP
.B 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".
.TP
.B PLVERSION
Numeric representation of the SWI-Prolog version.
.TP
.B PLSHARED
Has the value
.B yes
if Prolog supports linking shared libraries using
.B load_foreign_library/[1,2]
and
.B no
otherwise.
.TP
.B PLTHREADS
Has the value
.B yes
if Prolog was compiled for multi-threading and
.B no
otherwise.
.RE
.TP
.BI \-G size [kmg]
Sets the global stack size to
.I 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
.B \-L
option.
.TP
.BI \-L size [kmg]
Sets the local stack size to
.I 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
.B m ,
the argument is interpreted in Mbytes. A
.B 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.
.B \-L0
sets the limit to the highest possible value.
.TP
.BI \-O
Optimised compilation. See
.B set_prolog_flag/3
in the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.
.TP
.BI \-T size [kmg]
Sets the trail stack size to
.I size
K bytes. The default is 128 Mbytes (64-bit machines: 256 Mbytes). See
.B \-L
for more details.
.TP
.BI \-b " initfile ... " -c " file ..."
Boot compilation.
.I "initfile ..."
are compiled by the C written bootstrap compiler,
.I "file ..."
by the normal Prolog compiler into an intermediate code file. This
option is for system maintenance and is given for reference only.
.TP
.BI \-c " file ..."
Compiles
.I "file ..."
into an intermediate code file.
.TP
.BI \-d " level"
Set debug level to
.IR level .
This option is for system maintenance and is given for reference only.
.TP
.BI \-f " file"
Use
.I "file"
as initialisation file instead of
.RB "`" .swiplrc "'. `" "-f none" "'"
stops SWI-Prolog from searching for an initialisation file.
.TP
.BI \-F " file"
Select startup script from the SWI-Prolog home directory.
.I file
Specifies the base-name of the script.  The extension is
.I .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
.I swi-2.0
it will try to load the file
.I 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.
.TP
.BI \-s " file"
Load
.I 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
.RS
.TP
.BR #!/usr/bin/swipl " option ... " \-s
.RE
.TP
.BI \-l " file"
Load
.I file
as a script.  This is a synonym for
.I \-s
that is compatible with several other Prolog implementations.  If
multiple
.IR \-s " or " \-l
arguments are provided, all specified files are loaded in the order
in which they appear on the argument list.
.TP
.B \-\-quiet \-q
Operate silently.  This option suppresses all
.I informational
messages.
.TP
.BI \-g " goal"
.I Goal
is executed just before entering the top level. The default is a
predicate which prints the welcome message. The welcome message
can thus be suppressed by giving
.BR "\-g true" .
.I goal
can be a complex term. In this case, quotes are normally needed
to protect it from being expanded by the Unix shell.
.TP
.BI \-o " output"
Used in combination with
.B \-b
or
.B \-c
to determine the output file for compilation.
.TP
.BI \-p " alias" = pathlist
Define a path alias for
.BR file_search_path/2 .
.I pathlist
is a ":" separated list of values for the alias. See
.B file_search_path/2
in the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.
.TP
.BI \-t " goal"
Use
.I goal
as an interactive top level instead of the default goal
.BR prolog/0 .
.I 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
.B break/0
and
.BR abort/0 .
If you want to stop the user from entering interactive mode, start
the application with
.RB "`" \-g
.IR goal "'"
and give
.RB "`" halt "'"
as the top level.
.TP
.BI \-x " bootfile"
Start from an intermediate code file resulting from a Prolog compilation
using the
.B \-b
or
.B \-c
option, or created using
.B qsave_program/[1,2].
.TP
.RB [ \+ | \- ] tty
Switches tty control (using
.BR ioctl (2))
on
.RB ( \+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,
.B get_single_char/1
and the tracer will wait for a carriage return.
.TP
.B \-\-nosignals
Disable handling of signals.  Often used if SWI-Prolog is embedded in
another application on Unix systems.
.TP
.B \-\-
Stops scanning for more arguments.
.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
.TP
.I 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.
.SH 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.
.TP
.B help
Equivalent to
.BR help(help/1) .
.TP
.BI help( \+What )
Show a specified part of the manual.
.I What
is one of:
.RS
.TP
Name/Arity
give help on the specified predicate
.TP
Name
give help on the named predicate with any arity or a C interface
function with that name.
.TP
Section
display the specified section of the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.
Section numbers are dash separated numbers: e.g.
.B 2-3
refers to section 2.3 of the manual.
.PP
If Prolog is used together with the
.BR GUI
tool
.BR XPCE,
these predicates start a graphical interface, providing a coherent interface
to
.BR help/1,
.BR apropos/1
and
.BR explain/1.
.RE
.SH FILES
This installation of SWI-Prolog has been configured using the configure
option
.BI \-\-prefix= /usr.
If the files listed below are not at the indicated place, the installation
has probably been moved.  Use
.TP
?- current_prolog_flag(home, Home).
.P
to find the local installation directory of SWI-Prolog.
.TP
.I ~/.swiplrc
Personal initialisation files consulted by SWI-Prolog on startup.
If both exist
.I .swiplrc
is used.
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/bin/amd64/
Location for the executables.
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/include/
Location for the include files.  If writable, SWI-Prolog.h is also
copied to /usr/include/SWI-Prolog.h.
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/library/
SWI-Prolog user libraries.
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/boot/
SWI-Prolog kernel parts written in Prolog.  The startup file
/usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/boot64.prc may be recreated using
the command from the directory /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35:
.RS
.TP
bin/amd64/swipl \-O \-o boot64.prc \-b boot/init.pl
.RE
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/doc/packages
HTML and/or PDF documentation on the installed add-ons.
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/boot64.prc
Default startup file.  This is a `intermediate code' file containing
precompiled code from the boot directory.  The
.BI \-x bootfile
option may be used to select a different file.
.TP
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/runtime/amd64/libpl.a
SWI-Prolog library for embedding.  See also
.I plld(1).
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
The SWI-Prolog web-home at
.I http://www.swi-prolog.org
.PP
Jan\ Wielemaker
.IR "SWI-Prolog Reference Manual" " at"
.I http://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/index.html
.PP
Documentation on the add-on packages in
.I /usr/lib/swipl-7.3.35/boot/doc
.PP
William\ F.\ Clocksin & Christopher\ S.\ Mellish,
.IR "Programming in Prolog" ,
fourth edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin 1994.
.PP
.BR swipl-rc "(1) and " swipl-ld "(1)"
.SH WARRANTY
The software is provided
.B 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.
.SH COPYING
SWI-Prolog is distributed under the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License).
The license terms are in the file
.I COPYING
or on the GNU website at
.I http://www.gnu.org.
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1986\-2015 University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam
.SH AUTHOR
Jan Wielemaker