NAME¶
swipl - SWI-Prolog 6.6.6
SYNOPSIS¶
swipl
[
--help|
--version|
--arch|
--dump-runtime-variables]
swipl [options]
swipl [options] [
-o output] -c file
...
swipl [options] [
-o output] -b initfile
...
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
HTML and
PDF format from the WWW
home page at
http://www.swi-prolog.org
SWI-Prolog is distributed under the LGPL (Lesser Gnu 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
http://www.swi-prolog.org for details.
OPTIONS¶
- --help
- Gives a summary of the most important options.
- --version
- Displays version and architecture information.
- --arch
- Prints the architecture identifier.
- --dump-runtime-variables[=format]
- Dump information that is generally useful for installation scripts in a
form defined by format. Defines formats are sh (default,
bourne shell) and cmd (Windows CMD). This option is used by
swipl-ld (1) to fetch necessary information about Prolog. It is
normally invoked as eval `swipl -dump-runtime-variables`, which
assigns the following shell variables:
- CC
- The C- compiler used to compile SWI-Prolog.
- PLBASE
- The home directory of SWI-Prolog. This is the same value as returned by
the current_prolog_flag home.
- PLARCH
- The architecture identifier used. Together with PLBASE this defines
the location of various components. For example, the library for embedding
is in $PLBASE/lib/$PLARCH/libswipl.a
- PLLIB
- CC identifier to link to SWI-Prolog. Typically -lswipl
- PLLIBS
- Additional libraries needed for linking PLLIB
- PLCFLAGS
- Flags that need to be passed to the C-compiler to generate compatible
code.
- PLLDFLAGS
- Flags that need to be passed to the C-linker for linking embedded
executables.
- 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".
- 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".
- PLVERSION
- Numeric representation of the SWI-Prolog version.
- PLSHARED
- Has the value yes if Prolog supports linking shared libraries using
load_foreign_library/[1,2] and no otherwise.
- PLTHREADS
- Has the value yes if Prolog was compiled for multi-threading and
no otherwise.
- -Gsize[kmg]
- Sets the global stack size to 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
-L option.
- -Lsize[kmg]
- Sets the local stack size to 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 m , the argument is interpreted in Mbytes. A 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. -L0 sets the limit to the highest possible value.
- -O
- Optimised compilation. See set_prolog_flag/3 in the SWI-Prolog
Reference Manual.
- -Tsize[kmg]
- Sets the trail stack size to size K bytes. The default is 128
Mbytes (64-bit machines: 256 Mbytes). See -L for more details.
- -b initfile ... -c file ...
- Boot compilation. initfile ... are compiled by the C written
bootstrap compiler, file ... by the normal Prolog compiler into an
intermediate code file. This option is for system maintenance and is given
for reference only.
- -c file ...
- Compiles file ... into an intermediate code file.
- -d level
- Set debug level to level. This option is for system maintenance and
is given for reference only.
- -f file
- Use file as initialisation file instead of `.plrc'. `-f
none' stops SWI-Prolog from searching for an initialisation file.
- -F file
- Select startup script from the SWI-Prolog home directory. file
Specifies the base-name of the script. The extension is .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 swi-2.0 it will try to load the
file 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.
- -s file
- Load 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
- #!/usr/bin/swipl option ... -s
- -l file
- Load file as a script. This is a synonym for -s that is
compatible with several other Prolog implementations. If multiple
-s or -l arguments are provided, all specified files are
loaded in the order in which they appear on the argument list.
- --quiet -q
- Operate silently. This option suppresses all informational
messages, such as for compiling files.
- -g goal
- 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 -g true. goal can be a complex term.
In this case, quotes are normally needed to protect it from being expanded
by the Unix shell.
- -o output
- Used in combination with -b or -c to determine the output
file for compilation.
- -p alias=pathlist
- Define a path alias for file_search_path/2. pathlist is a
"`":"'" separated list of values for the alias. See
file_search_path/2 in the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual.
- -t goal
- Use goal as an interactive top level instead of the default goal
prolog/0. 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 break/0 and
abort/0. If you want to stop the user from entering interactive
mode, start the application with `-g goal' and give
`halt' as the top level.
- -x bootfile
- Start from an intermediate code file resulting from a Prolog compilation
using the -b or -c option, or created using
qsave_program/[1,2].
- [+|-]tty
- Switches tty control (using ioctl(2)) on (+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,
get_single_char/1 and the tracer will wait for a carriage
return.
- --nosignals
- Disable handling of signals. Often used if SWI-Prolog is embedded in
another application on Unix systems.
- --
- Stops scanning for more arguments.
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.
- help
- Equivalent to help(help/1).
- help(+What)
- Show a specified part of the manual. What is one of:
- Name/Arity
- give help on the specified predicate
- Name
- give help on the named predicate with any arity or a C interface function
with that name.
- Section
- display the specified section of the SWI-Prolog Reference Manual. Section
numbers are dash separated numbers: e.g. 2-3 refers to section 2.3
of the manual.
If Prolog is used together with the
GUI tool
XPCE, these
predicates start a graphical interface, providing a coherent interface to
help/1, apropos/1 and
explain/1.
FILES¶
This installation of SWI-Prolog has been configured using the configure option
--prefix=/usr. If the files listed below are not at the
indicated place, the installation has probably been moved. Use
- ?- current_prolog_flag(home, Home).
to find the local installation directory of SWI-Prolog.
- .plrc
- ~/.plrc
- Personal initialisation files consulted by SWI-Prolog on startup. If both
exist .plrc is used.
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/bin/amd64/
- Location for the executables.
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/include/
- Location for the include files. If writable, SWI-Prolog.h is also copied
to /usr/include/SWI-Prolog.h.
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/library/
- SWI-Prolog user libraries.
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/boot/
- SWI-Prolog kernel parts written in Prolog. The startup file
/usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/boot32.prc may be recreated using the command from
the directory /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6:
- bin/amd64/swipl -O -o boot32.prc -b boot/init.pl
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/doc/packages
- HTML and/or PDF documentation on the installed add-ons.
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/boot32.prc
- Default startup file. This is a `intermediate code' file containing
precompiled code from the boot directory. The -xbootfile
option may be used to select a different file.
- /usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/runtime/amd64/libpl.a
- SWI-Prolog library for embedding. See also plld(1).
SEE ALSO¶
The SWI-Prolog web-home at
http://www.swi-prolog.org
Jan Wielemaker
SWI-Prolog Reference Manual at
http://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/index.html
Documentation on the add-on packages in
/usr/lib/swipl-6.6.6/boot/doc
William F. Clocksin & Christopher S. Mellish,
Programming in Prolog, fourth edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin 1994.
swipl-rc(1) and
swipl-ld(1)
WARRANTY¶
The software is provided
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.
COPYING¶
SWI-Prolog is distributed under the LGPL (Lesser GNU Public Licence). The
license terms are in the file
COPYING or on the GNU website at
http://www.gnu.org.
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright (c) 1986-2011 University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam
AUTHOR¶
Jan Wielemaker