=================================================================== RCS file: /cvsrepo/anoncvs/cvs/src/usr.bin/units/units.1,v retrieving revision 1.7 retrieving revision 1.8 diff -u -r1.7 -r1.8 --- src/usr.bin/units/units.1 1998/12/16 02:38:50 1.7 +++ src/usr.bin/units/units.1 1999/06/05 01:21:45 1.8 @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -.\" $OpenBSD: units.1,v 1.7 1998/12/16 02:38:50 aaron Exp $ +.\" $OpenBSD: units.1,v 1.8 1999/06/05 01:21:45 aaron Exp $ .\" converted to new format by deraadt@openbsd.org .Dd July 14, 1993 .Dt UNITS 1 @@ -11,16 +11,16 @@ .Op Fl f Ar filename .Op Fl q .Op Fl v -.Ar from-unit +.Ar from-unit .Ar to-unit .Sh ARGUMENTS .Bl -tag -width Ds .It Fl f Ar filename Specifies the name of the units data file to load. -.It Fl q +.It Fl q Suppresses prompting of the user for units and the display of statistics about the number of units loaded. -.It Fl v +.It Fl v Prints the version number. .It Ar from-unit Ar to-unit Allows a single unit conversion to be done directly from the command @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ only the result of this single conversion. .El .Sh DESCRIPTION -The units program converts quantities expression in various scales to +The units program converts quantities expression in various scales to their equivalents in other scales. The units program can only handle multiplicative scale changes. It cannot convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit, for example. It works interactively by prompting @@ -46,19 +46,29 @@ / 3785.4118 .fi .Pp -Powers of units can be specified using the '^' character as shown in -the example, or by simple concatenation: 'cm3' is equivalent to 'cm^3'. +Powers of units can be specified using the +.Ql ^ +character as shown in +the example, or by simple concatenation: +.Dq cm3 +is equivalent to +.Dq cm^3 . Multiplication of units can be specified by using spaces, a dash or -an asterisk. Division of units is indicated by the slash ('/'). -Note that multiplication has a higher precedence than division, -so 'm/s/s' is the same as 'm/s^2' or 'm/s s'. +an asterisk. Division of units is indicated by the slash +.Pq Ql / . +Note that multiplication has a higher precedence than division, so +.Dq m/s/s +is the same as +.Dq m/s^2 +or +.Dq m/s s . If the user enters incompatible unit types, the units program will print a message indicating that the units are not conformable and it will display the reduced form for each unit: .Pp .nf You have: ergs/hour - You want: fathoms kg^2 / day + You want: fathoms kg^2 / day conformability error 2.7777778e-11 kg m^2 / sec^3 2.1166667e-05 kg^2 m / sec @@ -94,20 +104,24 @@ its country name: 'belgiumfranc', 'britainpound'. When searching for a unit, if the specified string does not appear exactly as a unit name, then the units program will try to remove a trailing 's' or -a trailing 'es' and check again for a match. +a trailing 'es' and check again for a match. .Pp All of these definitions can be read in the standard units file, or you can supply your own file. A unit is specified on a single line by giving its name and an equivalence. One should be careful to define new units in terms of old ones so that a reduction leads to the -primitive units which are marked with '!' characters. +primitive units which are marked with +.Ql ! +characters. The units program will not detect infinite loops that could be caused by careless unit definitions. .Pp -Prefixes are defined in the same way as standard units, but with -a trailing dash at the end of the prefix name. +Prefixes are defined in the same way as standard units, but with +a trailing dash at the end of the prefix name. .Sh BUGS -The effect of including a '/' in a prefix is surprising. +The effect of including a +.Ql / +in a prefix is surprising. .Pp Exponents entered by the user can be only one digit. You can work around this by multiplying several terms. @@ -121,7 +135,7 @@ .Pp The program should use a hash table to store units so that it doesn't take so long to load the units list and check -for duplication. +for duplication. .Sh FILES /usr/share/misc/units.lib - the standard units library .Sh AUTHOR