pl(1L)pl(1L)NAMEpl - SWI-Prolog 5.8.3
SYNOPSISpl [--help|--version|--arch|--dump-runtime-variables]
pl [options]
pl [options] [-o output] -c file ...
pl [options] [-o output] -b initfile ...
DESCRIPTION
SWI-Prolog is an ISO compatible Prolog compiler. It has a good collec‐
tion of built-in predicates, a large set of which it shares with Edin‐
burgh C-Prolog, Quintus Prolog and SICStus Prolog. Among its features
are a very fast compiler, a Quintus-like module system, library
autoloading, garbage collection, atom garbage collection, fast bi-
directional C interface, true C++ interface, execution profiling and
many more.
Add-on packages provide graphics (XPCE), TCP/IP, process controll,
SGML/XML/HTML/RDF support and many more. In addition, XPCE provides a
development environment, consisting of hypertext help-system, source-
level debugger, integrated editor and many navigation tools.
This manual page only lists the commandline options. Full documenta‐
tion is available on-line as well as in HTML and PDF format from the
WWW home page.
LICENSE INFORMATION
SWI-Prolog is distributed under the LGPL (Lesser Gnu Public License)
for maximal compatibility with the Free Software movement, while allow‐
ing 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 plld (1) to fetch necessary information about Prolog.
It is normally invoked as eval `pl -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 $PLBASE/run‐
time/$PLARCH/libpl.a
PLLIBS The required libraries for linking libpl.a
PLCFLAGS
Flags that need to be passed to the C-compiler to gener‐
ate 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".
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 other‐
wise.
PLTHREADS
Has the value yes if Prolog was compiled for multi-
threading and no otherwise.
-Asize[kmg]
Sets the argument stack size to size. The default is 1 Mbytes.
The argument-size determines the maximum term-nesting of terms
that can be compiled and executed. Both the compiler and vir‐
tual machine use `last-argument optimisation', so -for example-
intptr_t lists do not require the argument stack. See also the
-L option.
-Gsize[kmg]
Sets the global stack size to size. The default is 4 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, choice‐
points and foreign-language term-references. Note that SWI-Pro‐
log does last-call optimisation to minimize the local stack
requirements. If the argument ends in m , the argument is inter‐
preted 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 2048). 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 4096.
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 exe‐
cutable, 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/pl option ... -s
--quiet -q
Operate silently. This option suppresses all informational mes‐
sages, 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 pro‐
tect 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-Pro‐
log 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 embed‐
ded 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 predi‐
cates start a graphical interface, providing a coherent inter‐
face 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 indi‐
cated 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/pl-5.8.3/bin/x86_64-linux/
Location for the executables.
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/include/
Location for the include files. If writable, SWI-Prolog.h is
also copied to /usr/include/SWI-Prolog.h.
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/library/
SWI-Prolog user libraries.
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/boot/
SWI-Prolog kernel parts written in Prolog. The startup file
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/boot32.prc may be recreated using the command
from the directory /usr/lib/pl-5.8.3:
bin/x86_64-linux/pl -O -o boot32.prc -b boot/init.pl
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/doc/packages
HTML and/or PDF documentation on the installed add-ons.
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/boot32.prc
Default startup file. This is a `intermediate code' file con‐
taining precompiled code from the boot directory. The -xboot‐
file option may be used to select a different file.
/usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/runtime/x86_64-linux/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 Manualat http://gollem.sci‐
ence.uva.nl/SWI-Prolog/Manual/
Documentation on the add-on packages in /usr/lib/pl-5.8.3/boot/doc
William F. Clocksin & Christopher S. Mellish, Programming in Prolog,
fourth edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin 1994.
plrc(1) and plld(1) and xpce(1)WARRANTY
The software is provided as is, without warranty of any kind, express
or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of mer‐
chantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non infringement. In
no event shall the author or his employer be liable for any claim, dam‐
ages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or oth‐
erwise, 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) 1986-2007 University of Amsterdam.
AUTHOR
Jan Wielemaker
SWI-Prolog 5 Feb 8, 2006 pl(1L)
