Tribblix: manual page: swipl.1

swipl(1) User Commands swipl(1)

NAME

swipl - SWI-Prolog 9.0.4

SYNOPSIS

swipl [--help|--version|--arch|--dump-runtime-variables]
swipl [options] prolog-file ... [--] [arg ...]
swipl [options] [-o output] -c file ...
swipl [options] [-o output] -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 current_prolog_flag(argv,
Argv). The third version is used to create a saved state while the
last version is used for boot-compilation of the Prolog parts of the
system.

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

OPTIONS

--help Give a summary of the most important options.

--version
Display version and architecture information.

--abi-version
Display ABI version key. This key indicates binary
compatibility of various interfaces.

--arch Print 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

PLBITS Address bits for VM. Either 32 or 64.

PLLIB CC identifier to link to SWI-Prolog. Typically -lswipl

PLLIBSWIPL
Full path name to the shared object (DLL) that provides
the Prolog core.

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.

PLVERSIONTAG
If present, a version tag such as "rc1".

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.

--home=DIR
Use DIR as home directory.

--stack-limit=size[bkmg]
Set the combined stack limit to size bytes. The suffix is
case insensitive and defines the unit as b (bytes), k
(Kbytes), m (Mbytes) or g (Gbytes).

--table-space=size[bkmg]
Set the table space limit for SLG resolution (tabling) to size
bytes. The suffixes are the same as for the --stack-limit
option.

--shared-table-space=size[bkmg]
Set the table space limit for shared tabling to size bytes.
The suffixes are the same as for the --stack-limit option.

-O Optimised compilation. See set_prolog_flag/2 in the SWI-Prolog
Reference Manual.

-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 ...
Compile 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.

--packs[=bool]
Disable attaching extension packs (add-ons).

--pce[=bool]
Disable the XPCE GUI subsystem.

--pldoc[=port]
Start the PlDoc documentation system on a free network port
and launch the user's browser on http://localhost:port. If
port is specified, the server is started at the given port but
the browser is not launched.

-f file
Use file as initialisation file instead of `init.pl'. `-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.
Deprecated as file names with a Prolog extension (.pl or .qlf)
are used to load the program.

-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[=bool] -q
Operate silently. This option suppresses all informational
messages.

--debug[=bool]
Disable generating code that can be debugged using trace/0,
spy/1, etc.

--debug-on-interrupt[=bool]
Immediately start handling SIGINT (Control-C) to start the
debugger. By default this is enabled when the interactive
toplevel is entered.

--on-error=style
How to handle on a (printed) error message. Default is print
which causes errors to be printed while execution continues.
Using status execution continues as with print, but halt/0
causes the process to exit with status 1 and halt causes the
process to exit with status 1 on the first error.

--on-warning=style
Similar to --on-error, but for warning messages.

-g goal
Goal is executed just before entering the top level. This
option may appear multiple times. Goals are executed in the
order of appearance. Possible choice points are pruned. If a
goal fails an error is printed (depending on the -q flag) and
the process stops with exit code 1. If a goal raises an
exception the error is printed and the process stops with exit
code 2. In no goal is present version/0 is called to write
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[=bool]
Switches tty control (using ioctl(2)). 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.

--win-app
This option is available only in swipl-win.exe. The Start
menu shortcut uses this option to change the working directory
to ...\Documents\Prolog. The Prolog subdirectory will be
created if it does not exist.

--signals[=bool]
Disable handling of signals. Often used if SWI-Prolog is
embedded in another application on Unix systems.

--sigalert=NUM
Use NUM for unblocking system calls. Default is SIGUSR2.
Using 0 disables installing a signal handler, delaying the
delivery of thread signals until the blocking system call
completes.

--threads[=bool]
Disable creating threads in the multi-threaded version. This
notably prevents running global garbage collection on a
separate thread and may be used for situations where multiple
threads are not desirable.

--traditional
Disable SWI-Prolog version 7 extensions that are incompatible
with earlier versions.

-- Stop scanning for more arguments.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

SWI_HOME_DIR
Location for finding the startup file 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.

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.

~/.config/swi-prolog/init.pl
Personal initialisation files consulted by SWI-Prolog on
startup. The exact location depends on the OS.

/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/bin//
Location for the executables.

/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/include/
Location for the include files. If writable, SWI-Prolog.h is
also copied to /usr/include/SWI-Prolog.h.

/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/library/
SWI-Prolog user libraries.

/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/boot/
SWI-Prolog kernel parts written in Prolog. The startup file
/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/ may be recreated using the command from
the directory /usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4:

bin//swipl -O -o -b boot/init.pl

/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/doc/packages
HTML and/or PDF documentation on the installed add-ons.

/usr/lib/swipl-9.0.4/
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-9.0.4/runtime//libpl.a
SWI-Prolog library for embedding. See also plld(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.

LICENSE INFORMATION

SWI-Prolog is distributed under the Simplified BSD or BSD-2 License.
A particular configuration may contain components that are subject to
other license conditions. Use license/0 to find components with less
permissive license conditions. See the SWI-Prolog license page at
http://www.swi-prolog.org/license.html for details.

COPYRIGHT

AUTHOR

Jan Wielemaker

SWI-Prolog 8 October 10, 2020 swipl(1)