3.1.6 Command line options

The synopsis of SINGULAR is

Singular  [options] [file1 [file2 …]]
ESingular  [options] [file1 [file2 …]]

Options can be given in both, their long and short format. The following options control the general behavior of SINGULAR:

-d, --sdb

Enable the use of the source code debugger. See Source code debugger.

-e, --echo[=VAL]

Set value of variable echo to VAL (integer in the range 0, …, 9). Without an argument, echo is set to 1, which echoes all input coming from a file. By default, the value of echo is 0. See echo.

-h, --help

Print a one-line description of each command line option and exit.

--allow-net

Allow the netscape and html help browser to fetch HTML manual pages over the net from the WWW home-site of SINGULAR. See The online help system, for more info.

--browser=VAL

Use VAL as browser for the SINGULAR online manual.
VAL may be one of html (Windows only), netscape, xinfo, tkinfo, info, builtin, or emacs. Depending on your platform and local installation, only some browsers might be available. The default browser is html for Windows and netscape for Unix platforms. See The online help system, for more info.

--no-rc

Do not execute the .singularrc file on start-up. By default, this file is executed on start-up. See Startup sequence.

--no-stdlib

Do not load the library standard.lib on start-up. By default, this library is loaded on start-up. See Startup sequence.

--no-warn

Do not display warning messages.

--no-out

Suppress display of all output.

-t, --no-tty

Do not redefine the terminal characteristics. This option should be used for batch processes.

-q, --quiet

Do not print the start-up banner and messages when loading libraries. Furthermore, redirect stderr (all error messages) to stdout (normal output channel). This option should be used if SINGULAR’s output is redirected to a file.

-v, --verbose

Print extended information about the version and configuration of SINGULAR (used optional parts, compilation date, start of random generator etc.). This information should be included if a user reports an error to the authors.

The following command line options allow manipulations of the timer and the pseudo random generator and enable the passing of commands and strings to SINGULAR:

-c, --execute=STRING

Execute STRING as (a sequence of) SINGULAR commands on start-up after the .singularrc file is executed, but prior to executing the files given on the command line. E.g., Singular -c "help all.lib; quit;" shows the help for the library all.lib and exits.

-u, --user-option=STRING

Returns STRING on system("--user-option"). This is useful for passing arbitrary arguments from the command line to the SINGULAR interpreter. E.g.,
Singular -u "xxx.dump" -c 'getdump(system("--user-option"))' reads the file xxx.dump at start-up and allows the user to start working with all the objects defined in a previous session.

-r, --random=SEED

Seed (i.e., set the initial value of) the pseudo random generator with integer SEED. If this option is not given, then the random generator is seeded with a time-based SEED (the number of seconds since January, 1, 1970, on Unix-like operating systems, to be precise).

--min-time=SECS

If the timer (see timer), resp. rtimer (see rtimer) , variable is set, report only times larger than SECS seconds (SECS needs to be a floating point number greater than 0). By default, this value is set to 0.5 (i.e., half a second). E.g., the option --min-time=0.01 forces SINGULAR to report all times larger than 1/100 of a second.

--ticks-per-sec=TICKS

Set unit of timer to TICKS ticks per second (i.e., the value reported by the timer and rtimer variable divided by TICKS gives the time in seconds). By default, this value is 1.

The next three options are of interest for the use with MP links:

-b, --batch

Run in MP batch mode. Opens a TCP/IP connection with host specified by --MPhost at the port specified by --MPport. Input is read from and output is written to this connection in the MP format. See MPtcp links.

--MPport=PORT

Use PORT as default port number for MP connections (whenever not further specified). This option is mandatory when the --batch option is given. See MPtcp links.

--MPhost=HOST

Use HOST as default host for MP connections (whenever not further specified). This option is mandatory when the --batch option is given. See MPtcp links.

Finally, the following options are only available when running ESingular (see Running SINGULAR under Emacs for details).

--emacs=EMACS

Use EMACS as Emacs program to run the SINGULAR Emacs interface, where EMACS may e.g. be emacs ore xemacs.

--emacs-dir=DIR

Set the singular-emacs-home-directory, which is the directory where singular.el can be found, to DIR.

--emacs-load=FILE

Load FILE on Emacs start-up, instead of the default load file.

--singular=PROG

Start PROG as SINGULAR program within Emacs

The value of options given to SINGULAR (resp. their default values, if an option was not given), can be checked with the command system("--long_option_name"). See system.

  system("--quiet");    // if ``quiet'' 1, otherwise 0
→ 1
  system("--min-time"); // minimal reported time
→ 0.5
  system("--random");   // seed of the random generator
→ 12345678

Furthermore, the value of options (e.g., --browser) can be re-set while SINGULAR is running with the command system("--long_option_name_string ",expression). See system.

  system("--browser", "builtin");  // sets browser to 'builtin'
  system("--ticks-per-sec", 100);  // sets timer resolution to 100