Using the command line interface
The command line interface, tide, supports a number of modes that cannot be accessed with the
interactive client. It can run without X-windows, and unlike the
interactive client, it can easily be invoked from shell scripts.
The minimal usage is simply to specify a location with -l. The
default mode is plain, and the default format is text:
$ tide -l "anchorage, al"
Anchorage, Alaska
61.2383° N, 149.8883° W
1998-05-31 6:42 PM AKDT 1.14 feet Low Tide
1998-05-31 11:18 PM AKDT Sunset
1998-06-01 12:54 AM AKDT 27.40 feet High Tide
1998-06-01 4:35 AM AKDT Sunrise
1998-06-01 7:17 AM AKDT 6.60 feet Low Tide
1998-06-01 12:49 PM AKDT 23.89 feet High Tide
1998-06-01 5:44 PM AKDT First Quarter
The non-interactive client supports all of the command line switches
related to settings which are described in
a later section. In addition, it supports the following.
-
-b "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM"
-
Specify the begin (start) time for predictions using the ISO 8601
compliant format shown above. The timestamp is in the local time
zone for the location, or in UTC if the -z setting is engaged. If no
-b is supplied, the current time will be used.
-
-e "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM"
-
Specify the end (stop) time for predictions using the ISO 8601
compliant format shown above. The timestamp is in the local time
zone for the location, or in UTC if the -z setting is engaged. If no
-e is supplied, the end time will be set to four days after the begin
time. NOTE: For graphs, the end time is determined by the TTY width
and aspect, not by this switch.
-
-f h|p|t
-
Specify the output format as HTML, PNG, or text. See the
modes page for
legal modes and formats. The default is text.
-
-l "Location Name"
-
Specify a location for tide predictions. (Please read Important note about the -l switch.)
-
-m b|c|g|l|p|r|s
-
Specify mode to be banner, calendar, graph, list, plain, raw, or
stats. See the
modes page for
legal modes and formats. The default is plain.
-
-ml [-]N.NN(ft|m|kt)
-
Specify the mark level to be used in predictions. The
predictions will include the times when the tide level crosses
the mark. Example usage: -ml -0.25ft Some subordinate stations
won't take this option.
-
-o "filename"
-
Redirect output to the specified file.
-
-s "HH:MM"
-
Specify the step interval, in hours and minutes, for raw
mode predictions. The default is one hour.
-
-v
-
Print version string and exit. Please note that versions marked as
DEVELOPMENT versions are not really versioned; they are work in
progress and will change without warning.