units(1)


units -- conversion program

Synopsis

units

Description

units converts quantities expressed in various standard scales to their equivalents in other scales. It works interactively in this fashion:
   You have:  inch 
   You want:  cm 
   	* 2.540000e+00 
   	/ 3.937008e-01 

A quantity is specified as a multiplicative combination of units optionally preceded by a numeric multiplier. Powers are indicated by suffixed positive integers, division by the usual sign:

   You have:  15 lbs force/in2 
   You want:  atm 
   	* 1.020689e+00 
   	/ 9.797299e-01 

units only does multiplicative scale changes; thus it can convert Kelvin to Rankine, but not Celsius to Fahrenheit. Most familiar units, abbreviations, and metric prefixes are recognized, together with a generous leavening of exotica and a few constants of nature including:

pi
ratio of circumference to diameter

c
speed of light

e
charge on an electron

g
acceleration of gravity

force
same as g

mole
Avogadro's number

water
pressure head per unit height of water

au
astronomical unit

``Pound'' is not recognized as a unit of mass; ``lb'' is. Compound names are run together, (for example, ``lightyear''). British units that differ from their USA counterparts are prefixed thus: ``brgallon''. For a complete list of units, type:



cat /usr/share/lib/unittab

Files

/usr/share/lib/unittab


30 January 1998
© 1998 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.