Command Line Use (Units: A Unit Conversion Program and Scientific Calculator)

## 3 Using `units` Non-Interactively ¶

The `units` program can perform units conversions non-interactively from the command line. To do this, type the command, type the original unit expression, and type the new units you want. If a units expression contains non-alphanumeric characters, you may need to protect it from interpretation by the shell using single or double quote characters.

If you type

    units "2 liters" quarts

then `units` will print

        * 2.1133764
        / 0.47317647

and then exit. The output tells you that 2 liters is about 2.1 quarts, or alternatively that a quart is about 0.47 times 2 liters.

`units` does not require a space between a numerical value and the unit, so the previous example can be given as

    units 2liters quarts

to avoid having to quote the first argument.

If the conversion is successful, `units` will return success (zero) to the calling environment. If you enter non-conformable units, then `units` will print a message giving the reduced form of each unit and it will return failure (nonzero) to the calling environment.

If the `--conformable` option is given, only one unit expression is allowed, and `units` will print all units conformable with that expression; it is equivalent to giving `?` at the ‘`You want:`’ prompt. For example,

    units --conformable gauss
    B_FIELD   tesla
    Gs        gauss
    T         tesla
    gauss     abvolt sec / cm^2
    stT       stattesla
    statT     stattesla
    stattesla statWb/cm^2
    tesla     Wb/m^2

If you give more than one unit expression with the `--conformable` option, the program will exit with an error message and return failure. This option has no effect in interactive mode.

If the `--terse` (`-t`) option is given with the `--conformable` option, conformable units are shown without definitions; with the previous example, this would give

    units --terse --conformable gauss
    B_FIELD
    Gs
    T
    gauss
    stT
    statT
    stattesla
    tesla

When the `--conformable` option is not given and you invoke `units` with only one argument, `units` will print the definition of the specified unit. It will return failure if the unit is not defined and success if the unit is defined.