NAME

units − conversion program

SYNTAX

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
* 2.54000e+00
/h’100u’ 3.93701e−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 pounds force/in2
You want: atm
* 1.02069e+00
/h’100u’ 9.79730e−01

Units only does multiplicative scale changes.  Thus it can convert Kelvin to Rankine, but not Centigrade 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:

piratio of circumference to diameter
cspeed of light
echarge on an electron
gacceleration of gravity
forcesame as g
moleAvogadro’s number
waterpressure head per unit height of water
auastronomical unit

‘Pound’ is a unit of mass.  Compound names are run together, e.g. ‘lightyear’.  British units that differ from their US counterparts are prefixed thus: ‘brgallon’.  Currency is denoted ‘belgiumfranc’, ‘britainpound’, ... 

If units is used with no arguments, it will use /usr/lib/units to define the units and the conversions that it knows about.  When file is supported, it will be used to define the units and conversions that it recognizes. 

FILES

/usr/lib/units