Name

units − conversion program

Syntax

units

Description

The units command 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

The units command 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 supplied, it will be used to define the units and conversions that units will recognize.

Files

/usr/lib/units