NAME

units − interactive measurement unit conversion

SYNOPSIS

units

DESCRIPTION

Units converts quantities expressed in various standard scales to their equivalents in other scales.  It works interactively as follows:

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 handles multiplicative scale changes.  Thus it can convert Kelvin to Rankine, but not centigrade to Fahrenheit.  Most familiar units, abbreviations and metric prefixes are recognized, plus a generous amount of exotica and some 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 which differ from their U.S. counterparts are prefixed thus: “brgallon.” Currency is denoted “belgiumfranc,” “britainpound,” etc. 

For a complete list of units, the user can enter cat /usr/lib/units. 

FILES

/usr/lib/units

BUGS

It would be unwise to base financial plans on the currency conversions. 

INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS 4.2 BSD  —  1 August 1985