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2.1.1 Command Line Options

The full set of command line options is given below:

-help
When given as the only option, it summarises the most important options.

-v
When given as the only option, it summarises the version and the architecture identifier.

-arch
When given as the only option, it prints the architecture identifier (see feature(arch, Arch)) and exits.

-Lsize
Give local stack size in K bytes (2000 K default). Note that there is no space between the size option and its argument. For machines with dynamic stack allocation this flag sets the maximum value to which the stack is allowed to grow (2 Mbytes default). A maximum is useful to stop buggy programs from claiming all memory resources. -L0 sets the limit to the highest possible value.

-Gsize
Give global stack size in K bytes (4000 K default). For machines with dynamic stack allocation the default is 4 Mbytes. See -L for more details.

-Tsize
Give trail stack size in K bytes (4000 K default). For machines with dynamic stack allocation the default is 4 Mbytes. See -L for more details.

-Asize
Give argument stack size in K bytes (1000 K default). For machines with dynamic stack allocation the default is 1 Mbytes. See -L for more details.

-c file ...
Compile files into an `intermediate code file'. See section 2.7.

-o output
Used in combination with -c or -b to determine output file for compilation.

-O
Optimised compilation. See please/3.

-f file
Use file as initialisation file instead of `.plrc'. `-f none' stops SWI-Prolog from searching for an initialisation file.

-F script
Selects a startup-script from the SWI-Prolog home directory. The script-file is named <script>.rc. The default script name is deduced from the executable, taking the leading alphanumerical characters (letters, digits and underscore) from the program-name. -F none stops looking for a script. Intended for simple management of slightly different versions. One could for example write a script iso.rc and then select ISO compatibility mode using pl -F iso or make a link from iso-pl to pl.

-g goal
Goal is executed just before entering the top level. Default is a predicate which prints the welcome message. The welcome message can thus be suppressed by giving -g true. goal can be a complex term. In this case quotes are normally needed to protect it from being expanded by the Unix shell.

-t goal
Use goal as interactive toplevel instead of the default goal prolog/0. goal can be a complex term. If the toplevel goal succeeds SWI-Prolog exits with status 0. If it fails the exit status is 1. This flag also determines the goal started by break/0 and abort/0. If you want to stop the user from entering interactive mode start the application with `-g goal' and give `halt' as toplevel.

-tty
Switches tty control (using ioctl(2)) on (+tty) or off (-tty). Normally tty control is switched on. This default depends on the installation. You may wish to switch tty control off if Prolog is used from an editor such as Emacs. If switched off get_single_char/1 and the tracer will wait for a return.

-x bootfile
Boot from bootfile instead of the system's default boot file. A bootfile is a file resulting from a Prolog compilation using the -b or -c option or a program saved using qsave_program/[1,2].

-r restorefile
Restore a state created by save_program/[1,2] or save/[1,2] using the new-style saved-states. Equivalent to restore(restorefile) from Prolog.

-p alias=path1[:path2 ... ]
Define a path alias for file_search_path. alias is the name of the alias, path1 ... is a : separated list of values for the alias. A value is either a term of the form alias(value) or pathname. The computed aliases are added to file_search_path/2 using asserta/1, so they precede predefined values for the alias. See file_search_path/2 for details on using this file-location mechanism.

--
Stops scanning for more arguments, so you can pass arguments for your application after this one.

The following options are for system maintenance. They are given for reference only.

-b initfile ...-c file ...
Boot compilation. initfile ... are compiled by the C-written bootstrap compiler, file ... by the normal Prolog compiler. System maintenance only.

-d level
Set debug level to level. Only has effect if the system is compiled with the -DO_DEBUG flag. System maintenance only.