English Customary Units¶

English customary units differ in various ways in different regions. In Britain a complex system of volume measurements featured different gallons for different materials such as a wine gallon and ale gallon that different by twenty percent. This complexity was swept away in 1824 by a reform that created an entirely new gallon, the British Imperial gallon defined as the volume occupied by ten pounds of water. Meanwhile in the USA the gallon is derived from the 1707 Winchester wine gallon, which is 231 cubic inches. These gallons differ by about twenty percent. By default if 'units' runs in the 'en_GB' locale you will get the British volume measures. If it runs in the 'en_US' locale you will get the US volume measures. In other locales the default values are the US definitions. If you wish to force different definitions then set the environment variable 'UNITS_ENGLISH' to either 'US' or 'GB' to set the desired definitions independent of the locale.

Before 1959, the value of a yard (and other units of measure defined in terms of it) differed slightly among English-speaking countries. In 1959, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa adopted the Canadian value of 1 yard = 0.9144 m (exactly), which was approximately halfway between the values used by the UK and the US; it had the additional advantage of making 1 inch = 2.54 cm (exactly). This new standard was termed the International Yard. Australia, Canada, and the UK then defined all customary lengths in terms of the International Yard (Australia did not define the furlong or rod); because many US land surveys were in terms of the pre-1959 units, the US continued to define customary surveyors' units (furlong, chain, rod, and link) in terms of the previous value for the foot, which was termed the US survey foot. The US defined a US survey mile as 5280 US survey feet, and defined a statute mile as a US survey mile. The US values for these units differ from the international values by about 2 ppm.

The 'units' program uses the international values for these units; the US values can be obtained by using either the 'US' or the 'survey' prefix. In either case, the simple familiar relationships among the units are maintained, e.g., 1 'furlong' = 660 'ft', and 1 'USfurlong' = 660 'USft', though the metric equivalents differ slightly between the two cases. The 'US' prefix or the 'survey' prefix can also be used to obtain the US survey mile and the value of the US yard prior to 1959, e.g., 'USmile' or 'surveymile' (but not 'USsurveymile'). To get the US value of the statute mile, use either 'USstatutemile' or 'USmile'.

Except for distances that extend over hundreds of miles (such as in the US State Plane Coordinate System), the differences in the miles are usually insignificant:

You have: 100 surveymile - 100 mile
You want: inch


        * 12.672025


        / 0.078913984

The pre-1959 UK values for these units can be obtained with the prefix 'UK'.

In the US, the acre is officially defined in terms of the US survey foot, but 'units' uses a definition based on the international foot. If you want the official US acre use 'USacre' and similarly use 'USacrefoot' for the official US version of that unit. The difference between these units is about 4 parts per million.

Operators¶

You can enter more complicated units by combining units with operations such as multiplication, division, powers, addition, subtraction, and parentheses for grouping. You can use the customary symbols for these operators when 'units' is invoked with its default options. Additionally, 'units' supports some extensions, including high priority multiplication using a space, and a high priority numerical division operator ('|') that can simplify some expressions.

You multiply units using a space or an asterisk ('*'). The next example shows both forms:

You have: arabicfoot * arabictradepound * force
You want: ft lbf


        * 0.7296


        / 1.370614

You can divide units using the slash ('/') or with 'per':

You have: furlongs per fortnight
You want: m/s


        * 0.00016630986


        / 6012.8727

You can use parentheses for grouping:

You have: (1/2) kg / (kg/meter)
You want: league


        * 0.00010356166


        / 9656.0833

White space surrounding operators is optional, so the previous example could have used '(1/2)kg/(kg/meter)'. As a consequence, however, hyphenated spelled-out numbers (e.g., 'forty-two') cannot be used; 'forty-two' is interpreted as '40 - 2'.

Multiplication using a space has a higher precedence than division using a slash and is evaluated left to right; in effect, the first '/' character marks the beginning of the denominator of a unit expression. This makes it simple to enter a quotient with several terms in the denominator: 'J / mol K'. The '*' and '/' operators have the same precedence, and are evaluated left to right; if you multiply with '*', you must group the terms in the denominator with parentheses: 'J / (mol * K)'.

The higher precedence of the space operator may not always be advantageous. For example, 'm/s s/day' is equivalent to 'm / s s day' and has dimensions of length per time cubed. Similarly, '1/2 meter' refers to a unit of reciprocal length equivalent to 0.5/meter, perhaps not what you would intend if you entered that expression. The get a half meter you would need to use parentheses: '(1/2) meter'. The '*' operator is convenient for multiplying a sequence of quotients. For example, 'm/s * s/day' is equivalent to 'm/day'. Similarly, you could write '1/2 * meter' to get half a meter.

The 'units' program supports another option for numerical fractions: you can indicate division of numbers with the vertical bar ('|'), so if you wanted half a meter you could write '1|2 meter'. You cannot use the vertical bar to indicate division of non-numerical units (e.g., 'm|s' results in an error message).

Powers of units can be specified using the '^' character, as shown in the following example, or by simple concatenation of a unit and its exponent: 'cm3' is equivalent to 'cm^3'; if the exponent is more than one digit, the '^' is required. You can also use '**' as an exponent operator.

You have: cm^3
You want: gallons


        * 0.00026417205


        / 3785.4118

Concatenation only works with a single unit name: if you write '(m/s)2', 'units' will treat it as multiplication by 2. When a unit includes a prefix, exponent operators apply to the combination, so 'centimeter3' gives cubic centimeters. If you separate the prefix from the unit with any multiplication operator (e.g., 'centi meter^3'), the prefix is treated as a separate unit, so the exponent applies only to the unit without the prefix. The second example is equivalent to 'centi * (meter^3)', and gives a hundredth of a cubic meter, not a cubic centimeter. The 'units' program is limited internally to products of 99 units; accordingly, expressions like 'meter^100' or 'joule^34' (represented internally as 'kg^34 m^68 / s^68') will fail.

The '|' operator has the highest precedence, so you can write the square root of two thirds as '2|3^1|2'. The '^' operator has the second highest precedence, and is evaluated right to left, as usual:

You have: 5 * 2^3^2
You want:


        Definition: 2560

With a dimensionless base unit, any dimensionless exponent is meaningful (e.g., 'pi^exp(2.371)'). Even though angle is sometimes treated as dimensionless, exponents cannot have dimensions of angle:

You have: 2^radian


                 ^
Exponent not dimensionless

If the base unit is not dimensionless, the exponent must be a rational number p/q, and the dimension of the unit must be a power of q, so 'gallon^2|3' works but 'acre^2|3' fails. An exponent using the slash ('/') operator (e.g., 'gallon^(2/3)') is also acceptable; the parentheses are needed because the precedence of '^' is higher than that of '/'. Since 'units' cannot represent dimensions with exponents greater than 99, a fully reduced exponent must have q < 100. When raising a non-dimensionless unit to a power, 'units' attempts to convert a decimal exponent to a rational number with q < 100. If this is not possible 'units' displays an error message:

You have: ft^1.234
Base unit not dimensionless; rational exponent required

A decimal exponent must match its rational representation to machine precision, so 'acre^1.5' works but 'gallon^0.666' does not.

Sums and Differences of Units¶

You may sometimes want to add values of different units that are outside the SI. You may also wish to use 'units' as a calculator that keeps track of units. Sums of conformable units are written with the '+' character, and differences with the '-' character.

You have: 2 hours + 23 minutes + 32 seconds
You want: seconds


        * 8612


        / 0.00011611705

You have: 12 ft + 3 in
You want: cm


        * 373.38


        / 0.0026782366

You have: 2 btu + 450 ft lbf
You want: btu


        * 2.5782804


        / 0.38785542

The expressions that are added or subtracted must reduce to identical expressions in primitive units, or an error message will be displayed:

You have: 12 printerspoint - 4 heredium


                                      ^
Illegal sum of non-conformable units

As usual, the precedence for '+' and '-' is lower than that of the other operators. A fractional quantity such as 2 1/2 cups can be given as '(2+1|2) cups'; the parentheses are necessary because multiplication has higher precedence than addition. If you omit the parentheses, 'units' attempts to add '2' and '1|2 cups', and you get an error message:

You have: 2+1|2 cups


                   ^
Illegal sum or difference of non-conformable units

The expression could also be correctly written as '(2+1/2) cups'. If you write '2 1|2 cups' the space is interpreted as multiplication so the result is the same as '1 cup'.

The '+' and '-' characters sometimes appears in exponents like '3.43e+8'. This leads to an ambiguity in an expression like '3e+2 yC'. The unit 'e' is a small unit of charge, so this can be regarded as equivalent to '(3e+2) yC' or '(3 e)+(2 yC)'. This ambiguity is resolved by always interpreting '+' and '-' as part of an exponent if possible.

Numbers as Units¶

For 'units', numbers are just another kind of unit. They can appear as many times as you like and in any order in a unit expression. For example, to find the volume of a box that is 2 ft by 3 ft by 12 ft in steres, you could do the following:

You have: 2 ft 3 ft 12 ft
You want: stere


        * 2.038813


        / 0.49048148
You have: $ 5 / yard
You want: cents / inch


        * 13.888889


        / 0.072

And the second example shows how the dollar sign in the units conversion can precede the five. Be careful: 'units' will interpret '$5' with no space as equivalent to 'dollar^5'.

Built-in Functions¶

Several built-in functions are provided: 'sin', 'cos', 'tan', 'ln', 'log', 'log2', 'exp', 'acos', 'atan' and 'asin'. The 'sin', 'cos', and 'tan' functions require either a dimensionless argument or an argument with dimensions of angle.

You have: sin(30 degrees)
You want:


        Definition: 0.5
You have: sin(pi/2)
You want:


        Definition: 1
You have: sin(3 kg)


                  ^
Unit not dimensionless

The other functions on the list require dimensionless arguments. The inverse trigonometric functions return arguments with dimensions of angle.

If you wish to take roots of units, you may use the 'sqrt' or 'cuberoot' functions. These functions require that the argument have the appropriate root. You can obtain higher roots by using fractional exponents:

You have: sqrt(acre)
You want: feet


        * 208.71074


        / 0.0047913202
You have: (400 W/m^2 / stefanboltzmann)^(1/4)
You have:


        Definition: 289.80882 K
You have: cuberoot(hectare)


                          ^
Unit not a root

Previous Result¶

You can insert the result of the previous conversion using the underscore ('_'). It is useful when you want to convert the same input to several different units, for example

You have: 2.3 tonrefrigeration
You want: btu/hr


        * 27600


        / 3.6231884e-005
You have: _
You want: kW


        * 8.0887615


        / 0.12362832

Suppose you want to do some deep frying that requires an oil depth of 2 inches. You have 1/2 gallon of oil, and want to know the largest-diameter pan that will maintain the required depth. The nonlinear unit 'circlearea' gives the radius of the circle (see Other Nonlinear Units, for a more detailed description) in SI units; you want the diameter in inches:

You have: 1|2 gallon / 2 in
You want: circlearea


        0.10890173 m
You have: 2 _
You want: in


        * 8.5749393


        / 0.1166189

In most cases, surrounding white space is optional, so the previous example could have used '2_'. If '_' follows a non-numerical unit symbol, however, the space is required:

You have: m_


           ^
Parse error

When '_' is followed by a digit, the operation is multiplication rather than exponentiation, so that '_2', is equivalent to '_ * 2' rather than '_^2'.

You can use the '_' symbol any number of times; for example,

You have: m
You want:


        Definition: 1 m
You have: _ _
You want:


        Definition: 1 m^2

Using '_' before a conversion has been performed (e.g., immediately after invocation) generates an error:

You have: _


          ^
No previous result; '_' not set

Accordingly, '_' serves no purpose when 'units' is invoked non-interactively.

If 'units' is invoked with the '--verbose' option (see Invoking Units), the value of '_' is not expanded:

You have: mile
You want: ft


        mile = 5280 ft


        mile = (1 / 0.00018939394) ft
You have: _
You want: m


        _ = 1609.344 m


        _ = (1 / 0.00062137119) m

You can give '_' at the 'You want:' prompt, but it usually is not very useful.

Complicated Unit Expressions¶

The 'units' program is especially helpful in ensuring accuracy and dimensional consistency when converting lengthy unit expressions. For example, one form of the Darcy-Weisbach fluid-flow equation is

where Delta P is the pressure drop, rho is the mass density, f is the (dimensionless) friction factor, L is the length of the pipe, Q is the volumetric flow rate, and d is the pipe diameter. It might be desired to have the equation in the form

that accepted the user's normal units; for typical units used in the US, the required conversion could be something like

You have: (8/pi^2)(lbm/ft^3)ft(ft^3/s)^2(1/in^5)
You want: psi


        * 43.533969


        / 0.022970568

The parentheses allow individual terms in the expression to be entered naturally, as they might be read from the formula. Alternatively, the multiplication could be done with the '*' rather than a space; then parentheses are needed only around 'ft^3/s' because of its exponent:

You have: 8/pi^2 * lbm/ft^3 * ft * (ft^3/s)^2 /in^5
You want: psi


        * 43.533969


        / 0.022970568

Without parentheses, and using spaces for multiplication, the previous conversion would need to be entered as

You have: 8 lb ft ft^3 ft^3 / pi^2 ft^3 s^2 in^5
You want: psi


        * 43.533969


        / 0.022970568

Backwards Compatibility:¶

'*' and '-' The original 'units' assigned multiplication a higher precedence than division using the slash. This differs from the usual precedence rules, which give multiplication and division equal precedence, and can be confusing for people who think of units as a calculator.

The star operator ('*') included in this 'units' program has, by default, the same precedence as division, and hence follows the usual precedence rules. For backwards compatibility you can invoke 'units' with the '--oldstar' option. Then '*' has a higher precedence than division, and the same precedence as multiplication using the space.

Historically, the hyphen ('-') has been used in technical publications to indicate products of units, and the original 'units' program treated it as a multiplication operator. Because 'units' provides several other ways to obtain unit products, and because '-' is a subtraction operator in general algebraic expressions, 'units' treats the binary '-' as a subtraction operator by default. For backwards compatibility use the '--product' option, which causes 'units' to treat the binary '-' operator as a product operator. When '-' is a multiplication operator it has the same precedence as multiplication with a space, giving it a higher precedence than division.

When '-' is used as a unary operator it negates its operand. Regardless of the 'units' options, if '-' appears after '(' or after '+' then it will act as a negation operator. So you can always compute 20 degrees minus 12 minutes by entering '20 degrees + -12 arcmin'. You must use this construction when you define new units because you cannot know what options will be in force when your definition is processed.

Temperature Conversions¶

Conversions between temperatures are different from linear conversions between temperature increments—see the example below. The absolute temperature conversions are handled by units starting with 'temp', and you must use functional notation. The temperature-increment conversions are done using units starting with 'deg' and they do not require functional notation.

You have: tempF(45)
You want: tempC


        7.2222222
You have: 45 degF
You want: degC


        * 25


        / 0.04

Think of 'tempF(x)' not as a function but as a notation that indicates that x should have units of 'tempF' attached to it. See Defining Nonlinear Units. The first conversion shows that if it's 45 degrees Fahrenheit outside, it's 7.2 degrees Celsius. The second conversion indicates that a change of 45 degrees Fahrenheit corresponds to a change of 25 degrees Celsius. The conversion from 'tempF(x)' is to absolute temperature, so that

You have: tempF(45)
You want: degR


        * 504.67


        / 0.0019814929

gives the same result as

You have: tempF(45)
You want: tempR


        * 504.67


        / 0.0019814929

But if you convert 'tempF(x)' to 'degC', the output is probably not what you expect:

You have: tempF(45)
You want: degC


        * 280.37222


        / 0.0035666871

The result is the temperature in K, because 'degC' is defined as 'K', the Kelvin. For consistent results, use the 'tempX' units when converting to a temperature rather than converting a temperature increment.

The 'tempC()' and 'tempF()' definitions are limited to positive absolute temperatures, and giving a value that would result in a negative absolute temperature generates an error message:

You have: tempC(-275)


                    ^
Argument of function outside domain


                    ^

Other Nonlinear Units¶

Some other examples of nonlinear units are numerous different ring sizes and wire gauges, the grit sizes used for abrasives, the decibel scale, shoe size, scales for the density of sugar (e.g., baume). The standard data file also supplies units for computing the area of a circle and the volume of a sphere. See the standard units data file for more details. Wire gauges with multiple zeroes are signified using negative numbers where two zeroes is '-1'. Alternatively, you can use the synonyms 'g00', 'g000', and so on that are defined in the standard units data file.

You have: wiregauge(11)
You want: inches


        * 0.090742002


        / 11.020255
You have: brwiregauge(g00)
You want: inches


        * 0.348


        / 2.8735632
You have: 1 mm
You want: wiregauge


        18.201919
You have: grit_P(600)
You want: grit_ansicoated


        342.76923

The last example shows the conversion from P graded sand paper, which is the European standard and may be marked ``P600'' on the back, to the USA standard.

You can compute the area of a circle using the nonlinear unit, 'circlearea'. You can also do this using the circularinch or circleinch. The next example shows two ways to compute the area of a circle with a five inch radius and one way to compute the volume of a sphere with a radius of one meter.

You have: circlearea(5 in)
You want: in2


        * 78.539816


        / 0.012732395
You have: 10^2 circleinch
You want: in2


        * 78.539816


        / 0.012732395
You have: spherevol(meter)
You want: ft3


        * 147.92573


        / 0.0067601492

The inverse of a nonlinear conversion is indicated by prefixing a tilde ('~') to the nonlinear unit name:

You have: ~wiregauge(0.090742002 inches)
You want:


        Definition: 11

You can give a nonlinear unit definition without an argument or parentheses, and press Enter at the 'You want:' prompt to get the definition of a nonlinear unit; if the definition is not valid for all real numbers, the range of validity is also given. If the definition requires specific units this information is also displayed:

You have: tempC


        Definition: tempC(x) = x K + stdtemp


                    defined for x >= -273.15
You have: ~tempC


        Definition: ~tempC(tempC) = (tempC +(-stdtemp))/K


                    defined for tempC >= 0 K
You have: circlearea


        Definition: circlearea(r) = pi r^2


                    r has units m

To see the definition of the inverse use the '~' notation. In this case the parameter in the functional definition will usually be the name of the unit. Note that the inverse for 'tempC' shows that it requires units of 'K' in the specification of the allowed range of values. Nonlinear unit conversions are described in more detail in Defining Nonlinear Units.

Units Data Files¶

The units and prefixes that 'units' can convert are defined in the units data file, typically '/usr/share/units/definitions.units'. If you can't find this file, run 'units --version' to get information on the file locations for your installation. Although you can extend or modify this data file if you have appropriate user privileges, it's usually better to put extensions in separate files so that the definitions will be preserved if you update 'units'.

You can include additional data files in the units database using the '!include' command in the standard units data file. For example

!include    /usr/local/share/units/local.units

might be appropriate for a site-wide supplemental data file. The location of the '!include' statement in the standard units data file is important; later definitions replace earlier ones, so any definitions in an included file will override definitions before the '!include' statement in the standard units data file. With normal invocation, no warning is given about redefinitions; to ensure that you don't have an unintended redefinition, run 'units -c' after making changes to any units data file.

If you want to add your own units in addition to or in place of standard or site-wide supplemental units data files, you can include them in the '.units' file in your home directory. If this file exists it is read after the standard units data file, so that any definitions in this file will replace definitions of the same units in the standard data file or in files included from the standard data file. This file will not be read if any units files are specified on the command line. (Under Windows the personal units file is named 'unitdef.units'.) Running 'units -V' will display the location and name of your personal units file.

The 'units' program first tries to determine your home directory from the 'HOME' environment variable. On systems running Microsoft Windows, if 'HOME' does not exist, 'units' attempts to find your home directory from 'HOMEDRIVE', 'HOMEPATH' and 'USERPROFILE'. You can specify an arbitrary file as your personal units data file with the 'MYUNITSFILE' environment variable; if this variable exists, its value is used without searching your home directory. The default units data files are described in more detail in Data Files.

Defining New Units and Prefixes¶

A unit is specified on a single line by giving its name and an equivalence. Comments start with a '#' character, which can appear anywhere in a line. The backslash character ('\') acts as a continuation character if it appears as the last character on a line, making it possible to spread definitions out over several lines if desired. A file can be included by giving the command '!include' followed by the file's name. The '!' must be the first character on the line. The file will be sought in the same directory as the parent file unless you give a full path. The name of the file to be included cannot contain spaces or the comment character '#'.

Unit names must not contain any of the operator characters '+', '-', '*', '/', '|', '^', ';', '~', the comment character '#', or parentheses. They cannot begin or end with an underscore ('_'), a comma (',') or a decimal point ('.'). The figure dash (U+2012), typographical minus (`-'; U+2212), and en dash (`-'; U+2013) are converted to the operator '-', so none of these characters can appear in unit names. Names cannot begin with a digit, and if a name ends in a digit other than zero, the digit must be preceded by a string beginning with an underscore, and afterwards consisting only of digits, decimal points, or commas. For example, 'foo_2', 'foo_2,1', or 'foo_3.14' are valid names but 'foo2' or 'foo_a2' are invalid. You could define nitrous oxide as

N2O     nitrogen 2  + oxygen

but would need to define nitrogen dioxide as

NO_2    nitrogen + oxygen 2

Be careful to define new units in terms of old ones so that a reduction leads to the primitive units, which are marked with '!' characters. Dimensionless units are indicated by using the string '!dimensionless' for the unit definition.

When adding new units, be sure to use the '-c' option to check that the new units reduce properly. If you create a loop in the units definitions, then 'units' will hang when invoked with the '-c' option. You will need to use the '--check-verbose' option, which prints out each unit as it is checked. The program will still hang, but the last unit printed will be the unit that caused the infinite loop.

If you define any units that contain '+' characters, carefully check them because the '-c' option will not catch non-conformable sums. Be careful with the '-' operator as well. When used as a binary operator, the '-' character can perform addition or multiplication depending on the options used to invoke 'units'. To ensure consistent behavior use '-' only as a unary negation operator when writing units definitions. To multiply two units leave a space or use the '*' operator with care, recalling that it has two possible precedence values and may require parentheses to ensure consistent behavior. To compute the difference of 'foo' and 'bar' write 'foo+(-bar)' or even 'foo+-bar'.

Here is an example of a short data file that defines some basic units:

m       !               # The meter is a primitive unit
sec     !               # The second is a primitive unit
rad     !dimensionless  # A dimensionless primitive unit
micro-  1e-6            # Define a prefix
minute  60 sec          # A minute is 60 seconds
hour    60 min          # An hour is 60 minutes
inch    0.0254 m        # Inch defined in terms of meters
ft      12 inches       # The foot defined in terms of inches
mile    5280 ft         # And the mile

A unit that ends with a '-' character is a prefix. If a prefix definition contains any '/' characters, be sure they are protected by parentheses. If you define 'half- 1/2' then 'halfmeter' would be equivalent to '1 / (2 meter)'.

Defining Nonlinear Units¶

Some unit conversions of interest are nonlinear; for example, temperature conversions between the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales cannot be done by simply multiplying by conversion factors.

When you give a linear unit definition such as 'inch 2.54 cm' you are providing information that 'units' uses to convert values in inches into primitive units of meters. For nonlinear units, you give a functional definition that provides the same information.

Nonlinear units are represented using a functional notation. It is best to regard this notation not as a function call but as a way of adding units to a number, much the same way that writing a linear unit name after a number adds units to that number. Internally, nonlinear units are defined by a pair of functions that convert to and from linear units in the database, so that an eventual conversion to primitive units is possible.

Here is an example nonlinear unit definition:

tempF(x) units=[1;K] domain=[-459.67,) range=[0,) \


            (x+(-32)) degF + stdtemp ; (tempF+(-stdtemp))/degF + 32

A nonlinear unit definition comprises a unit name, a formal parameter name, two functions, and optional specifications for units, the domain, and the range (the domain of the inverse function). The functions tell 'units' how to convert to and from the new unit. To produce valid results, the arguments of these functions need to have the correct dimensions and be within the domains for which the functions are defined.

The definition begins with the unit name followed immediately (with no spaces) by a '(' character. In the parentheses is the name of the formal parameter. Next is an optional specification of the units required by the functions in the definition. In the example above, the 'units=[1;K]' specification indicates that the 'tempF' function requires an input argument conformable with '1' (i.e., the argument is dimensionless), and that the inverse function requires an input argument conformable with 'K'. For normal nonlinear units definition, the forward function will always take a dimensionless argument; in general, the inverse function will need units that match the quantity measured by your nonlinear unit. Specifying the units enables 'units' to perform error checking on function arguments, and also to assign units to domain and range specifications, which are described later.

Next the function definitions appear. In the example above, the 'tempF' function is defined by

tempF(x) = (x+(-32)) degF + stdtemp

This gives a rule for converting 'x' in the units 'tempF' to linear units of absolute temperature, which makes it possible to convert from tempF to other units.

To enable conversions to Fahrenheit, you must give a rule for the inverse conversions. The inverse will be 'x(tempF)' and its definition appears after a ';' character. In our example, the inverse is

x(tempF) = (tempF+(-stdtemp))/degF + 32

This inverse definition takes an absolute temperature as its argument and converts it to the Fahrenheit temperature. The inverse can be omitted by leaving out the ';' character and the inverse definition, but then conversions to the unit will not be possible. If the inverse definition is omitted, the '--check' option will display a warning. It is up to you to calculate and enter the correct inverse function to obtain proper conversions; the '--check' option tests the inverse at one point and prints an error if it is not valid there, but this is not a guarantee that your inverse is correct.

With some definitions, the units may vary. For example, the definition

square(x)       x^2

can have any arbitrary units, and can also take dimensionless arguments. In such a case, you should not specify units. If a definition takes a root of its arguments, the definition is valid only for units that yield such a root. For example,

squirt(x)       sqrt(x)

is valid for a dimensionless argument, and for arguments with even powers of units.

Some definitions may not be valid for all real numbers. In such cases, 'units' can handle errors better if you specify an appropriate domain and range. You specify the domain and range as shown below:

baume(d) units=[1;g/cm^3] domain=[0,130.5] range=[1,10] \


         (145/(145-d)) g/cm^3 ; (baume+-g/cm^3) 145 / baume

In this example the domain is specified after 'domain=' with the endpoints given in brackets. In accord with mathematical convention, square brackets indicate a closed interval (one that includes its endpoints), and parentheses indicate an open interval (one that does not include its endpoints). An interval can be open or closed on one or both ends; an interval that is unbounded on either end is indicated by omitting the limit on that end. For example, a quantity to which decibel (dB) is applied may have any value greater than zero, so the range is indicated by '(0,)':

decibel(x) units=[1;1] range=(0,) 10^(x/10); 10 log(decibel)

If the domain or range is given, the second endpoint must be greater than the first.

The domain and range specifications can appear independently and in any order along with the units specification. The values for the domain and range endpoints are attached to the units given in the units specification, and if necessary, the parameter value is adjusted for comparison with the endpoints. For example, if a definition includes 'units=[1;ft]' and 'range=[3,)', the range will be taken as 3 ft to infinity. If the function is passed a parameter of '900 mm', that value will be adjusted to 2.9527559 ft, which is outside the specified range. If you omit the units specification from the previous example, 'units' can not tell whether you intend the lower endpoint to be 3 ft or 3 microfurlongs, and can not adjust the parameter value of 900 mm for comparison. Without units, numerical values other than zero or plus or minus infinity for domain or range endpoints are meaningless, and accordingly they are not allowed. If you give other values without units then the definition will be ignored and you will get an error message.

Although the units, domain, and range specifications are optional, it's best to give them when they are applicable; doing so allows 'units' to perform better error checking and give more helpful error messages. Giving the domain and range also enables the '--check' option to find a point in the domain to use for its point check of your inverse definition.

You can make synonyms for nonlinear units by providing both the forward and inverse functions; inverse functions can be obtained using the '~' operator. So to create a synonym for 'tempF' you could write

fahrenheit(x) units=[1;K] tempF(x); ~tempF(fahrenheit)

This is useful for creating a nonlinear unit definition that differs slightly from an existing definition without having to repeat the original functions. For example,

dBW(x)     units=[1;W] range=[0,) dB(x) W ;  ~dB(dBW/W) 

If you wish a synonym to refer to an existing nonlinear unit without modification, you can do so more simply by adding the synonym with appended parentheses as a new unit, with the existing nonlinear unit—without parentheses—as the definition. So to create a synonym for 'tempF' you could write

fahrenheit()  tempF

The definition must be a nonlinear unit; for example, the synonym

fahrenheit()  meter

will result in an error message when 'units' starts.

You may occasionally wish to define a function that operates on units. This can be done using a nonlinear unit definition. For example, the definition below provides conversion between radius and the area of a circle. This definition requires a length as input and produces an area as output, as indicated by the 'units=' specification. Specifying the range as the nonnegative numbers can prevent cryptic error messages.

circlearea(r) units=[m;m^2] range=[0,)   pi r^2 ; sqrt(circlearea/pi)

Defining Piecewise Linear Units¶

Sometimes you may be interested in a piecewise linear unit such as many wire gauges. Piecewise linear units can be defined by specifying conversions to linear units on a list of points. Conversion at other points will be done by linear interpolation. A partial definition of zinc gauge is

zincgauge[in] 1 0.002, 10 0.02, 15 0.04, 19 0.06, 23 0.1

In this example, 'zincgauge' is the name of the piecewise linear unit. The definition of such a unit is indicated by the embedded '[' character. After the bracket, you should indicate the units to be attached to the numbers in the table. No spaces can appear before the ']' character, so a definition like 'foo[kg meters]' is invalid; instead write 'foo[kg*meters]'. The definition of the unit consists of a list of pairs optionally separated by commas. This list defines a function for converting from the piecewise linear unit to linear units. The first item in each pair is the function argument; the second item is the value of the function at that argument (in the units specified in brackets). In this example, we define 'zincgauge' at five points. For example, we set 'zincgauge(1)' equal to '0.002 in'. Definitions like this may be more readable if written using continuation characters as

zincgauge[in] \


     1 0.002  \


    10 0.02   \


    15 0.04   \


    19 0.06   \


    23 0.1

With the preceding definition, the following conversion can be performed:

You have: zincgauge(10)
You want: in


    * 0.02


    / 50
You have: .01 inch
You want: zincgauge


    5

If you define a piecewise linear unit that is not strictly monotonic, then the inverse will not be well defined. If the inverse is requested for such a unit, 'units' will return the smallest inverse.

After adding nonlinear units definitions, you should normally run 'units --check' to check for errors. If the 'units' keyword is not given, the '--check' option checks a nonlinear unit definition using a dimensionless argument, and then checks using an arbitrary combination of units, as well as the square and cube of that combination; a warning is given if any of these tests fail. For example,

Warning: function 'squirt(x)' defined as 'sqrt(x)'


         failed for some test inputs:


         squirt(7(kg K)^1): Unit not a root


         squirt(7(kg K)^3): Unit not a root

Running 'units --check' will print a warning if a non-monotonic piecewise linear unit is encountered. For example, the relationship between ANSI coated abrasive designation and mean particle size is non-monotonic in the vicinity of 800 grit:

ansicoated[micron] \


     . . .


    600 10.55 \


    800 11.5 \


    1000 9.5 \

Running 'units --check' would give the error message

Table 'ansicoated' lacks unique inverse around entry 800

Although the inverse is not well defined in this region, it's not really an error. Viewing such error messages can be tedious, and if there are enough of them, they can distract from true errors. Error checking for nonlinear unit definitions can be suppressed by giving the 'noerror' keyword; for the examples above, this could be done as

squirt(x) noerror domain=[0,) range=[0,) sqrt(x); squirt^2
ansicoated[micron] noerror \


     . . .

Use the 'noerror' keyword with caution. The safest approach after adding a nonlinear unit definition is to run 'units --check' and confirm that there are no actual errors before adding the 'noerror' keyword.

Defining Unit List Aliases¶

Unit list aliases are treated differently from unit definitions, because they are a data entry shorthand rather than a true definition for a new unit. A unit list alias definition begins with '!unitlist' and includes the alias and the definition; for example, the aliases included in the standard units data file are

!unitlist   hms     hr;min;sec
!unitlist   time    year;day;hr;min;sec
!unitlist   dms     deg;arcmin;arcsec
!unitlist   ftin    ft;in;1|8 in
!unitlist   usvol   cup;3|4 cup;2|3 cup;1|2 cup;1|3 cup;1|4 cup;\


                    tbsp;tsp;1|2 tsp;1|4 tsp;1|8 tsp

Unit list aliases are only for unit lists, so the definition must include a ';'. Unit list aliases can never be combined with units or other unit list aliases, so the definition of 'time' shown above could not have been shortened to 'year;day;hms'.

As usual, be sure to run 'units --check' to ensure that the units listed in unit list aliases are conformable.

Format Specification¶

The format specification recognized with the '--output-format' option is a subset of that for 'printf()'. The format specification has the form '%'[flags][width]['.'precision]type; it must begin with '%', and must end with a floating-point type specifier: 'g' or 'G' to specify the number of significant digits, 'e' or 'E' for scientific notation, and 'f' for fixed-point decimal. The ISO C99 standard added the 'F' type for fixed-point decimal and the 'a' and 'A' types for hexadecimal floating point; these types are allowed with compilers that support them. Type length modifiers (e.g., 'L' to indicate a long double) are inapplicable and are not allowed.

The default format for 'units' is '%.8g'; for greater precision, you could specify '-o %.15g'. The 'g' and 'G' format types use exponential format whenever the exponent would be less than -4, so the value 0.000013 displays as '1.3e-005'. These types also use exponential notation when the exponent is greater than or equal to the precision, so with the default format, the value 5e7 displays as '50000000' and the value 5e8 displays as '5e+008'. If you prefer fixed-point display, you might specify '-o %.8f'; however, small numbers will display very few significant digits, and values less than 0.5e-8 will show nothing but zeros.

The format specification may include one or more optional flags: '+', ' ' (space), '#', '-', or '0' (the digit zero). The digit-grouping flag ''' is allowed with compilers that support it. Flags are followed by an optional value for the minimum field width, and an optional precision specification that begins with a period (e.g., '.6'). The field width includes the digits, decimal point, the exponent, thousands separators (with the digit-grouping flag), and the sign if any of these are shown.

Flags¶

The '+' flag causes the output to have a sign ('+' or '-'). The space flag ' ' is similar to the '+' flag, except that when the value is positive, it is prefixed with a space rather than a plus sign; this flag is ignored if the '+' flag is also given. The '+' or ' ' flag could be useful if conversions might include positive and negative results, and you wanted to align the decimal points in exponential notation. The '#' flag causes the output value to contain a decimal point in all cases; by default, the output contains a decimal point only if there are digits (which can be trailing zeros) to the right of the point. With the 'g' or 'G' types, the '#' flag also prevents the suppression of trailing zeros. The digit-grouping flag ''' shows a thousands separator in digits to the left of the decimal point. This can be useful when displaying large numbers in fixed-point decimal; for example, with the format '%f',

You have: mile
You want: microfurlong


        * 8000000.000000


        / 0.000000

the magnitude of the first result may not be immediately obvious without counting the digits to the left of the decimal point. If the thousands separator is the comma (','), the output with the format '%'f' might be

You have: mile
You want: microfurlong


        * 8,000,000.000000


        / 0.000000

making the magnitude readily apparent. Unfortunately, few compilers support the digit-grouping flag.

With the '-' flag, the output value is left aligned within the specified field width. If a field width greater than needed to show the output value is specified, the '0' (zero) flag causes the output value to be left padded with zeros until the specified field width is reached; for example, with the format '%011.6f',

You have: troypound
You want: grain


        * 5760.000000


        / 0000.000174

The '0' flag has no effect if the '-' (left align) flag is given.

Field Width¶

By default, the output value is left aligned and shown with the minimum width necessary for the specified (or default) precision. If a field width greater than this is specified, the value shown is right aligned, and padded on the left with enough spaces to provide the specified field width. A width specification is typically used with fixed-point decimal to have columns of numbers align at the decimal point; this arguably is less useful with 'units' than with long columnar output, but it may nonetheless assist in quickly assessing the relative magnitudes of results. For example, with the format '%12.6f',

You have: km
You want: in


        * 39370.078740


        /     0.000025
You have: km
You want: rod


        *   198.838782


        /     0.005029
You have: km
You want: furlong


        *     4.970970


        /     0.201168

Precision¶

The meaning of ``precision'' depends on the format type. With 'g' or 'G', it specifies the number of significant digits (like the '--digits' option); with 'e', 'E', 'f', or 'F', it specifies the maximum number of digits to be shown after the decimal point.

With the 'g' and 'G' format types, trailing zeros are suppressed, so the results may sometimes have fewer digits than the specified precision (as indicated above, the '#' flag causes trailing zeros to be displayed).

The default precision is 6, so '%g' is equivalent to '%.6g', and would show the output to six significant digits. Similarly, '%e' or '%f' would show the output with six digits after the decimal point.

The C 'printf()' function allows a precision of arbitrary size, whether or not all of the digits are meaningful. With most compilers, the maximum internal precision with 'units' is 15 decimal digits (or 13 hexadecimal digits). With the '--digits' option, you are limited to the maximum internal precision; with the '--output-format' option, you may specify a precision greater than this, but it may not be meaningful. In some cases, specifying excess precision can result in rounding artifacts. For example, a pound is exactly 7000 grains, but with the format '%.18g', the output might be

You have: pound
You want: grain


        * 6999.9999999999991


        / 0.00014285714285714287

With the format '%.25g' you might get the following:

You have: 1/3
You want:


        Definition: 0.333333333333333314829616256247

In this case the displayed value includes a series of digits that represent the underlying binary floating-point approximation to 1/3 but are not meaningful for the desired computation. In general, the result with excess precision is system dependent. The precision affects only the display of numbers; if a result relies on physical constants that are not known to the specified precision, the number of physically meaningful digits may be less than the number of digits shown.

See the documentation for 'printf()' for more detailed descriptions of the format specification.

The '--output-format' option is incompatible with the '--exponential' or '--digits' options; if the former is given in combination with either of the latter, the format is controlled by the last option given.

Locale¶

A locale is a subset of a user's environment that indicates the user's language and country, and some attendant preferences, such as the formatting of dates. The 'units' program attempts to determine the locale from the POSIX setlocale function; if this cannot be done, 'units' examines the environment variables 'LC_CTYPE' and 'LANG'. On POSIX systems, a locale is of the form language'_'country, where language is the two-character code from ISO 639-1 and country is the two-character code from ISO 3166-1; language is lower case and country is upper case. For example, the POSIX locale for the United Kingdom is 'en_GB'.

On systems running Microsoft Windows, the value returned by setlocale() is different from that on POSIX systems; 'units' attempts to map the Windows value to a POSIX value by means of a table in the file 'locale_map.txt' in the same directory as the other data files. The file includes entries for many combinations of language and country, and can be extended to include other combinations. The 'locale_map.txt' file comprises two tab-separated columns; each entry is of the form

Windows-locale   POSIX-locale

where POSIX-locale is as described above, and Windows-locale typically spells out both the language and country. For example, the entry for the United States is

English_United States   en_US

You can force 'units' to run in a desired locale by using the '-l' option.

In order to create unit definitions for a particular locale you begin a block of definitions in a unit datafile with '!locale' followed by a locale name. The '!' must be the first character on the line. The 'units' program reads the following definitions only if the current locale matches. You end the block of localized units with '!endlocale'. Here is an example, which defines the British gallon.

!locale en_GB
gallon       4.54609 liter
!endlocale

Additional Localization¶

Sometimes the locale isn't sufficient to determine unit preferences. There could be regional preferences, or a company could have specific preferences. Though probably uncommon, such differences could arise with the choice of English customary units outside of English-speaking countries. To address this, 'units' allows specifying definitions that depend on environment variable settings. The environment variables can be controled based on the current locale, or the user can set them to force a particular group of definitions.

A conditional block of definitions in a units data file begins with either '!var' or '!varnot' following by an environment variable name and then a space separated list of values. The leading '!' must appear in the first column of a units data file, and the conditional block is terminated by '!endvar'. Definitions in blocks beginning with '!var' are executed only if the environment variable is exactly equal to one of the listed values. Definitions in blocks beginning with '!varnot' are executed only if the environment variable does not equal any of the list values.

The inch has long been a customary measure of length in many places. The word comes from the latin uncia meaning ``one twelfth,'' referring to its relationship with the foot. By the 20th century, the inch was officially defined in English-speaking countries relative to the yard, but until 1959, the yard differed slightly among those countries. In France the customary inch, which was displaced in 1799 by the meter, had a different length based on a french foot. These customary definitions could be accommodated as follows:

!var INCH_UNIT usa
yard          3600|3937 m
!endvar
!var INCH_UNIT canada
yard          0.9144 meter
!endvar
!var INCH_UNIT uk
yard          0.91439841 meter
!endvar
!var INCH_UNIT canada uk usa
foot          1|3 yard
inch          1|12 foot
!endvar
!var INCH_UNIT france
foot          144|443.296 m
inch          1|12 foot
line          1|12 inch
!endvar
!varnot INCH_UNIT usa uk france canada
!message Unknown value for INCH_UNIT
!endvar

When 'units' reads the above definitions it will check the environment variable 'INCH_UNIT' and load only the definitions for the appropriate section. If 'INCH_UNIT' is unset or is not set to one of the four values listed then 'units' will run the last block. In this case that block uses the '!message' command to display a warning message. Alternatively that block could set default values.

In order to create default values that are overridden by user settings the data file can use the '!set' command, which sets an environment variable only if it is not already set; these settings are only for the current 'units' invocation and do not persist. So if the example above were preceded by '!set INCH_UNIT france' then this would make 'france' the default value for 'INCH_UNIT'. If the user had set the variable in the environment before invoking 'units', then 'units' would use the user's value.

To link these settings to the user's locale you combine the '!set' command with the '!locale' command. If you wanted to combine the above example with suitable locales you could do by preceding the above definition with the following:

!locale en_US
!set INCH_UNIT usa
!endlocale
!locale en_GB
!set INCH_UNIT uk
!endlocale
!locale en_CA
!set INCH_UNIT canada
!endlocale
!locale fr_FR
!set INCH_UNIT france
!endlocale
!set INCH_UNIT france

These definitions set the overall default for 'INCH_UNIT' to 'france' and set default values for four locales appropriately. The overall default setting comes last so that it only applies when 'INCH_UNIT' was not set by one of the other commands or by the user.

If the variable given after '!var' or '!varnot' is undefined then 'units' prints an error message and ignores the definitions that follow. Use '!set' to create defaults to prevent this situation from arising. The '-c' option only checks the definitions that are active for the current environment and locale, so when adding new definitions take care to check that all cases give rise to a well defined set of definitions.