UNITS(1)

NAME

units − conversion program

SYNOPSIS

units [ file ]

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
∗ 2.54
/ 0.393701

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
∗ 1.02069
/ .97973

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

The 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, etc.

The complete list of units can be found in /lib/units. A file argument to units specifies a file to be used instead of /lib/units.

FILES

/lib/units

BUGS

Since units does only multiplicative scale changes, it can convert Kelvin to Rankine but not Centigrade to Fahrenheit.
Currency conversions are only as accurate as the last time someone updated /lib/units.