CaS command-line reference

CaS is a originally a transfer and conversion program made by Tom Wheeley and Tom Lynn in 1997. It systematically operates the following way:

• It reads data from an input, which is either a file or a calculator connected using a serial port.

• It applies conversions “before” listing.

• If listing is enabled by using option -l, it lists data using the provided formatting flags.

• It applies conversions “after” listing.

• If output is enabled by using option -o, tt writes data to an output, which is either a file or a calculator connected using a serial port.

The syntax of the command is the following:

CaS [options...] <input file or device name>

The command-line parsing in CaS is different from other utilities, in:

• Short options do not combine within the same single dash argument component, i.e. -HV will ignore the V.

• Both short and long options take an attribute, a parameter, or both at the same time. The attribute can be set using one of the following syntaxes:

  -o<attribute>
  -o=<attribute>
  -o:<attribute>
  --long-option=<attribute>
  --long-option:<attribute>
  

  While the option parameter must be passed in the next argument in the array, i.e.:

  -o <parameter>
  --long-option <parameter>
  

  Both can be combined with CaS, e.g. you can have the following:

  -o<attribute> <parameter>
  -o:<attribute> <parameter>
  --long-option:<attribute> <parameter>
  

  For convenience, attributes will be present below with the -o=<attribute> and --option=<attribute> formats.

Default options are defined in the casrc file; see casrc configuration file for more information.

General options are the following:

-h, -?

Long form: --help

Display the help message and exit.

-V

Long form: --version

Display the version message and exit.

-v

Long form: --verbose

Whether to display the CaS banner or not before doing anythng else.

-d[=<file>]

Long form: -debug[=<file>]

Whether to display debug information.

By default, this information is printed on standard error, but it can also be placed in a file (truncating it first).

Pipeline-related options are the following:

-i=[<format>,]<args>

Long forms: --input=[<format>,]<args>, --infile=[<format>,]<args>

Input type and additional components to apply to the in setting, before merging it to the in.<format> queue.

Setting this option clears the in setting before defining it.

See Component format and Available settings and properties for more information.

If no format setting is provided, the format of the source file or device will be automatically detected if possible.

-c=<conversion>

Long form: --convert=<conversion>

Conversions to apply before listing, of the form <source type>-<destination type>.

-l[=<format>]

Long forms: --list[=<format>], --display[=<format>]

Additional components to apply to the list setting, before merging it to the list queue.

Setting this option enables listing in the command execution.

See Component format and Available settings and properties for more information.

-t

Long form: --terse

Whether to display the types of the files in the input, even if listing is disabled.

-C=<conversion>

Long form: --convert-after=<conversion>

Conversions to apply after listing, of the form <source type>-<destination type>.

-o[=[<format>,]<args>] <file or device name>

Long forms: --output[=[<format>,]<args>] <file or device name>, --outfile[=[<format>,]<args>] <file or device name>

Output type and additional components to apply to the out setting, before merging it to the out.<format> queue.

Setting this option has the following effects:

• It clears the out setting before defining it.

• It enables output in the command execution.

See Component format and Available settings and properties for more information.

Other options are the following:

-e

Long form: --castle

(deprecated) Communicate with the Castle IDE to format the input and, if enabled, the output.

-p

Long form: --pager

Whether to use a pager.

-m=<model>

Long form: --model=<model>

Calculator model with which to interact, as properties to apply to the model setting as a list of components.

Setting this option clears the model setting before defining it.

See Component format and model – Calculator model for more information.