UNITS(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System UNITS(1)
NAME
units - conversion program
SYNOPSIS
units
DESCRIPTION
The units command 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
* 2.540000e+00
/ 3.937008e-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 lbs force/in2
You want: atm
* 1.020689e+00
/ 9.797299e-01
The units command does only multiplicative scale changes;
thus it can convert Kelvin to Rankine, but not Celsius to
Fahrenheit. Most familiar units, abbreviations, and metric
prefixes are recognized, together with a generous leavening
of exotica and a few constants of nature including:
pi ratio of circumference to diameter,
c speed of light,
e charge on an electron,
g acceleration of gravity,
force same as g,
mole Avogadro's number,
water pressure head per unit height of water,
au astronomical unit.
Pound is not recognized as a unit of mass; lb is. Compound
names are run together, (e.g., lightyear). British units
that differ from their U.S. counterparts are prefixed thus:
brgallon. For a complete list of units, type:
cat /usr/lib/unittab
FILES
/usr/lib/unittab
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