Spice3f5

Interactive interpreter

Expressions, control structures, variables and every command.

Spice3f5 consists of a simulator and a front end for data analysis and plotting. The front end reads circuits, runs analyses, and plots and processes the results. It can also load the "raw" data files written by a batch run (spice -b -r) or by the write command, using the load command; the data can then be plotted and analysed just like the results of a simulation run in the session. Note that the raw output file is different from the data that Spice2 writes to the standard output, which may also be produced by Spice3f5 with the "-b" command line option.

When run interactively, Spice3f5 opens its Qt window: an editor for circuit files, a command line with the output log, and chart windows for plots. See the Qt front end for details.

Command synopsis

spice [ -b ] [ -s ] [ -i ] [ -q ] [ -n ] [ -o outfile ] [ -r rawfile ] [ input file ... ]

Options are:

-n (or -N)
Don't try to source the file ".spiceinit" upon startup. Normally Spice3f5 tries to find the file in the current directory, and if it is not found then in the user's home directory.
-b (or -B)
Run in batch mode, without the Qt window. Spice3f5 reads the given input file (or the standard input) and performs the analyses specified; output is either Spice2-like line-printer plots ("ascii plots") or a spice rawfile. See the following section for details.
-s (or -S)
Run in server mode. This is like batch mode, except that a temporary rawfile is used and then written to the standard output, preceded by a line with a single "@", after the simulation is done.
-i (or -I)
Run in interactive mode. This is the default.
-q (or -Q)
Turn off command completion.
-o outfile (or -O outfile)
Write the standard output to outfile.
-r rawfile (or -R rawfile)
Use rawfile as the default file into which the results of the simulation are saved. In batch mode, the results are written to this file instead of being printed.

Further arguments are taken to be Spice3f5 input files. When running interactively they are opened in the editor (several files are joined into one); in batch mode they are read and run immediately. Spice3f5 accepts most Spice2 input files, and outputs ascii plots, fourier analyses, and node printouts as specified in .plot, .four, and .print cards. If an out parameter is given on a .width card, the effect is the same as set width = .... Since Spice3f5 ascii plots do not use multiple ranges, however, if vectors together on a .plot card have different ranges they do not provide as much information as they would in Spice2. The output of Spice3f5 is also much less verbose than Spice2, in that the only data printed is that requested by the above cards.

Pages

Commands

Each command has its own page. The command index gives a summary of every command, including those still to be documented.