The spice program

The circuit simulator, with its Qt front end.

Synopsis

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

Run without -b or -s, Spice3f5 opens its Qt window, with the input files (if any) loaded into the editor. See the Qt front end and the interactive interpreter. With -b it runs without a window: it reads the input files, or the standard input, runs the analyses they specify and exits.

Options

-b (or -B): Batch mode: run the input without the Qt window. Output is either Spice2-like line-printer plots and printouts, as requested by .plot, .print and .four cards, or, with -r, a rawfile. If the input's .control block runs the circuit (with run, op, tran and so on), the analyses aren't run again afterwards: the results the block made are used for the .print, .plot and .four output, or written to the rawfile.
-s (or -S): Server mode: 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): Interactive mode. This is the default.
-q (or -Q): Turn off command completion.
-n (or -N): Don't read the .spiceinit file at startup.
-o outfile (or -O): Write the standard output to outfile.
-r rawfile (or -R): Use rawfile as the default rawfile. In batch mode, the results are written to it instead of being printed; see the rawfile format.

The -t term option, which named a graphics terminal, is still accepted but has no effect.

Files

lib/scripts/spinit: Commands run at startup, before .spiceinit.
.spiceinit: Commands run at startup, from the current directory or, if there is none there, from your home directory. Its first line is not treated as a title. It is read in batch mode too, before the input, but not in server mode. -n skips it.
lib/news: A message printed at startup, if the file exists.
lib/helpdir/spice.txt, spice.idx: The text of the help command, and its index.
rawspice.raw: The default rawfile, unless -r or the rawfile variable gives another.

Here lib is the library directory: the one set when Spice3f5 is built, or SPICE_LIB_DIR. When running Spice3f5 from its build directory, set SPICE_LIB_DIR to the lib directory of the source tree.

Environment variables

SPICE_LIB_DIR: The library directory, holding scripts, helpdir and news.
SPICE_EXEC_DIR: The directory holding the programs.
SPICE_SCRIPTS: The directory of startup scripts (default lib/scripts). It is also where the source command looks for files.
SPICE_HELP_DIR: The directory of the help text (default lib/helpdir).
SPICE_NEWS: The file printed at startup (default lib/news).
SPICE_EDITOR: The editor for the edit command, unless the editor variable is set.
SPICE_ASCIIRAWFILE: Whether rawfiles are written in ASCII rather than binary by default. The filetype variable overrides it.
SPICE_PATH: The program run by the aspice command (default spice3 in SPICE_EXEC_DIR).
SPICE_HOST: The default host for the rspice command.
SPICE_BUGADDR: The address the bug command reports to.