ifeffit_shell(3pm)

NAME
ifeffit - Shell Interface to IFEFFIT

SYNOPSIS
ifeffit is a shell interface to the Ifeffit XAFS Analysis System. Ifeffit commands are entered and executed as they are typed in, giving complete access to the Ifeffit library in a relatively friendly command-line program.

A sample session might look like this:

 %~>ifeffit
   Ifeffit  1.0004  Copyright (c) 2000 Matt Newville, Univ of Chicago
   Ifeffit Shell  Perl Module 1.2 (ReadLine enabled)
   reading /home/newville/.ifeffitrc ... OK
 Ifeffit> read_data(My.xmu,type=xmu)
 Ifeffit> spline(energy,xmu, rbkg = 1.0, kweight =1 )
 Ifeffit> plot(energy, xmu)
 Ifeffit> plot(energy, bkg)

DESCRIPTION
If you have the Perl module for the ReadLine library (Term::ReadLine and Term::Readkeys are both required), you can use the command-line editing features of the Gnu ReadLine library. Most importantly, this library makes the up arrow scroll through previous commands. It also gives you access to the last 300 commands typed in (stored in the file .ifeffit_hist in your home directory) in previous sessions. The command "l [number]" shows you the last "number" commands typed in.

There is also some support for command-line completion via the tab key. While typing the first word at the command-line prompt, selected ifeffit commands and shell commands will be 'tab-completed', meaning that hitting the tab key will complete as much of a partially-typed command as possible. The list of ifeffit and shell commands recognized for this purpose is customizable. After the first word has been fully typed, the tab key will complete file names in the current working directory.

e.g.:

  %~>ifeffit
    Ifeffit  1.0002  Copyright (c) 2000 Matt Newville, Univ of Chicago
    Ifeffit Shell  Perl Module 1.2 (ReadLine enabled)
    reading /home/newville/.ifeffitrc ... OK
  Ifeffit>

1.  'quit' and 'exit' will exit the program.

    'l' lists the history buffer

    '?' is an alias for help, which will display this document, or give a
         brief command summary (as in: 'help plot').

    '??' lists the known system shell commands that can be executed from
         within ifeffit. For other shell commands, use the '!' character
         to escape to the system shell.

2.  The resource file ~/.ifeffitrc (if found) is read at start-up to allow customizations. This file is read as a perl script (not as raw ifeffit commands). To allow further confusion (err, customization), you can load files of ifeffit commands at startup -- ifeffit myfile will load the file myfile at start-up, as if you typed 'load myfile' at the command-line. This loading occurs after the ~/.ifeffitrc file is read, which can provide a convenient way to override default macro definitions.

3.  Shell variables: (can be customized in ~/.ifeffitrc)

    $Escape [default = '!'] a line starting with this character is sent to the shell.

    $Prompt [default = 'Ifeffit> '] command-line prompt.

    $HOME [default from Environment Variable] users home directory.

4.  A useful procedure for developing and testing ifeffit scripts is

        ifeffit> ! emacs script &
                  -- add ifeffit code to script and save the file
        ifeffit> load script

CUSTOMIZATION
A typical ~/.ifeffitrc file might look like this:

   #
   # start-up perl for shiffit
     push @shell_commands, qw(emacs grep gunzip diff);
   #
   # pre-load some common ifeffit macros
     ifeffit("load $HOME/.ifeffit_macros ");

This file is "require'd" by ifeffit. The "push" line, adds a few more commands to the default list of shell commands. The "ifeffit" line loads a bunch of pre-defined ifeffit macros.

AUTHOR
Matthew Newville -- newville@cars.uchicago.edu

SEE ALSO
Term::Readline perl module to use the GNU Readline library to improve reading the command-line and enabling history mechanism. This module is available from Comprehensive Perl Archive Network.

Ifeffit.pm perl module to use the Ifeffit XAFS Analysis library from within perl. Several applications distributed as part of the Ifeffit Analysis System, including this program, requires this Ifeffit perl module,

Ifeffit Reference Manual main reference for the commands of the Ifeffit XAFS Analysis system.