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ORPIE(1)		a console-based	RPN calculator		      ORPIE(1)

NAME
       orpie  is  a  console-based  RPN	 calculator with an interactive	visual
       stack.

SYNOPSIS
       orpie

QUICK START
       CAUTION:	while this manpage should be suitable as a quick reference, it
       may be subject to miscellaneous shortcomings in typesetting. The	defin-
       itive documentation is the user manual provided with Orpie in PDF  for-
       mat.

       This  section  describes	how to use Orpie in its	default	configuration.
       After familiarizing yourself with the basic operations as  outlined  in
       this section, you may wish to consult the orpierc(5) manpage to see how
       Orpie can be configured to better fit your needs.

   OVERVIEW
       The  interface  has two panels. The left	panel combines status informa-
       tion with context-sensitive help; the right panel represents the	calcu-
       lator's stack. (Note that the left panel	will be	hidden if Orpie	is run
       in a terminal with less than 80 columns.)

       In general, you perform calculations by first entering data on  to  the
       stack,  then  executing functions that operate on the stack data. As an
       example,	you can	hit 1<enter>2<enter>+ in order to add 1	and 2.

   ENTERING REAL NUMBERS
       To enter	a real number, just type the desired digits and	hit enter. The
       space bar will begin entry of a scientific notation exponent.  The  'n'
       key is used for negation. Here are some examples:

   ENTERING COMPLEX NUMBERS
       Orpie  can  represent complex numbers using either cartesian (rectangu-
       lar) or polar coordinates. See PERFORMING BASIC COMMAND	OPERATIONS  to
       see how to change the complex number display mode.

       A  complex  number  is entered by first pressing	'(', then entering the
       real part, then pressing	',' followed by	the imaginary  part.  Alterna-
       tively,	you can	press '(' followed by the magnitude, then '<' followed
       by the phase angle. The angle will be interpreted in degrees  or	 radi-
       ans, depending on the current setting of	the angle mode (see PERFORMING
       BASIC COMMAND OPERATIONS).  Examples:

   ENTERING MATRICES
       You  can	enter matrices by pressing '['.	The elements of	the matrix may
       then be entered as described in the previous sections,  and  should  be
       separated using ','. To start a new row of the matrix, press '['	again.
       On  the stack, each row of the matrix is	enclosed in a set of brackets;
       for example, the	matrix

       would appear on the stack as [[1, 2][3, 4]].

       Examples	of matrix entry:

   ENTERING DATA WITH UNITS
       Real and	complex	scalars	and matrices can optionally  be	 labeled  with
       units.  After typing in the numeric portion of the data,	press '_' fol-
       lowed by	a units	string.	The format of units strings  is	 described  in
       the UNITS FORMATTING section.

       Examples	of entering dimensioned	data:

   ENTERING EXACT INTEGERS
       An exact	integer	may be entered by pressing '#' followed	by the desired
       digits.	The  base of the integer will be assumed to be the same	as the
       current calculator base mode (see PERFORMING BASIC  COMMAND  OPERATIONS
       to  see	how to set this	mode).	Alternatively, the desired base	may be
       specified by pressing space and appending one of	{b, o, d, h}, to  rep-
       resent  binary,	octal,	decimal,  or hexadecimal, respectively.	On the
       stack, the representation of the	integer	will be	changed	to  match  the
       current base mode. Examples:

       Note  that  exact  integers  may	 have  unlimited length, and the basic
       arithmetic operations (addition,	subtraction, multiplication, division)
       will be performed using exact arithmetic	when both arguments are	 inte-
       gers.

   ENTERING VARIABLE NAMES
       A  variable name	may be entered by pressing '@' followed	by the desired
       variable	name string. The string	may contain  alphanumeric  characters,
       dashes, and underscores.	Example:

       Orpie  also  supports  autocompletion of	variable names.	The help panel
       displays	a list of pre-existing variables that partially	match the name
       currently being entered.	 You can press '<tab>' to iterate through  the
       list of matching	variables.

       As  a shortcut, keys <f1>-<f4> will enter the variables (``registers'')
       @ r01 through @ r04.

   ENTERING PHYSICAL CONSTANTS
       Orpie includes definitions for a	number of  fundamental	physical  con-
       stants.	To enter a constant, press 'C',	followed by the	first few let-
       ters/digits of the constant's symbol, then hit enter. Orpie  offers  an
       autocompletion feature for physical constants, so you only need to type
       enough of the constant to identify it uniquely. A list of matching con-
       stants  will  appear in the left	panel of the display, to assist	you in
       finding the desired choice.

       The following is	a list of Orpie's physical constant symbols:

       All physical constants are defined in the Orpie run-configuration file;
       consult the orpierc(5) manpage if you wish to define your own constants
       or change the existing definitions.

   ENTERING DATA WITH AN EXTERNAL EDITOR
       Orpie can also parse input entered via an external editor. You may find
       this to be a convenient method for entering  large  matrices.  Pressing
       'E'  will launch	the external editor, and the various data types	may be
       entered as illustrated by the examples below:

       Real and	complex	numbers	and matrices may have units appended; just add
       a units string such as ``_N*m/s''  immediately  following  the  numeric
       portion of the expression.

       Notice that the complex matrix input parser is quite flexible; real and
       complex	matrix	elements may be	mixed, and cartesian and polar complex
       formats may be mixed as well.

       Multiple	stack entries may be specified in the same file, if  they  are
       separated by whitespace.	For example, entering (1, 2) 1.5 into the edi-
       tor will	cause the complex value	(1, 2) to be placed on the stack, fol-
       lowed by	the real value 1.5.

       The  input  parser will discard whitespace where	possible, so feel free
       to add any form of whitespace between  matrix  rows,  matrix  elements,
       real and	complex	components, etc.

   EXECUTING BASIC FUNCTION OPERATIONS
       Once  some data has been	entered	on the stack, you can apply operations
       to that data. For example, '+' will add the last	two  elements  on  the
       stack.  By  default,  the following keys	have been bound	to such	opera-
       tions:

       As a shortcut, function operators will  automatically  enter  any  data
       that  you  were	in the process of entering. So instead of the sequence
       2<enter>2<enter>+, you could type simply	2<enter>2+ and the second num-
       ber would be entered before the addition	operation is applied.

       As an additional	shortcut, any variable names used  as  function	 argu-
       ments  will  be	evaluated before application of	the function. In other
       words, it is not	necessary  to  evaluate	 variables  before  performing
       arithmetic operations on	them.

   EXECUTING FUNCTION ABBREVIATIONS
       One could bind nearly all calculator operations to specific keypresses,
       but  this  would	rapidly	get confusing since the	PC keyboard is not la-
       beled as	nicely as a calculator keyboard	is. For	this reason, Orpie in-
       cludes an abbreviation syntax.

       To activate an abbreviation, press ''' (quote  key),  followed  by  the
       first few letters/digits	of the abbreviation, then hit enter. Orpie of-
       fers  an	 autocompletion	feature	for abbreviations, so you only need to
       type enough of the operation to identify	it uniquely. The matching  ab-
       breviations will	appear in the left panel of the	display, to assist you
       in finding the appropriate operation.

       To  avoid  interface  conflicts,	abbreviations may be entered only when
       the entry buffer	(the bottom line of the	screen)	is empty.

       The following functions are available as	abbreviations:

       Entering	abbreviations can become tedious  when	performing  repetitive
       calculations.   To  save	some keystrokes, Orpie will automatically bind
       recently-used operations	with no	prexisting binding to keys <f5>-<f12>.
       The current autobindings	can be viewed by pressing 'h' to cycle between
       the various pages of the	help panel.

   EXECUTING BASIC COMMAND OPERATIONS
       In addition to the function operations listed in	the section  EXECUTING
       BASIC  FUNCTION	OPERATIONS, a number of	basic calculator commands have
       been bound to single keypresses:

   EXECUTING COMMAND ABBREVIATIONS
       In addition to the function operations listed in	the section  EXECUTING
       FUNCTION	ABBREVIATIONS, there are a large number	of calculator commands
       that have been implemented using	the abbreviation syntax:

   BROWSING THE	STACK
       Orpie  offers a stack browsing mode to assist in	viewing	and manipulat-
       ing stack data. Press <up> to enter stack browsing  mode;  this	should
       highlight  the  last  stack  element. You can use the up	and down arrow
       keys to select different	stack elements.	The following keys are	useful
       in stack	browsing mode:

       The  left  and right scrolling option may prove useful for viewing very
       lengthy stack entries, such as large matrices. The edit option provides
       a convenient way	to correct data	after  it  has	been  entered  on  the
       stack.

   UNITS FORMATTING
       A  units	 string	is a list of units separated by	'*' to indicate	multi-
       plication and  '/'  to  indicate	 division.  Units  may	be  raised  to
       real-valued  powers  using  the	'^'character. A	contrived example of a
       valid unit string would be "N*nm^2*kg/s/in^-3*GHz^2.34".

       Orpie supports the standard SI prefix set, {y, z, a, f, p, n, u,	m,  c,
       d,  da,	h,  k,	M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y} (note the use of 'u' for micro-).
       These prefixes may be applied to	any of the following  exhaustive  sets
       of units:

       Note:  No,  Celsius and Fahrenheit will not be supported. Because these
       temperature units do not	share a	common zero point, their  behavior  is
       ill-defined under many operations.

       Note:  Although	the  lumen is defined by 1_lm =	1_cd * sr, Orpie drops
       the steridian because it	is a dimensionless unit	and  therefore	is  of
       questionable use	to a calculator.

       All  units are defined in the Orpie run-configuration file; consult the
       orpierc(5) manpage if you wish to define	your own units or  change  the
       existing	definitions.

LICENSING
       Orpie  is Free Software;	you can	redistribute it	and/or modify it under
       the terms of the	GNU General Public License (GPL), Version 3,  as  pub-
       lished by the Free Software Foundation. You should have received	a copy
       of the GPL along	with this program, in the file ``LICENSE.md''.

CONTACT	INFO
       Orpie author: Paul Pelzl	<pelzlpj@gmail.com>
       Orpie website: https://github.com/pelzlpj/orpie

SEE ALSO
       orpierc(5), orpie-curses-keys(1)

a console-based	RPN calculator	28 August 2018			      ORPIE(1)

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