• Different execution modes of Scilab

Different execution modes of Scilab

Scilab is available in three modes.

GUI

It is the standard Scilab GUI.

Launch:

scilab

NW / Advanced Command Line Interpretor

Scilab is launched as a command line interpertor and provides all standard features. Launch:

scilab -nw

Since Scilab 5.2, it is possible to call this mode directly with

scilab-adv-cli

NWNI / Command Line Interpretor

Scilab is launched as a command line interpretor but only the computing engine of Scilab remains available. Launch:

scilab -nwni

Please note that, in this mode, the Java Virtual Machine and the Tcl/Tk libraries won't be loaded.

Since Scilab 5.2, it is possible to call this mode directory with

scilab-cli

Scripting capabilities

Pipe

It is possible to call Scilab as a processing engine through the classical pipes:

 echo "disp(%pi)"|scilab-adv-cli
 echo "disp(%pi)"|scilab-cli
 echo "disp(%pi)"|scilab -nw
 echo "disp(%pi)"|scilab -nwni

Arguments

Some arguments are available in the Scilab binary:

• -e: Provide a Scilab expression (note that Scilab won't exit itself)

scilab-cli  -e "disp(%pi); exit;" -nb

• -f: Provide a Scilab script file

scilab-adv-cli  -f myCustomScript.sci -nb

Arguments + pipe

Even when Scilab is used through a pipe, it is possible to use the arguments. Arguments are processed first.

echo "disp(%pi*2)"|./bin/scilab-cli  -e "disp(%pi)"

As a computing engine

Scilab library can be called from C/C++ or other languages (Java, .net, Fortran).
C/C++
Java

More information

See SEP #18.

List of unavailable features in NWNI/scilab cli mode