GF Logo

The GF Software System

The GF software system implements the GF programming language. Its components are

This page describes the commands of the GF shell, as well as the use of the compiler in batch mode.

The GF shell

The GF shell is invoked by the command gf, which takes arguments and options according to the following syntax:

    gf (OPTION | FLAG)* FILE*

The shell maintains a state, to which belong

Unless file arguments are provided to the gf command, the shell starts in an empty state, with no grammars and no history.

In the shell, a set of commands is available. Some of these commands may change the grammars in the state. The general syntax of commands is given by the following BNF grammar:

    COMMAND_LINE ::= COMMAND_PIPE
    COMMAND_LINE ::= COMMAND_PIPE ";" COMMAND_LINE
    COMMAND_PIPE ::= COMMAND
    COMMAND_PIPE ::= COMMAND "|" COMMAND_PIPE
    COMMAND      ::= COMMAND_ID (OPTION | FLAG)* ARGUMENT?
    OPTION       ::= "-"OPTION_ID
    FLAG         ::= "-"OPTION_ID "=" VALUE
    ARGUMENT     ::= QUOTED_STRING | TREE
    VALUE        ::= IDENT | QUOTED_STRING

A command pipe is a sequence of commands interpreted in such a way that the output of each command is send as input to the next. The option -tr causes GF to show a trace, i.e. the intermediate result of the command to which it is attached.

A command line is a sequence of pipes separated by ;. These pipes are executed one by one, in the order of appearance.

GF shell commands

The full set of GF shell commands is listed below with explanations. This list can also be obtained in the GF shell by the command help -full.

!

!: system command: escape to system shell.

! ls *.gf list all GF files in the working directory

?

?: system pipe: send value from previous command to a system command.

gt | l | ? wc generate, linearize, word-count

ai = abstract_info

ai = abstract_info: Provides an information about a function, an expression or a category from the abstract syntax.

The command has one argument which is either function, expression or a category defined in the abstract syntax of the current grammar. If the argument is a function then ?its type is printed out. If it is a category then the category definition is printed. If a whole expression is given it prints the expression with refined metavariables and the type of the expression.

aw = align_words

aw = align_words: show word alignments between languages graphically.

Prints a set of strings in the .dot format (the graphviz format). The graph can be saved in a file by the wf command as usual. If the -view flag is defined, the graph is saved in a temporary file which is processed by 'dot' (graphviz) and displayed by the program indicated by the view flag. The target format is png, unless overridden by the flag -format. Results from multiple trees are combined to pdf with convert (ImageMagick).

-giza show alignments in the Giza format; the first two languages
-format format of the visualization file (default "png")
-lang alignments for this list of languages (default: all)
-view program to open the resulting file
gr | aw generate a tree and show word alignment as graph script
gr | aw -view="open" generate a tree and display alignment on Mac
gr | aw -view="eog" generate a tree and display alignment on Ubuntu
gt | aw -giza | wf -file=aligns generate trees, send giza alignments to file

ca = clitic_analyse

ca = clitic_analyse: print the analyses of all words into stems and clitics.

Analyses all words into all possible combinations of stem + clitics. The analysis is returned in the format stem &+ clitic1 &+ clitic2 ... which is hence the inverse of 'pt -bind'. The list of clitics is give by the flag '-clitics'. The list of stems is given as the list of words of the language given by the '-lang' flag.

-raw analyse each word separately (not suitable input for parser)
-clitics the list of possible clitics (comma-separated, no spaces)
-lang the language of analysis
ca -lang=Fin -clitics=ko,ni "nukkuuko minun vaimoni" | p to parse Finnish

cc = compute_concrete

cc = compute_concrete: computes concrete syntax term using a source grammar.

Compute TERM by concrete syntax definitions. Uses the topmost module (the last one imported) to resolve constant names. N.B.1 You need the flag -retain when importing the grammar, if you want the definitions to be retained after compilation. N.B.2 The resulting term is not a tree in the sense of abstract syntax and hence not a valid input to a Tree-expecting command. This command must be a line of its own, and thus cannot be a part of a pipe.

-all pick all strings (forms and variants) from records and tables
-list all strings, comma-separated on one line
-one pick the first strings, if there is any, from records and tables
-table show all strings labelled by parameters
-unqual hide qualifying module names
-trace trace computations

dc = define_command

dc = define_command: define a command macro.

Defines IDENT as macro for COMMANDLINE, until IDENT gets redefined. A call of the command has the form %IDENT. The command may take an argument, which in COMMANDLINE is marked as ?0. Both strings and trees can be arguments. Currently at most one argument is possible. This command must be a line of its own, and thus cannot be a part of a pipe.

dg = dependency_graph

dg = dependency_graph: print module dependency graph.

Prints the dependency graph of source modules. Requires that import has been done with the -retain flag. The graph is written in the file _gfdepgraph.dot which can be further processed by Graphviz (the system command 'dot'). By default, all modules are shown, but the -only flag restricts them by a comma-separated list of patterns, where 'name*' matches modules whose name has prefix 'name', and other patterns match modules with exactly the same name. The graphical conventions are: solid box = abstract, solid ellipse = concrete, dashed ellipse = other solid arrow empty head = of, solid arrow = **, dashed arrow = open dotted arrow = other dependency

-only list of modules included (default: all), literally or by prefix*
dg -only=SyntaxEng,Food* shows only SyntaxEng, and those with prefix Food

dt = define_tree

dt = define_tree: define a tree or string macro.

Defines IDENT as macro for TREE or STRING, until IDENT gets redefined. The defining value can also come from a command, preceded by "<". If the command gives many values, the first one is selected. A use of the macro has the form %IDENT. Currently this use cannot be a subtree of another tree. This command must be a line of its own and thus cannot be a part of a pipe.

dt ex "hello world" define ex as string
dt ex UseN man_N define ex as string
dt ex < p -cat=NP "the man in the car" define ex as parse result
l -lang=LangSwe %ex | ps -to_utf8 linearize the tree ex

e = empty

e = empty: empty the environment (except the command history).

eb = example_based

eb = example_based: converts .gfe files to .gf files by parsing examples to trees.

Reads FILE.gfe and writes FILE.gf. Each expression of form '%ex CAT QUOTEDSTRING' in FILE.gfe is replaced by a syntax tree. This tree is the first one returned by the parser; a biased ranking can be used to regulate the order. If there are more than one parses the rest are shown in comments, with probabilities if the order is biased. The probabilities flag and configuration file is similar to the commands gr and rt. Notice that the command doesn't change the environment, but the resulting .gf file must be imported separately.

-api convert trees to overloaded API expressions (using Syntax not Lang)
-file the file to be converted (suffix .gfe must be given)
-lang the language in which to parse
-probs file with probabilities to rank the parses

eh = execute_history

eh = execute_history: read commands from a file and execute them.

gr = generate_random

gr = generate_random: generate random trees in the current abstract syntax.

Generates a list of random trees, by default one tree. If a tree argument is given, the command completes the Tree with values to all metavariables in the tree. The generation can be biased by probabilities, given in a file in the -probs flag.

-cat generation category
-lang uses only functions that have linearizations in all these languages
-number number of trees generated
-depth the maximum generation depth
-probs file with biased probabilities (format 'f 0.4' one by line)
gr one tree in the startcat of the current grammar
gr -cat=NP -number=16 16 trees in the category NP
gr -lang=LangHin,LangTha -cat=Cl Cl, both in LangHin and LangTha
gr -probs=FILE generate with bias
gr (AdjCN ? (UseN ?)) generate trees of form (AdjCN ? (UseN ?))

gt = generate_trees

gt = generate_trees: generates a list of trees, by default exhaustive.

Generates all trees of a given category. By default, the depth is limited to 4, but this can be changed by a flag. If a Tree argument is given, the command completes the Tree with values to all metavariables in the tree.

-cat the generation category
-depth the maximum generation depth
-lang excludes functions that have no linearization in this language
-number the number of trees generated
gt all trees in the startcat, to depth 4
gt -cat=NP -number=16 16 trees in the category NP
gt -cat=NP -depth=2 trees in the category NP to depth 2
gt (AdjCN ? (UseN ?)) trees of form (AdjCN ? (UseN ?))

h = help

h = help: get description of a command, or a the full list of commands.

Displays information concerning the COMMAND. Without argument, shows the synopsis of all commands.

-changes give a summary of changes from GF 2.9
-coding give advice on character encoding
-full give full information of the commands
-license show copyright and license information
-t2t output help in txt2tags format

i = import

i = import: import a grammar from source code or compiled .pgf file.

Reads a grammar from File and compiles it into a GF runtime grammar. If its abstract is different from current state, old modules are discarded. If its abstract is the same and a concrete with the same name is already in the state it is overwritten - but only if compilation succeeds. The grammar parser depends on the file name suffix: .cf context-free (labelled BNF) source .ebnf extended BNF source .gfm multi-module GF source .gf normal GF source .gfo compiled GF source .pgf precompiled grammar in Portable Grammar Format

-retain retain operations (used for cc command)
-src force compilation from source
-v be verbose - show intermediate status information
-probs file with biased probabilities for generation

l = linearize

l = linearize: convert an abstract syntax expression to string.

Shows the linearization of a Tree by the grammars in scope. The -lang flag can be used to restrict this to fewer languages. A sequence of string operations (see command ps) can be given as options, and works then like a pipe to the ps command, except that it only affect the strings, not e.g. the table labels. These can be given separately to each language with the unlexer flag whose results are prepended to the other lexer flags. The value of the unlexer flag is a space-separated list of comma-separated string operation sequences; see example.

-all show all forms and variants, one by line (cf. l -list)
-bracket show tree structure with brackets and paths to nodes
-groups all languages, grouped by lang, remove duplicate strings
-list show all forms and variants, comma-separated on one line (cf. l -all)
-multi linearize to all languages (default)
-table show all forms labelled by parameters
-tabtreebank show the tree and its linearizations on a tab-separated line
-treebank show the tree and tag linearizations with language names
-bind bind tokens separated by Prelude.BIND, i.e. &+
-chars lexer that makes every non-space character a token
-from_amharic from unicode to GF Amharic transliteration
-from_ancientgreek from unicode to GF ancient Greek transliteration
-from_arabic from unicode to GF Arabic transliteration
-from_arabic_unvocalized from unicode to GF unvocalized Arabic transliteration
-from_cp1251 decode from cp1251 (Cyrillic used in Bulgarian resource)
-from_devanagari from unicode to GF Devanagari transliteration
-from_greek from unicode to GF modern Greek transliteration
-from_hebrew from unicode to GF unvocalized Hebrew transliteration
-from_nepali from unicode to GF Nepali transliteration
-from_persian from unicode to GF Persian/Farsi transliteration
-from_sanskrit from unicode to GF Sanskrit transliteration
-from_sindhi from unicode to GF Sindhi transliteration
-from_telugu from unicode to GF Telugu transliteration
-from_thai from unicode to GF Thai transliteration
-from_urdu from unicode to GF Urdu transliteration
-from_utf8 decode from utf8 (default)
-lexcode code-like lexer
-lexgreek lexer normalizing ancient Greek accentuation
-lexgreek2 lexer normalizing ancient Greek accentuation for text with vowel length annotations
-lexmixed mixture of text and code, as in LaTeX (code between $...$, \(...)\, \[...\])
-lextext text-like lexer
-to_amharic from GF Amharic transliteration to unicode
-to_ancientgreek from GF ancient Greek transliteration to unicode
-to_arabic from GF Arabic transliteration to unicode
-to_arabic_unvocalized from GF unvocalized Arabic transliteration to unicode
-to_cp1251 encode to cp1251 (Cyrillic used in Bulgarian resource)
-to_devanagari from GF Devanagari transliteration to unicode
-to_greek from GF modern Greek transliteration to unicode
-to_hebrew from GF unvocalized Hebrew transliteration to unicode
-to_html wrap in a html file with linebreaks
-to_nepali from GF Nepali transliteration to unicode
-to_persian from GF Persian/Farsi transliteration to unicode
-to_sanskrit from GF Sanskrit transliteration to unicode
-to_sindhi from GF Sindhi transliteration to unicode
-to_telugu from GF Telugu transliteration to unicode
-to_thai from GF Thai transliteration to unicode
-to_urdu from GF Urdu transliteration to unicode
-to_utf8 encode to utf8 (default)
-unchars unlexer that puts no spaces between tokens
-unlexcode code-like unlexer
-unlexgreek unlexer de-normalizing ancient Greek accentuation
-unlexmixed mixture of text and code (code between $...$, \(...)\, \[...\])
-unlextext text-like unlexer
-unwords unlexer that puts a single space between tokens (default)
-words lexer that assumes tokens separated by spaces (default)
-lang the languages of linearization (comma-separated, no spaces)
-unlexer set unlexers separately to each language (space-separated)
l -lang=LangSwe,LangNor no_Utt linearize tree to LangSwe and LangNor
gr -lang=LangHin -cat=Cl | l -table -to_devanagari hindi table
l -unlexer="LangAra=to_arabic LangHin=to_devanagari" different unlexers

lc = linearize_chunks

lc = linearize_chunks: linearize a tree that has metavariables in maximal chunks without them.

A hopefully temporary command, intended to work around the type checker that fails trees where a function node is a metavariable.

-treebank show the tree and tag linearizations with language names
-bind bind tokens separated by Prelude.BIND, i.e. &+
-chars lexer that makes every non-space character a token
-from_amharic from unicode to GF Amharic transliteration
-from_ancientgreek from unicode to GF ancient Greek transliteration
-from_arabic from unicode to GF Arabic transliteration
-from_arabic_unvocalized from unicode to GF unvocalized Arabic transliteration
-from_cp1251 decode from cp1251 (Cyrillic used in Bulgarian resource)
-from_devanagari from unicode to GF Devanagari transliteration
-from_greek from unicode to GF modern Greek transliteration
-from_hebrew from unicode to GF unvocalized Hebrew transliteration
-from_nepali from unicode to GF Nepali transliteration
-from_persian from unicode to GF Persian/Farsi transliteration
-from_sanskrit from unicode to GF Sanskrit transliteration
-from_sindhi from unicode to GF Sindhi transliteration
-from_telugu from unicode to GF Telugu transliteration
-from_thai from unicode to GF Thai transliteration
-from_urdu from unicode to GF Urdu transliteration
-from_utf8 decode from utf8 (default)
-lexcode code-like lexer
-lexgreek lexer normalizing ancient Greek accentuation
-lexgreek2 lexer normalizing ancient Greek accentuation for text with vowel length annotations
-lexmixed mixture of text and code, as in LaTeX (code between $...$, \(...)\, \[...\])
-lextext text-like lexer
-to_amharic from GF Amharic transliteration to unicode
-to_ancientgreek from GF ancient Greek transliteration to unicode
-to_arabic from GF Arabic transliteration to unicode
-to_arabic_unvocalized from GF unvocalized Arabic transliteration to unicode
-to_cp1251 encode to cp1251 (Cyrillic used in Bulgarian resource)
-to_devanagari from GF Devanagari transliteration to unicode
-to_greek from GF modern Greek transliteration to unicode
-to_hebrew from GF unvocalized Hebrew transliteration to unicode
-to_html wrap in a html file with linebreaks
-to_nepali from GF Nepali transliteration to unicode
-to_persian from GF Persian/Farsi transliteration to unicode
-to_sanskrit from GF Sanskrit transliteration to unicode
-to_sindhi from GF Sindhi transliteration to unicode
-to_telugu from GF Telugu transliteration to unicode
-to_thai from GF Thai transliteration to unicode
-to_urdu from GF Urdu transliteration to unicode
-to_utf8 encode to utf8 (default)
-unchars unlexer that puts no spaces between tokens
-unlexcode code-like unlexer
-unlexgreek unlexer de-normalizing ancient Greek accentuation
-unlexmixed mixture of text and code (code between $...$, \(...)\, \[...\])
-unlextext text-like unlexer
-unwords unlexer that puts a single space between tokens (default)
-words lexer that assumes tokens separated by spaces (default)
-lang the languages of linearization (comma-separated, no spaces)
l -lang=LangSwe,LangNor -chunks ? a b (? c d)

ma = morpho_analyse

ma = morpho_analyse: print the morphological analyses of all words in the string.

Prints all the analyses of space-separated words in the input string, using the morphological analyser of the actual grammar (see command pg)

-known return only the known words, in order of appearance
-missing show the list of unknown words, in order of appearance
-lang the languages of analysis (comma-separated, no spaces)

mq = morpho_quiz

mq = morpho_quiz: start a morphology quiz.

-lang language of the quiz
-cat category of the quiz
-number maximum number of questions
-probs file with biased probabilities for generation

p = parse

p = parse: parse a string to abstract syntax expression.

Shows all trees returned by parsing a string in the grammars in scope. The -lang flag can be used to restrict this to fewer languages. The default start category can be overridden by the -cat flag. See also the ps command for lexing and character encoding.

The -openclass flag is experimental and allows some robustness in the parser. For example if -openclass="A,N,V" is given, the parser will accept unknown adjectives, nouns and verbs with the resource grammar.

-bracket prints the bracketed string from the parser
-cat target category of parsing
-lang the languages of parsing (comma-separated, no spaces)
-openclass list of open-class categories for robust parsing
-depth maximal depth for proof search if the abstract syntax tree has meta variables

pg = print_grammar

pg = print_grammar: print the actual grammar with the given printer.

Prints the actual grammar, with all involved languages. In some printers, this can be restricted to a subset of languages with the -lang=X,Y flag (comma-separated, no spaces). The -printer=P flag sets the format in which the grammar is printed. N.B.1 Since grammars are compiled when imported, this command generally shows a grammar that looks rather different from the source. N.B.2 Another way to produce different formats is to use 'gf -make', the batch compiler. The following values are available both for the batch compiler (flag -output-format) and the print_grammar command (flag -printer):

bnf BNF (context-free grammar) ebnf Extended BNF fa finite automaton in graphviz format gsl Nuance speech recognition format haskell Haskell (abstract syntax) java Java (abstract syntax) js JavaScript (whole grammar) jsgf JSGF speech recognition format pgf_pretty human-readable pgf prolog Prolog (whole grammar) python Python (whole grammar) regexp regular expression slf SLF speech recognition format srgs_abnf SRGS speech recognition format in ABNF srgs_abnf_nonrec SRGS ABNF, recursion eliminated srgs_xml SRGS speech recognition format in XML srgs_xml_nonrec SRGS XML, recursion eliminated vxml Voice XML based on abstract syntax

-cats show just the names of abstract syntax categories
-fullform print the fullform lexicon
-funs show just the names and types of abstract syntax functions
-langs show just the names of top concrete syntax modules
-lexc print the lexicon in Xerox LEXC format
-missing show just the names of functions that have no linearization
-opt optimize the generated pgf
-pgf write current pgf image in file
-words print the list of words
-file set the file name when printing with -pgf option
-lang select languages for the some options (default all languages)
-printer select the printing format (see flag values above)
pg -funs | ? grep " S ;" show functions with value cat S

ph = print_history

ph = print_history: print command history.

Prints the commands issued during the GF session. The result is readable by the eh command. The result can be used as a script when starting GF.

ph | wf -file=foo.gfs save the history into a file

ps = put_string

ps = put_string: return a string, possibly processed with a function.

Returns a string obtained from its argument string by applying string processing functions in the order given in the command line option list. Thus 'ps -f -g s' returns g (f s). Typical string processors are lexers and unlexers, but also character encoding conversions are possible. The unlexers preserve the division of their input to lines. To see transliteration tables, use command ut.

-lines apply the operation separately to each input line, returning a list of lines
-bind bind tokens separated by Prelude.BIND, i.e. &+
-chars lexer that makes every non-space character a token
-from_amharic from unicode to GF Amharic transliteration
-from_ancientgreek from unicode to GF ancient Greek transliteration
-from_arabic from unicode to GF Arabic transliteration
-from_arabic_unvocalized from unicode to GF unvocalized Arabic transliteration
-from_cp1251 decode from cp1251 (Cyrillic used in Bulgarian resource)
-from_devanagari from unicode to GF Devanagari transliteration
-from_greek from unicode to GF modern Greek transliteration
-from_hebrew from unicode to GF unvocalized Hebrew transliteration
-from_nepali from unicode to GF Nepali transliteration
-from_persian from unicode to GF Persian/Farsi transliteration
-from_sanskrit from unicode to GF Sanskrit transliteration
-from_sindhi from unicode to GF Sindhi transliteration
-from_telugu from unicode to GF Telugu transliteration
-from_thai from unicode to GF Thai transliteration
-from_urdu from unicode to GF Urdu transliteration
-from_utf8 decode from utf8 (default)
-lexcode code-like lexer
-lexgreek lexer normalizing ancient Greek accentuation
-lexgreek2 lexer normalizing ancient Greek accentuation for text with vowel length annotations
-lexmixed mixture of text and code, as in LaTeX (code between $...$, \(...)\, \[...\])
-lextext text-like lexer
-to_amharic from GF Amharic transliteration to unicode
-to_ancientgreek from GF ancient Greek transliteration to unicode
-to_arabic from GF Arabic transliteration to unicode
-to_arabic_unvocalized from GF unvocalized Arabic transliteration to unicode
-to_cp1251 encode to cp1251 (Cyrillic used in Bulgarian resource)
-to_devanagari from GF Devanagari transliteration to unicode
-to_greek from GF modern Greek transliteration to unicode
-to_hebrew from GF unvocalized Hebrew transliteration to unicode
-to_html wrap in a html file with linebreaks
-to_nepali from GF Nepali transliteration to unicode
-to_persian from GF Persian/Farsi transliteration to unicode
-to_sanskrit from GF Sanskrit transliteration to unicode
-to_sindhi from GF Sindhi transliteration to unicode
-to_telugu from GF Telugu transliteration to unicode
-to_thai from GF Thai transliteration to unicode
-to_urdu from GF Urdu transliteration to unicode
-to_utf8 encode to utf8 (default)
-unchars unlexer that puts no spaces between tokens
-unlexcode code-like unlexer
-unlexgreek unlexer de-normalizing ancient Greek accentuation
-unlexmixed mixture of text and code (code between $...$, \(...)\, \[...\])
-unlextext text-like unlexer
-unwords unlexer that puts a single space between tokens (default)
-words lexer that assumes tokens separated by spaces (default)
-env apply in this environment only
-from backward-apply transliteration defined in this file (format 'unicode translit' per line)
-to forward-apply transliteration defined in this file
l (EAdd 3 4) | ps -unlexcode linearize code-like output
ps -lexcode | p -cat=Exp parse code-like input
gr -cat=QCl | l | ps -bind linearization output from LangFin
ps -to_devanagari "A-p" show Devanagari in UTF8 terminal
rf -file=Hin.gf | ps -env=quotes -to_devanagari convert translit to UTF8
rf -file=Ara.gf | ps -from_utf8 -env=quotes -from_arabic convert UTF8 to transliteration
ps -to=chinese.trans "abc" apply transliteration defined in file chinese.trans
ps -lexgreek "a)gavoi` a)'nvrwpoi' tines*" normalize ancient greek accentuation

pt = put_tree

pt = put_tree: return a tree, possibly processed with a function.

Returns a tree obtained from its argument tree by applying tree processing functions in the order given in the command line option list. Thus 'pt -f -g s' returns g (f s). Typical tree processors are type checking and semantic computation.

-compute compute by using semantic definitions (def)
-largest sort trees from largest to smallest, in number of nodes
-nub remove duplicate trees
-smallest sort trees from smallest to largest, in number of nodes
-subtrees return all fully applied subtrees (stopping at abstractions), by default sorted from the largest
-funs return all fun functions appearing in the tree, with duplications
-number take at most this many trees
pt -compute (plus one two) compute value

q = quit

q = quit: exit GF interpreter.

r = reload

r = reload: repeat the latest import command.

rf = read_file

rf = read_file: read string or tree input from a file.

Reads input from file. The filename must be in double quotes. The input is interpreted as a string by default, and can hence be piped e.g. to the parse command. The option -tree interprets the input as a tree, which can be given e.g. to the linearize command. The option -lines will result in a list of strings or trees, one by line.

-lines return the list of lines, instead of the singleton of all contents
-tree convert strings into trees
-file the input file name

rt = rank_trees

rt = rank_trees: show trees in an order of decreasing probability.

Order trees from the most to the least probable, using either even distribution in each category (default) or biased as specified by the file given by flag -probs=FILE, where each line has the form 'function probability', e.g. 'youPol_Pron 0.01'.

-v show all trees with their probability scores
-probs probabilities from this file (format 'f 0.6' per line)
p "you are here" | rt -probs=probs | pt -number=1 most probable result

sd = show_dependencies

sd = show_dependencies: show all constants that the given constants depend on.

Show recursively all qualified constant names, by tracing back the types and definitions of each constant encountered, but just listing every name once. This command requires a source grammar to be in scope, imported with 'import -retain'. Notice that the accuracy is better if the modules are compiled with the flag -optimize=noexpand. This command must be a line of its own, and thus cannot be a part of a pipe.

-size show the size of the source code for each constants (number of constructors)
sd ParadigmsEng.mkV ParadigmsEng.mkN show all constants on which mkV and mkN depend
sd -size ParadigmsEng.mkV show all constants on which mkV depends, together with size

se = set_encoding

se = set_encoding: set the encoding used in current terminal.

se cp1251 set encoding to cp1521
se utf8 set encoding to utf8 (default)

so = show_operations

so = show_operations: show all operations in scope, possibly restricted to a value type.

Show the names and type signatures of all operations available in the current resource. This command requires a source grammar to be in scope, imported with 'import -retain'. The operations include the parameter constructors that are in scope. The optional TYPE filters according to the value type. The grep STRINGs filter according to other substrings of the type signatures.

-raw show the types in computed forms (instead of category names)
-grep substring used for filtering (the command can have many of these)
so Det show all opers that create a Det
so -grep=Prep find opers relating to Prep
so | wf -file=/tmp/opers write the list of opers to a file

sp = system_pipe

sp = system_pipe: send argument to a system command.

-command the system command applied to the argument
gt | l | ? wc generate trees, linearize, and count words

ss = show_source

ss = show_source: show the source code of modules in scope, possibly just headers.

Show compiled source code, i.e. as it is included in GF object files. This command requires a source grammar to be in scope, imported with 'import -retain'. The optional MODULE arguments cause just these modules to be shown. The -size and -detailedsize options show code size as the number of constructor nodes. This command must be a line of its own, and thus cannot be a part of a pipe.

-detailedsize instead of code, show the sizes of all judgements and modules
-save save each MODULE in file MODULE.gfh instead of printing it on terminal
-size instead of code, show the sizes of all modules
-strip show only type signatures of oper's and lin's, not their definitions
ss print complete current source grammar on terminal
ss -strip -save MorphoFin print the headers in file MorphoFin.gfh

tq = translation_quiz

tq = translation_quiz: start a translation quiz.

-from translate from this language
-to translate to this language
-cat translate in this category
-number the maximum number of questions
-probs file with biased probabilities for generation
tq -from=Eng -to=Swe any trees in startcat
tq -from=Eng -to=Swe (AdjCN (PositA ?2) (UseN ?)) only trees of this form

tt = to_trie

tt = to_trie: combine a list of trees into a trie.

ut = unicode_table

ut = unicode_table: show a transliteration table for a unicode character set.

-amharic Amharic
-ancientgreek ancient Greek
-arabic Arabic
-arabic_unvocalized unvocalized Arabic
-devanagari Devanagari
-greek modern Greek
-hebrew unvocalized Hebrew
-nepali Nepali
-persian Persian/Farsi
-sanskrit Sanskrit
-sindhi Sindhi
-telugu Telugu
-thai Thai
-urdu Urdu

vd = visualize_dependency

vd = visualize_dependency: show word dependency tree graphically.

Prints a dependency tree in the .dot format (the graphviz format, default) or LaTeX (flag -output=latex) or the CoNLL/MaltParser format (flag -output=conll for training, malt_input for unanalysed input). By default, the last argument is the head of every abstract syntax function; moreover, the head depends on the head of the function above. The graph can be saved in a file by the wf command as usual. If the -view flag is defined, the graph is saved in a temporary file which is processed by dot (graphviz) and displayed by the program indicated by the view flag. The target format is png, unless overridden by the flag -format. Results from multiple trees are combined to pdf with convert (ImageMagick). See also 'vp -showdep' for another visualization of dependencies.

-v show extra information
-conll2latex convert conll to latex
-abslabels abstract configuration file for labels, format per line 'fun label*'
-cnclabels concrete configuration file for labels, format per line 'fun {words|*} pos label head'
-file same as abslabels (abstract configuration file)
-format format of the visualization file using dot (default "png")
-output output format of graph source (latex, conll, dot (default but deprecated))
-view program to open the resulting graph file (default "open")
-lang the language of analysis
gr | vd generate a tree and show dependency tree in .dot
gr | vd -view=open generate a tree and display dependency tree on with Mac's 'open'
gr | vd -view=open -output=latex generate a tree and display latex dependency tree with Mac's 'open'
gr -number=1000 | vd -abslabels=Lang.labels -cnclabels=LangSwe.labels -output=conll generate a random treebank
rf -file=ex.conll | vd -conll2latex | wf -file=ex.tex convert conll file to latex

vp = visualize_parse

vp = visualize_parse: show parse tree graphically.

Prints a parse tree in the .dot format (the graphviz format). The graph can be saved in a file by the wf command as usual. If the -view flag is defined, the graph is saved in a temporary file which is processed by dot (graphviz) and displayed by the program indicated by the view flag. The target format is png, unless overridden by the flag -format. Results from multiple trees are combined to pdf with convert (ImageMagick).

-showcat show categories in the tree nodes (default)
-nocat don't show categories
-showdep show dependency labels
-showfun show function names in the tree nodes
-nofun don't show function names (default)
-showleaves show the leaves of the tree (default)
-noleaves don't show the leaves of the tree (i.e., only the abstract tree)
-lang the language to visualize
-file configuration file for dependency labels with -deps, format per line 'fun label*'
-format format of the visualization file (default "png")
-view program to open the resulting file (default "open")
-nodefont font for tree nodes (default: Times -- graphviz standard font)
-leaffont font for tree leaves (default: nodefont)
-nodecolor color for tree nodes (default: black -- graphviz standard color)
-leafcolor color for tree leaves (default: nodecolor)
-nodeedgestyle edge style between tree nodes (solid/dashed/dotted/bold, default: solid)
-leafedgestyle edge style for links to leaves (solid/dashed/dotted/bold, default: dashed)
p "John walks" | vp generate a tree and show parse tree as .dot script
gr | vp -view=open generate a tree and display parse tree on a Mac
p "she loves us" | vp -view=open -showdep -file=uddeps.labels -nocat show a visual variant of a dependency tree

vt = visualize_tree

vt = visualize_tree: show a set of trees graphically.

Prints a set of trees in the .dot format (the graphviz format). The graph can be saved in a file by the wf command as usual. If the -view flag is defined, the graph is saved in a temporary file which is processed by dot (graphviz) and displayed by the command indicated by the view flag. The target format is postscript, unless overridden by the flag -format. Results from multiple trees are combined to pdf with convert (ImageMagick). With option -mk, use for showing library style function names of form 'mkC'.

-api show the tree with function names converted to 'mkC' with value cats C
-mk similar to -api, deprecated
-nofun don't show functions but only categories
-nocat don't show categories but only functions
-format format of the visualization file (default "png")
-view program to open the resulting file (default "open")
p "hello" | vt parse a string and show trees as graph script
p "hello" | vt -view="open" parse a string and display trees on a Mac

wf = write_file

wf = write_file: send string or tree to a file.

-append append to file, instead of overwriting it
-file the output filename

The GF batch compiler

With the option -batch, GF can be invoked in batch mode, i.e. without opening the shell, to compile files from .gf to .gfo. The -s option ("silent") eliminates all messages except errors.

    $ gf -batch -s LangIta.gf

With the option -make, and as a set of top-level grammar files (with the same abstract syntax) as arguments, GF produces a .pgf file. The flag -optimize-pgf minimizes the size of the .pgf file, and is recommended for grammars to be shipped.

    $ gf -make -optimize-pgf LangIta.gf LangEng.gf LangGer.gf

The flag -output-format changes the output format from .pgf to some other format. For instance

    $ gf -make -output-format=js LangEng.pgf LangGer.pgf

Notice that the arguments can be .pgf files, which in this case are merged and written into a JavaScript grammar file.

More options and instructions are obtained with

    $ gf -help

To run GF from a script, redirection of standard input can be used:

    $ gf <script.gfs

The file script.gfs should then contain a sequence of GF commands, one per line. Unrecognized command lines are skipped without terminating GF.