Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 25 Feb 1998 16:41:11 -0500
From:      Max Euston <meuston@jmrodgers.com>
To:        "'Julian Elischer'" <julian@whistle.com>
Cc:        "'FreeBSD Hackers'" <freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   RE: New utilities: factor(1) and wid(1)?
Message-ID:  <01BD420C.2FCDD020.meuston@jmrodgers.com>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wednesday, February 25, 1998 4:21 PM, Julian Elischer 
[SMTP:julian@whistle.com] wrote:
> Max Euston wrote:
> >
> > I have 2 utilities that are not in FreeBSD.
> >
> > - The first if factor(1) ala SVR4.  It prints the prime factors of a
> > number.  I sometimes use it to find the "most efficient" geometry for a 
HD.
> >  It is written for 'long's, but I want to have it pick 
'int'/'long'/'long
> > long' (all unsigned) based on the input for speed (it uses adds, not
> > multiplies).
>
> factor is in /usr/games
>
> (though it seems limited to rather small numbers)
>
Silly me... I simply tried:

	$ factor <XXX>

when I should have tried:

	$ man factor

Didn't expect to find it in 'games' ??? - That is not in my PATH=.

It uses the 'primes' utility and is doing division (on 'long's) - I will do 
some investigating to see if it is faster than my method and see if it will 
scale to 'long long's.

> julian
> >
> > - The second (non Unix) is wid(1).  It finds the "width" of a file 
(longest
> > line).  It can print longest, shortest, average (mean), totals and can
> > ignore trailing spaces.  Suggestions for any other features is 
welcomed.
>
> can you think of a present program into which it might fit better
> a an option?
The closest I had ever thought of was wc(1).  I will look again.

(As I am typing this, I just got mail from Mike Smith suggesting the same 
idea - I will see if I can make a logical design out of this and merge it 
cleanly).



Since I have been bitten by the "it already does that you boob, just look 
in XXX" bug twice in the same number of days (remember my adding LINES= to 
more(1)?) :-((, I will do some more investigating before announcing my 
plans to "hackers" :-).


(Feeling REALLY sheepish... going back to RTFM and play with FreeBSD for a 
few more days...).

Max

-----
Max Euston <meuston@jmrodgers.com>
Sysadm, Programmer, etc...


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?01BD420C.2FCDD020.meuston>