Using the Star-Hspice Command

You can start Star-Hspice in either a prompting mode or a nonprompting command line mode.

Prompting Script Mode

Use the following procedure to start Star-Hspice in the prompting mode.

1. cd to your Star-Hspice run directory and type:

hspice

2. The following prompt appears:

Enter input file name:

3. Enter the name of your Star-Hspice input netlist file. If you do not include a file name extension, Star-Hspice looks for the file name with an .sp extension.

If no file name exists with the name you enter, the following message appears and the Star-Hspice startup script terminates:

**error** Cannot open input file <filename>

4. The following prompt appears:

Enter output file name or directory:
[<filename>.lis]

5. Enter the path and name you want to give the Star-Hspice output listing file.
The default is the input file name with a .lis extension.

6. A numbered list of the Star-Hspice versions that are available appears, followed by a prompt to specify the version you want to run. Enter the number in the list of the Star-Hspice version you want to run.

7. For releases of Star-Hspice prior to Release H93A.02, the following prompt
appears:

How much memory is needed for this run?

Enter the number of 8-byte words of memory you want to allocate for the Star-Hspice run.

8. The following prompt appears:

The default is to use the standard system priority.
Run Star-Hspice at a lower priority? (y,n) [n]

9. To use the default priority, enter n, or just press Return.

To specify the priority, enter y. The following prompt appears:

HINT: The larger the number the lower the priority.
Enter the priority scheduling factor: (5 10 15 20) [15]

The default is 15. Enter your choice from the list of factors.

The Star-Hspice run begins.

Nonprompting Command Line Mode

Star-Hspice accepts the following arguments when run in the nonprompting command line mode:

hspice <-i> <path/>input_file <-v HSPICE_version>
+ <-n number> <-a arch> <-o path>/output_file>

where:

input_file	Specifies the input netlist file name, for which an extension < .ext > is optional. If no input filename extension is provided in the command, Star-Hspice searches for a file named <input_file>.sp. The input file can be preceded by -i. The input filename is used as the root filename for the output files. Star-Hspice also checks to see if there is an initial conditions file (.ic) with the input file root name. The following is an example of an input file name: /usr/sim/work/rb_design.sp where: /usr/sim/work/ is the directory path to the design rb_design is the design root name .sp is the filename suffix
-v	Specifies the version of Star-Hspice to use .
-n	Specifies the number at which to start numbering output data file revisions (output_file.tr#, output_file.ac#, output_file.sw#, where # is the revision number).
-a	Is an argument that overrides the default architecture.

Available Star-Hspice command arguments are listed in Star-Hspice Command Options.

Table 3-3: Star-Hspice Command Options
Option	Description
-a <arch>	Platform architecture. Choices are: sun4, sol4 (SparcStation, Ultra) pa (HP 700/800/9000) alpha (DEC ALPHA) rs (IBM RS6000)	sgi (SGI) pc (Windows 95/NT)
-i <input_file>	Name of the input netlist file. If no extension is given, .sp is assumed.
-m <mem_needed>	Amount of memory requested for the simulation, in 8-byte words (only required for Star-Hspice releases prior to Release H93A.01)
-n <number>	Revision number at which to start numbering . gr#, .tr# , and other output files. By default, the file numbers start at zero: . gr0, .tr0 , and so on. This option allows you to specify the number (-n 7 for . gr7, .tr7 , for example).
-o <output_file>	Name of the output file. If no extension is given, .lis is assigned.
-r <remote_host>	Name of the machine on which to run the simulation
-v <version>	Star-Hspice version. Choices are determined at the time of installation by the Star-Hspice installation script.
-x	Displays the Star-Hspice script on the window as it runs

You do not need to include a filename extension in the output file specification . Star-Hspice names it output_file.lis . In output file names, Star-Hspice considers everything up to the final period to be the root filename, and everything following the last period to be the filename extension.

If you do not enter an output filename with the -o option, the input root filename is used as the output file root filename. If you include the extension .lis in the filename you enter with -o, Star-Hspice does not append another .lis extension to the output file root filename.

If no output file is specified, output is directed to the terminal. Use the following syntax to redirect the output to a file instead of the terminal:

	hspice input_file <-v HSPICE_version> <-n number> <-a arch>
	> output_file

For example, for the invocation command

	hspice demo.sp -v /usr/meta/96 -n 7 -a sun4 > demo.out

where:

demo.sp	Is the input netlist file; the . sp extension to the input filename is optional
-v /usr/meta/96	Specifies the version of Star-Hspice to use
-n 7	Starts the output data file revision numbers at 7: demo.tr7, demo.ac7, and demo.sw7
-a sun4	Overrides the default platform
>	Redirects the program output listing to demo.out

Sample Star-Hspice Commands

Some additional examples of Star-Hspice commands are explained below.

hspice -i demo.sp

"demo" is the root filename. Output files are named demo.lis, demo.tr0, demo.st0, and demo.ic.

hspice -i demo.sp -o demo

"demo" is the output file root name (designated by the -o option). Output files are named demo.lis, demo.tr0, demo.st0, and demo.ic.

hspice -i rbdir/demo.sp

"demo" is the root name. Output files demo.lis, demo.tr0, and demo.st0 are written in the directory where the Star-Hspice command is executed. Output file demo.ic is written in the same directory as the input source, that is, rbdir.

hspice -i a.b.sp

"a.b" is the root name. The output files are ./a.b.lis, ./a.b.tr0, ./a.b.st0, and ./a.b.ic.

hspice -i a.b -o d.e

"a.b" is the root name for the input file.

"d.e" is the root for output file names except for the .ic file, which is given the input file root name "a.b". The output files are d.e.lis, d.e.tr0, d.e.st0, and a.b.ic.

hspice -i a.b.sp -o outdir/d.e

"a.b" is the root for the .ic file. The .ic file is written in a file named a.b.ic.

"d.e" is the root for other output files. Output files are outdir/d.e.lis, outdir/d.e.tr0, and outdir/d.e.st0.

hspice -i indir/a.b.sp -o outdir/d.e.lis

"a.b" is the root for the .ic file. The .ic file is written in a file named indir/a.b.ic.

"d.e" is the root for the output files.

Star-Hspice Manual - Release 2001.2 - June 2001