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output

Controls settings related to Soar's output

Synopsis

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=======================================================
-           Output Sub-Commands and Options           -
=======================================================
output                                       [? | help]
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enabled                                              on   Globally toggle all output
console                                             off   Send output to std::out for debugging
callbacks                                            on   Send output to standard print callback
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agent-logs                  <channel-number> [ON | off]   Whether agent log channel prints
agent-writes                                         on   Allow RHS-funtion output
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output log                   [--append | -A] <filename>   Log all output to file
output log                               --add <string>
output log                                    [--close]
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output command-to-file         [-a] <file> <cmd> [args]   Log output from single command
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echo-commands                                       off   Echo commands to debugger
print-depth                                           1   Default print depth
warnings                                             on   Print all warnings
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To view/change a setting:                                 output <setting> [<value>]

For a detailed explanation of these settings:             help output

Summary Screen

Using the output command without any arguments will display some key output settings:

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=======================================================
-                   Output Status                     -
=======================================================
Printing enabled                                    Yes
Printing to std::out                                Yes
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Agent RHS write output                               on
All agent log channels enabled.
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Warnings                                             on
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Soar release compilation                            OFF
Debug printing                                       ON
-------------------------------------------------------

output command-to-file

This command logs a single command. It is almost equivalent to opening a log using clog, running the command, then closing the log, the only difference is that input isn't recorded.

Running this command while a log is open is an error. There is currently not support for multiple logs in the command line interface, and this would be an instance of multiple logs.

This command echoes output both to the screen and to a file, just like clog.

Options

Option Description
-a, --append Append if file exists.
filename The file to log the results of the command to
command The command to log
args Arguments for command

output log

The output log command allows users to save all user-interface input and output to a file. When Soar is logging to a file, everything typed by the user and everything printed by Soar is written to the file (in addition to the screen).

Invoke output log with no arguments to query the current logging status. Pass a filename to start logging to that file (relative to the command line interface's home directory). Use the close option to stop logging.

Usage

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output log [-A] filename
output log --add string
output log --close

Options

Option Description
filename Open filename and begin logging.
-c, --close Stop logging, close the file.
-a, --add string Add the given string to the open log file.
-A, --append Opens existing log file named filename and logging is added at the end of the file.

Examples

To initiate logging and place the record in foo.log:

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output log foo.log

To append log data to an existing foo.log file:

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output log -A foo.log

To terminate logging and close the open log file:

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output log -c

Known Issues with log

Does not log everything when structured output is selected.

General Output Settings

Invoke a sub-command with no arguments to query the current setting. Partial commands are accepted.

Option Valid Values Default
echo-commands yes or no off
print-depth >= 1 1
verbose yes or no no
warnings yes or no yes

output agent-logs

A Soar agent has 100 log channels available. By default, all are turned on. The log RHS-function allows printing as with the write function, but limits output to only the specified log channel.

output echo-commands

output echo-commands will echo typed commands to other connected debuggers. Otherwise, the output is displayed without the initiating command, and this can be confusing.

output print-depth

The print-depth command reflects the default depth used when working memory elements are printed (using the print). The default value is 1. This default depth can be overridden on any particular call to the print command by explicitly using the --depth flag, e.g. print --depth 10 args.

By default, the print command prints objects in working memory, not just the individual working memory element. To limit the output to individual working memory elements, the --internal flag must also be specified in the print command. Thus when the print depth is 0, by default Soar prints the entire object, which is the same behavior as when the print depth is 1. But if --internal is also specified, then a depth of 0 prints just the individual WME, while a depth of 1 prints all WMEs which share that same identifier. This is true when printing timetags, identifiers or WME patterns.

When the depth is greater than 1, the identifier links from the specified WME's will be followed, so that additional substructure is printed. For example, a depth of 2 means that the object specified by the identifier, wme-pattern, or timetag will be printed, along with all other objects whose identifiers appear as values of the first object. This may result in multiple copies of the same object being printed out. If --internal is also specified, then individuals WMEs and their timetags will be printed instead of the full objects.

output verbose

The verbose command enables tracing of a number of low-level Soar execution details during a run. The details printed by verbose are usually only valuable to developers debugging Soar implementation details.

output warnings

The warnings command enables and disables the printing of warning messages. At startup, warnings are initially enabled. If warnings are disabled using this command, then some warnings may still be printed, since some are considered too important to ignore.

The warnings that are printed apply to the syntax of the productions, to notify the user when they are not in the correct syntax. When a lefthand side error is discovered (such as conditions that are not linked to a common state or impasse object), the production is generally loaded into production memory anyway, although this production may never match or may seriously slow down the matching process. In this case, a warning would be printed only if warnings were on. Righthand side errors, such as preferences that are not linked to the state, usually result in the production not being loaded, and a warning regardless of the warnings setting.

Default Aliases

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ctf                        output command-to-file
clog                       output log
default-wme-depth          output print-depth
echo-commands              output echo-commands
verbose                    output verbose
warnings                   output warnings