From a61d512f4cb12a97bc00eac8478b7e2b34f4be2c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Meyering Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 13:20:52 +0000 Subject: (nice invocation): Add examples. Prompted by suggestion from Dan Jacobson. (factor invocation): Add an example. Update timing numbers for a more modern CPU. --- doc/coreutils.texi | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 55 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) (limited to 'doc') diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi index 6a28577b4..3c68b6542 100644 --- a/doc/coreutils.texi +++ b/doc/coreutils.texi @@ -11669,6 +11669,53 @@ Exit status: the exit status of @var{command} otherwise @end display +It is sometimes useful to run non-interactive programs with reduced priority. + +@example +$ nice factor `echo '2^997 - 1'|bc` +@end example + +Since @command{nice} prints the current priority, +we can invoke it through itself to demonstrate how it works: + +The default behavior is to reduce priority by @samp{10}. + +@example +$ nice nice +10 +@end example + +@example +$ nice -n 10 nice +10 +@end example + +The @var{adjustment} is relative to the current priority. +Here, the first @command{nice} invocation runs the second one at priority +@samp{10}, and it in turn runs the final one at a priority lowered by +@samp{3} more. + +@example +$ nice nice -n 3 nice +13 +@end example + +Specifying a priority larger than @samp{19} is the same as specifying @samp{19}. + +@example +$ nice -n 30 nice +19 +@end example + +Only a privileged user may run a process with higher priority. + +@example +$ nice -n -1 nice +nice: cannot set priority: Permission denied +$ sudo nice -n -1 nice +-1 +@end example + @node nohup invocation @section @command{nohup}: Run a command immune to hangups @@ -12126,7 +12173,7 @@ options}. The algorithm it uses is not very sophisticated, so for some inputs @command{factor} runs for a long time. The hardest numbers to factor are the products of large primes. Factoring the product of the two largest 32-bit -prime numbers takes over 10 minutes of CPU time on a 400MHz Pentium II. +prime numbers takes about 80 seconds of CPU time on a 1.6 GHz Athlon. @example $ p=`echo '4294967279 * 4294967291'|bc` @@ -12134,6 +12181,13 @@ $ factor $p 18446743979220271189: 4294967279 4294967291 @end example +Similarly, it takes about 80 seconds for GNU factor (from coreutils-5.1.2) +to ``factor'' the largest 64-bit prime: +@example +$ factor 18446744073709551557 + 18446744073709551557: 18446744073709551557 +@end example + In contrast, @command{factor} factors the largest 64-bit number in just over a tenth of a second: -- cgit v1.2.3-70-g09d2