Command line interface (CLI)

You can analyze a circuit using the rtds-circuit-analysis command on the terminal. Some basic examples on how to use this program are found in the quickstart section.

All other relevant information can be found by running the rtds-circuit-analysis -h help command. Below is a copy of this command’s output. There are some small caveats you should keep in mind when writing the commands. The rules for writing this are the same ones for writing the component values.

Finds the equations that describe a circuit written as a netlist

usage: rtds-circuit-analysis [filepath] [options]

Positional Arguments

filepath: Path for the netlist

Named Arguments

-i, --currents

Prints the currents for each of the COMPONENTS. If COMPONENTS are not specified, prints the currentsthrough all components.

-v, --component-voltages

Prints the voltages for each of the COMPONENTS. If COMPONENTS are not specified, prints the voltage dropsacross all components

-n, --node-voltages

Prints the voltages for each of the NODES. If NODES are not specified, prints the voltages at all nodes

-s, --states

Prints the continuous state equations for each of the COMPONENTS. If COMPONENTS are not specified, printsthe state equations through all energy storing components.

-f, --forward

Prints the discrete state equations for each of the COMPONENTS, using the forward method. If COMPONENTSare not specified, prints the state equations through all energy storing components.

-b, --backward

Prints the discrete state equations for each of the COMPONENTS, using the backward method. If COMPONENTSare not specified, prints the state equations through all energy storing components.

-t, --trapezoidal

Prints the discrete state equations for each of the COMPONENTS, using the trapezoidal method. IfCOMPONENTS are not specified, prints the state equations through all energy storing components.

-T, --time-step

Sets the time step for the discrete methods. If not set, the discrete methods will have “Ts” as a literalfor the timestep. Will take precedence over the netlist’s .STEP, if set.

The rules for writing the time step are the same ones for writing the component values.

Caveats

The options must always be written after the netlist file path, never before. So, rtds-circuit-analysis -v circuit.cir won’t work, run rtds-circuit-analysis circuit.cir -v instead.
Due to limitations of python’s argparse library, you can’t concatenate flags together in a single dash. So, things like rtds-circuit-analysis circuit.cir -ivn for printing all component currents, component voltages and node voltages won’t work. Instead, write the flags separately, like rtds-circuit-analysis circuit.cir -i -v -n.
If you write multiple flags for the circuit, the information will be printed always in the same order (currents, component voltage, node voltage, continuous states, forward, backward and trapezoidal), regardless of the flags positions. So, rtds-circuit-analysis circuit.cir -n -i will print out the current first, even if -n was written before.