A flexible and extensible unit converter written in Python for GCI 2019.
An installation of Python 3.6 or newer is required.
The program accepts 3 command-line arguments: the amount to convert, the unit given amount is in, and the unit to convert the given amount into. There is no need to specify a category as the program uses a graph-based path-finding algorithm to find the shortest possible path between any two arbitrary units, should such a path exist. Impossible conversions, such as kilometers to watts (distance to power), will result in an error.
Example commands:
- Windows:
python uconv.py 1 in cm - Unix-likes:
./uconv.py 1 in cm
Example usage:
❯ ./uconv.py 1 in cm
1 inch => 2.54 centimeters
There is also a debug mode which can be activated with the -d argument that
shows the path-finding and conversion process:
❯ ./uconv.py -d 1 century ns
Found conversion path: 1 century -> 100 years, 1 year -> 365.25 days, 1 day -> 24 hours, 1 hour -> 60 minutes, 1 minute -> 60 seconds, 1 second -> 1,000 milliseconds, 1 millisecond -> 1,000 microseconds, 1 microsecond -> 1,000 nanoseconds
Converting 1 century -> 100 years
Converting 100 years -> 36,525 days
Converting 36,525 days -> 876,600 hours
Converting 876,600 hours -> 52,596,000 minutes
Converting 52,596,000 minutes -> 3,155,760,000 seconds
Converting 3,155,760,000 seconds -> 3,155,760,000,000 milliseconds
Converting 3,155,760,000,000 milliseconds -> 3,155,760,000,000,000 microseconds
Converting 3,155,760,000,000,000 microseconds -> 3,155,760,000,000,000,000 nanoseconds
1 century => 3,155,760,000,000,000,000 nanoseconds
Help regarding usage is available with the -h or --help arguments should you
ever be left stranded.
All imperial units specified in the default unit conversion table are US variants, where applicable (such as for volume).
Custom units can be added easily by editing the units.toml file, which is
written in TOML — a simple and
standardized configuration format. Everything is documented thoroughly by
comments in the file. Blatantly incorrect data, such as invalid syntax or
duplicate units, will be detected and reported when the file is being parsed.