Command Line

Command line options are entered on the command line in any order, preceded by a hyphen (-), sometimes preceded by a + (plus sign), and separated by spaces. Most command line options are case-sensitive. When an option requires an additional parameter, that parameter must be separated from the option letter by spaces or tabs (for example, -l 5 is correct, -l5 is not).

Files are position-dependent. For example, par input.ncd output.ncd freq.pcf is legal; par input.ncd freq.pcf output.ncd is not. File extension use is case-sensitive. All file extensions (for example, .ncd) must be in lower case for all command line tools.

For options that can be specified multiple times, the option letter must, in most cases, precede each parameter. For example, -l xilinxun synopsys is not acceptable, while -l xilinxun -l synopsys is allowed.

Options can appear anywhere on the command line. Arguments that are bound to a particular option must appear after the option. For example, -f command_file is legal; command_file -f is not.

When you enter the Xilinx Development System application name on the command line with no arguments and the application requires one or more arguments (PAR, for example), a message appears consisting of the command line format string. The format string contains the following symbols, along with literals.

When you enter the Xilinx Development System application name on the command line followed by -help or -h, a message displays that explains each of the options and arguments. For example, when you type edif2ngd -h, the following message appears.

edif2ngd:  version M1.5
   Copyright (c) 1995-1998 Xilinx, Inc.  All rights reserved.
   Usage: edif2ngd [-a] [-r] {-l <library>} [-p <partname>] <edif_file> [<ngo_file>]
        -a            Add PAD's to all top level port signals
        -r            Remove LOC props from the design
        -l library    Design is built from <library>
        -p partname   Override/define part name in EDIF file
        <edif_file>   EDIF 2 0 0 format file
        <ngo_file>    Output `.ngo' file. Default is <infile>.ngo.

To redirect this message to a file (to read later or to print out), enter the following.

command_name -help >& filename

For Xilinx Development System applications that have architecture-specific command lines, enter the application name plus -help (or -h) plus the architecture to get the verbose message specific to that architecture. If you do not specify the architecture, a message similar to the following appears.

Use '<appname> -help <architecture>' to get detailed usage for a particular architecture.

Notes about Screen Messages

<infile[.ncd]> indicates that the .ncd extension is optional but that the extension must be .ncd.

<infile<.xnf>> indicates that the .xnf extension is optional and is appended only if there is no other extension in the file name.

Part Numbers in Commands

The EDIF2NGD, XNF2NGD, NGDBuild and MAP commands have options to specify the part into which your design will be implemented. A complete Xilinx part number consists of these elements.

• Architecture (for example, xc4000ex)
  
  
• Device (for example, xc4028ex)
  
  
• Package (for example, pq208)
  
  
• Speed (for example, -3)
  
  

The following table shows the various way to specify a part on the command line.

You can specify a part number at a number of points in the design flow. A part number specified in a later step of the design flow overrides a part number specified in an earlier step.

The following list below specifies the points in the design flow when you can specify a part number. In the list, a specification at a higher-numbered level overrides a specification at a lower-numbered level. As an example, a part specified when you run MAP overrides a part specified at any other step in the design flow.

1. There may be a part specified in the input netlist.
   
   
2. There may be a part specified in an NCF (Netlist Constraints File).
   
   
3. You can specify a part with the -p option when you run a netlist reader (EDIF2NGD or XNF2NGD).
   
   
4. You can specify a part in a UCF (User Constraints File).
   
   
5. You can specify a part with the -p option when you run NGDBuild.
   
   When you run NGDBuild, you must have already specified at least a device architecture
   
   
6. You can specify a part with the -p option when you run MAP.
   
   

When you run MAP, an architecture, device, and package must be specified, either on the MAP command line or earlier in the design flow. MAP selects a default speed if none has been specified. You can only run MAP for a part from the architecture you specified when you ran NGDBuild.

-f Option

For any Xilinx Development System executable, you can store arguments (that is, file names and command options) in a file and then execute the arguments at any time by entering the -f option on the UNIX or DOS command line followed by the name of the file containing the arguments. This can be useful if you frequently execute the same arguments each time you perform the command, or if the command line becomes too long.

You can use the options file in the following two ways.

• To supply all the command arguments, as in this example.
  
  par -f command_file
  
  command_file is the name of the file containing the command-line arguments.
  
  
• To insert certain command line arguments within the command line, as in this example.
  
  

par -i 33 -f placeoptions -s 4 -f routeoptions design_i.ncd design_o.ncd

placeoptions is the name of a file containing placement command arguments.

routeoptions is the name of a file containing routing command arguments.

The space between the -f flag and the file name is required. The following command line is legal.

epic -m -f epic.cmd

where epic.cmd is the name of a file containing EPIC command arguments.

The command file is an ASCII file containing the command arguments. Arguments are separated by a space and can be spread across one or more lines within the file. You can put new lines or tabs anywhere white space is allowed on the UNIX or DOS command line. You can put all arguments on the same line, or one argument per line, or a combination of these. There is no line length limitation within the file. All carriage returns and other non-printable characters are treated as space and ignored. Comments are designated by a # (pound sign) and go to the end of the line.

This is an example of a command file.

#command line options for par for design mine.ncd
   
   -a  -n 10
   -w
   -l 5
   -s 2 #will save the two best results
   /home/users/jimbob/designs/xilinx/mine.ncd
   #directory for output designs
   /home/users/jimbob/designs/xilinx/output.dir
   #use timing constraints file
   /home/users/jimbob/designs/xilinx/mine.pcf