X-Git-Url: https://git.octo.it/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Frrdgraph_rpn.pod;h=ff50865c77459c839b115154c58338695d180321;hb=22018fce4f2faa4e43d85f419ea48a7d6465d5f3;hp=16c5996c4de33405d6317ade27eee328529f105f;hpb=4b4a568a4322288a7ec2e4b63e4596f76d65b76f;p=rrdtool.git

diff --git a/doc/rrdgraph_rpn.pod b/doc/rrdgraph_rpn.pod
index 16c5996..ff50865 100644
--- a/doc/rrdgraph_rpn.pod
+++ b/doc/rrdgraph_rpn.pod
@@ -1,21 +1,10 @@
-=head1 NAME
+=head1 NAME  
 
-rrdtool graph - Round Robin Database tool grapher functions
+rrdgraph_rpn - About RPN Math in rrdtool graph
 
-WARNING: This is for version 1.1.x which is B<I<BETA>> software.
-The software may contain serious bugs. Some of the items
-described in here may not yet exist (although this should
-be mentioned) or still be in the alpha stage.  As with every
-other RRDtool release: use at your own risk.  In contrast with
-the stable version of RRDtool, this release may contain bugs
-known to the authors.  It is highly recommended that you subscribe
-to the mailing list.
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
 
-=head1 SYNOPSYS
-
-I<E<lt>RPN expressionE<gt>> := 
-I<E<lt>vnameE<gt>>|I<E<lt>operatorE<gt>>|I<E<lt>valueE<gt>>
-[ , I<E<lt>RPN expressionE<gt>>]
+I<RPN expression>:=I<vname>|I<operator>|I<value>[,I<RPN expression>]
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
@@ -23,15 +12,20 @@ If you have ever used a traditional HP calculator you already know
 B<RPN>. The idea behind B<RPN> is that you have a stack and push
 your data onto this stack. Whenever you execute an operation, it
 takes as many elements from the stack as needed. Pushing is done
-implicit so whenever you specify a number or a variable, it gets
-pushed automatically.
+implicitly, so whenever you specify a number or a variable, it gets
+pushed onto the stack automatically.
 
-At the end of the calculation there should be one and exactly one
+At the end of the calculation there should be one and only one
 value left on the stack.  This is the outcome of the function and
 this is what is put into the I<vname>.  For B<CDEF> instructions,
 the stack is processed for each data point on the graph. B<VDEF>
 instructions work on an entire data set in one run.
 
+Example: C<VDEF:maximum=mydata,MAXIMUM>
+
+This will set variable "maximum" which you now can use in the rest
+of your RRD script.
+
 Example: C<CDEF:mydatabits=mydata,8,*>
 
 This means:  push variable I<mydata>, push the number 8, execute
@@ -43,7 +37,7 @@ fact that it is always clear in which order to process the input.
 For expressions like C<a = b + 3 * 5> you need to multiply 3 with
 5 first before you add I<b> to get I<a>. However, with parentheses
 you could change this order: C<a = (b + 3) * 5>. In B<RPN>, you
-would do C<a = b, 3, +, 5, *> and need no parentheses.
+would do C<a = b, 3, +, 5, *> without the need for parentheses.
 
 =head1 OPERATORS
 
@@ -53,27 +47,21 @@ would do C<a = b, 3, +, 5, *> and need no parentheses.
 
 B<LT, LE, GT, GE, EQ, NE>
 
-I<Note: NE is not yet implemented>
-
 Pop two elements from the stack, compare them for the selected condition
 and return 1 for true or 0 for false. Comparing an I<unknown> or an
 I<infinite> value will always result in 0 (false).
 
 B<UN, ISINF>
 
-I<Note: ISINF is not yet implemented>
-
 Pop one element from the stack, compare this to I<unknown> respectively
 to I<positive or negative infinity>. Returns 1 for true or 0 for false.
 
 B<IF>
 
-Pops three elements from the stack.  If the last element is 0 (false),
-the first value is pushed back onto the stack, otherwise the second
-popped value is pushed back. This does, indeed, mean that any value
-other than 0 is considered true.
-I<Note: Should this change? It should IMHO as all the other functions
-would return unknown if A,B or C were unknown>
+Pops three elements from the stack.  If the element popped last is 0
+(false), the value popped first is pushed back onto the stack,
+otherwise the value popped second is pushed back. This does, indeed,
+mean that any value other than 0 is considered to be true.
 
 Example: C<A,B,C,IF> should be read as C<if (A) then (B) else (C)>
 
@@ -83,9 +71,10 @@ Z<>
 
 B<MIN, MAX> 
 
-Pops two elements from the stack and returns the lesser or larger.
-The two numbers shouldn't be I<infinite> or I<unknown>, if they are
-that value is pushed back onto the stack as the result.
+Pops two elements from the stack and returns the smaller or larger,
+respectively.  Note that I<infinite> is larger than anything else.
+If one of the input numbers is I<unknown> then the result of the operation will be
+I<unknown> too.
 
 B<LIMIT>
 
@@ -109,16 +98,57 @@ B<+, -, *, /, %>
 
 Add, subtract, multiply, divide, modulo
 
-B<SIN, COS, LOG, EXP>
+B<SIN, COS, LOG, EXP, SQRT>
+
+Sine and cosine (input in radians), log and exp (natural logarithm),
+square root.
 
-Sine, cosine (input in radians), log, exp (natural logarithm)
+B<ATAN>
+
+Arctangent (output in radians).
 
 B<FLOOR, CEIL>
 
-Round down,up to the nearest integer
+Round down or up to the nearest integer.
 
 Z<>
 
+=item Set Operations
+
+B<SORT, REV>
+
+Pop one element from the stack.  This is the I<count> of items to be sorted
+(or reversed).  The top I<count> of the remaining elements are then sorted
+(or reversed) in place on the stack.
+
+Example: C<CDEF:x=v1,v2,v3,v4,v5,v6,6,SORT,POP,5,REV,POP,+,+,+,4,/> will
+compute the average of the values v1 to v6 after removing the smallest and
+largest.
+
+B<TREND>
+
+Create a "sliding window" average of another data series.
+
+Usage:
+CDEF:smoothed=x,1800,TREND
+
+This will create a half-hour (1800 second) sliding window average of x.  The
+average is essentially computed as shown here:
+
+                 +---!---!---!---!---!---!---!---!--->
+                                                     now
+                       delay     t0
+                 <--------------->
+                         delay       t1
+                     <--------------->  
+                              delay      t2
+                         <--------------->
+
+
+     Value at sample (t0) will be the average between (t0-delay) and (t0)
+     Value at sample (t1) will be the average between (t1-delay) and (t1)
+     Value at sample (t2) will be the average between (t2-delay) and (t2)
+
 =item Special values
 
 B<UNKN>
@@ -138,47 +168,41 @@ set or otherwise the result of this B<CDEF> at the previous time
 step. This allows you to do calculations across the data.  This
 function cannot be used in B<VDEF> instructions.
 
-Z<>
+B<PREV(vname)>
 
-=item Time
+Pushes an I<unknown> value if this is the first value of a data
+set or otherwise the result of the vname variable at the previous time
+step. This allows you to do calculations across the data. This
+function cannot be used in B<VDEF> instructions.
 
-Time inside RRDtool is measured in seconds since the epoch. This
-epoch is defined to be S<C<Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 UTC 1970>>.
+B<COUNT>
 
-Z<>
+Pushes the number 1 if this is the first value of the data set, the 
+number 2 if it is the second, and so on. This special value allows 
+you to make calculations based on the position of the value within 
+the data set. This function cannot be used in B<VDEF> instructions.
 
-=over 4
+Z<>
 
-=item NOW
+=item Time
 
-Pushes the current time on the stack.
+Time inside RRDtool is measured in seconds since the epoch. The
+epoch is defined to be S<C<Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 UTC 1970>>.
 
-Z<>
+B<NOW>
 
-=item TIME
+Pushes the current time on the stack.
 
-Pushes the time the currently processed value was taken onto the stack.
+B<TIME>
 
-Z<>
+Pushes the time the currently processed value was taken at onto the stack.
 
-=item LTIME
+B<LTIME>
 
 Takes the time as defined by B<TIME>, applies the time zone offset
 valid at that time including daylight saving time if your OS supports
 it, and pushes the result on the stack.  There is an elaborate example
-in the examples section on how to use this.
-
-=back
-
-For B<VDEF> operations, B<TIME> and B<LTIME> have a different meaning
-I<not yet implemented>.  As the B<VDEF> statement does not work per
-value but rather on a complete time series, there is no such thing as
-the currently processed value.  However, if you have used an operator
-that returned a time component and would like to have this available
-in the value component in stead (so you can use it as a number), you
-can use B<TIME> or B<LTIME> for that.
-
-Z<>
+in the examples section below on how to use this.
 
 =item Processing the stack directly
 
@@ -189,50 +213,59 @@ top elements.
 
 Z<>
 
-=item Selecting characteristics
+=back
 
-These operators work only on B<VDEF> statements.
-I<We can make most of them work at DEF and CDEF statements. If we do
-so, we have a moving (not rolling!) average, max,min etcetera>
+=head1 VARIABLES
 
-Z<>
+These operators work only on B<VDEF> statements.
 
 =over 4
 
 =item MAXIMUM, MINIMUM, AVERAGE
 
-Return the corresponding value
+Return the corresponding value, MAXIMUM and MINIMUM also return
+the first occurrence of that value in the time component.
 
-Z<>
+Example: C<VDEF:avg=mydata,AVERAGE>
 
 =item LAST, FIRST
 
-Return the last,first value including its time 
+Return the last/first value including its time.  The time for
+FIRST is actually the start of the corresponding interval, whereas
+LAST returns the end of the corresponding interval.
 
-Z<>
+Example: C<VDEF:first=mydata,FIRST>
+
+=item TOTAL
+
+Returns the rate from each defined time slot multiplied with the
+step size.  This can, for instance, return total bytes transfered
+when you have logged bytes per second. The time component returns
+the number of seconds.
+
+Example: C<VDEF:total=mydata,TOTAL>
 
 =item PERCENT
 
-Should follow a B<DEF> or B<CDEF> I<vname>. This I<vname> is popped,
+This should follow a B<DEF> or B<CDEF> I<vname>. The I<vname> is popped,
 another number is popped which is a certain percentage (0..100). The
 data set is then sorted and the value returned is chosen such that
 I<percentage> percent of the values is lower or equal than the result.
 I<Unknown> values are considered lower than any finite number for this
 purpose so if this operator returns an I<unknown> you have quite a lot
-of them in your data.  I<Inf>inite numbers are lesser, or more, than the
+of them in your data.  B<Inf>inite numbers are lesser, or more, than the
 finite numbers and are always more than the I<Unknown> numbers.
+(NaN E<lt> -INF E<lt> finite values E<lt> INF)
 
 Example: C<VDEF:perc95=mydata,95,PERCENT>
 
 =back
 
-=back
-
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<rrdgraph> gives an overview of how B<rrdtool graph> works.
-L<rrdgraph_data> describes B<DEF>,B<CDEF> and B<VDEF> in detail,
-L<rrdgraph_rpn> describes the B<RPN> language used in the B<?DEF> statements,
+L<rrdgraph_data> describes B<DEF>,B<CDEF> and B<VDEF> in detail.
+L<rrdgraph_rpn> describes the B<RPN> language used in the B<?DEF> statements.
 L<rrdgraph_graph> page describes all of the graph and print functions.
 
 Make sure to read L<rrdgraph_examples> for tipsE<amp>tricks.