gretl (under MS Windows, gretlw32.exe)[1]
— Opens the program and waits for user input.
gretl datafile
— Starts the program with the specified datafile in its workspace. The data file may be in native gretl format, CSV format, or BOX1 format (see Chapter 5 above). The program will try to detect the format of the file and treat it appropriately. See also the Section called Path searching below for path-searching behavior.
gretl --help (or gretl -h)
— Print a brief summary of usage and exit.
gretl --version (or gretl -v)
— Print version identification for the program and exit
gretl --run scriptfile (or gretl -r scriptfile)
— Start the program and open a window displaying the specified script file, ready to run. See the Section called Path searching below for path-searching behavior.
gretl --db database (or gretl -d database)
— Start the program and open a window displaying the specified database. If the database files (the .bin file and its accompanying .idx file — see the Section called Binary databases in Chapter 5) is not in the default system database directory, you must specify the full path.
gretl --webdb database (or gretl -w database)
— Start the program and open a window displaying the specified remote (web) database. The name of the database should be given without the .bin suffix.
Various things in gretl are configurable under the "File, Preferences" menu.
The base directory for gretl's shared files.
The command to launch gnuplot.
The user's base directory for gretl-related files.
The command to launch GNU R (see Appendix C).
The directory in which to start looking for native gretl databases.
The directory in which to start looking for RATS 4 databases.
The IP number of the gretl database server to access.
The IP number and port number of the HTTP proxy server to use when contacting the database server, if applicable (if you're behind a firewall).
The calculator and editor programs to launch from the toolbar.
The monospaced font to be used in gretl screen output.
There are also some check boxes. Checking the "expert" box quells some warnings that are otherwise issued. Checking "Tell me about gretl updates" makes gretl attempt to query the update server at start-up. Unchecking "Show gretl toolbar" turns the icon toolbar off.
Finally, there are some binary choices: Under the "Open/Save path" tab you can set where gretl looks by default when you go to open or save a file — either the gretl user directory or the current working directory. Under the "Data files" tab you can set the default filename suffix for data files. The standard suffix is .gdt but if you wish you can set this to .dat, which was standard in earlier versions of the program.
Settings chosen in this way are handled differently depending on the context. Under MS Windows they are stored in the Windows registry. Under the gnome desktop they are stored in .gnome/gretl in the user's home directory. Otherwise they are stored in a file named .gretlrc in the user's home directory.
[1] | On unix-type systems, a "wrapper" script named gretl is installed. This script checks whether the DISPLAY environment variable is set; if so, it launches the GUI program, gretl_x11, and if not it launches the command-line program, gretlcli. |