System tools

echo_off Disables echoing of NCL statements as they are encountered.
echo_on Enables echoing of NCL statements as they are encountered.
exit Forces an NCL script to exit immediately.
fileexists Checks for existence of any UNIX file.
get_cpu_time Returns the CPU time used by NCL.
get_ncl_version Returns the current NCL version.
get_script_name Returns the name of a script of commands provided to NCL for execution.
get_script_prefix_name Returns the name of a script of commands provided to NCL for execution, if provided, with any script name tag removed.
getenv Returns the string value of a shell environment variable.
isbigendian Returns True if you are running NCL on a big endian machine.
isfilepresent Checks if a supported file exists.
loadscript Loads the given NCL script.
ncargpath Returns the absolute pathnames of various NCAR Graphics directories.
ncargversion Prints the NCAR Graphics version, copyright, trademark and general licensing terms.
print_clock Prints the given string along with a current timestamp.
sleep Pauses execution of NCL scripts for a specified number of seconds.
status_exit Exits an NCL script passing a status code to the calling environment.
subprocess Executes a shell command as a concurrent subprocess to NCL.
subprocess_wait Checks the finish-status of a concurrent process launched by the subprocess command. Can optionally wait for the subprocess to finish.
system Executes a shell command.
systemfunc Executes a shell command and returns the output.
unique_string Returns a unique string given the input string as a prefix.
wallClockElapseTime Calculates and prints elapsed 'wall clock' time.