retroforth/doc/book/general/starting

# Starting RETRO

RETRO can be run for scripting or interactive use.

## Interactive

To start it interactively, run: `retro` without any command line
arguments, or with `-i`.

Starting the interactive system:

```
retro
```

Or:

```
retro -i
```

This should be sufficient for most uses.

## Using In a Pipe

Retro will work with piped input.

E.g.,

```
echo "'lol s:put nl" | retro
```

## Running A Program In A File

You can run code in a file very easily. This is simply:

```
retro filename
```

You can follow the filename with any arguments that it may need.
These will be accessible to the program via the `script:arguments`
and `script:get-argument` words.

Source files must be written in Unu format.

## Scripting

You can use RETRO to write scripts. Add a shebang:

```
#!/usr/bin/env retro
```

And make the file executable.

Source files must be written in Unu format.

## Command Line Arguments

For a summary of the full command line arguments available:

    Scripting Usage:

        retro filename [script arguments...]

    Interactive Usage:

        retro [-h] [-i] [-f filename] [-t]

      -h           Display this help text
      -i           Interactive mode (line buffered)
      -f filename  Run the contents of the specified file
      -t           Run tests (in ``` blocks) in any loaded files