Command-line-arguments.md

+
+fossils can be run from the command line. This is can be very useful, especially for running simulation in the background or on a remote machine.
+
+### Example on Windows
+
+Open a command line window (in Windows, type `cmd` in the search icon). Then copy an example to the current folder (it should be your home folder such as `c:\Users\your_name`):
+```
+C:\Users\boman>xcopy AppData\Local\Programs\Fossils\models\others\dolicorhynchops mymodel /E /I
+```
+This command copies the files related to `dolicorhynchops` to a folder named `mymodel`. The go to this subfolder:
+```
+cd mymodel
+```
+From there, fossils can be run with the following command:
+```
+..\AppData\Local\Programs\Fossils\fossils.exe
+```
+Add `-h` as an argument to display the help message:
+```
+usage: fossils.exe [-h] [--nogui] [--post] [-k K] [file]
+
+positional arguments:
+  file        python file
+
+optional arguments:
+  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
+  --nogui     disable any graphical output
+  --post      display existing results
+  -k K        nb of threads
+```
+Running the example is as easy as:
+```
+..\AppData\Local\Programs\Fossils\fossils.exe dolicorhynchops_10k.py
+```
+The workspace folder is created in the current folder:
+```
+dir workspace\dolicorhynchops_10k
+```
+displays
+```
+ Volume in drive C has no label.
+ Volume Serial Number is 7461-9FF9
+
+ Directory of C:\Users\boman\mymodel\workspace\dolicorhynchops_10k
+
+20/06/2022  14:09    <DIR>          .
+20/06/2022  14:09    <DIR>          ..
+20/06/2022  14:09           143 689 displacement_vector.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09           143 682 force_vector.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09         1 140 834 mesh.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09            82 324 mesh.opt
+20/06/2022  14:09           389 834 smooth_strain_tensor.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09            61 638 smooth_strain_xx.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09            61 638 smooth_strain_xy.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09            61 638 smooth_strain_xz.msh
+20/06/2022  14:09            61 638 smooth_strain_yy.msh
+...
+```
+Results can be reloaded by adding `--post` at the end of the command:
+```
+..\AppData\Local\Programs\Fossils\fossils.exe dolicorhynchops_10k.py --post
+```
+The last interesting option is `--nogui` which deactivates the display of the results at the end of the simulation. This option is very useful when running several tests from a script.
+