tsh Commands

The basics of how to operate tsh.

Updated Fri Sep 18 13:41:41 EDT 2009 for tsh 3.290.

How to Enter Commands

tsh is a command shell. If you’re familiar with using shells such as any Unix shell, OS/X Terminal or even DOS, you can probably skip this paragraph. A command shell is a no-frills way of interacting with a computer. In a large window, the computer displays a prompt, inviting you to type in a command that the computer understands. When you do so and then press the “return” key (analogous to hitting your clock in Scrabble), the computer takes some action based on what you’ve entered, then prompts you for your next command. Sometimes your command is modal, causing the computer to prompt for and expect a different set of commands until the mode is complete.

Pay attention to the changing prompts, which indicate what information tsh needs. Don’t forget to press the “return” key to confirm each command.

If you make a mistake and want to correct a previous command, or if you just want to repeat it, you may (depending on your system configuration) be able to scroll back by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. If pressing the arrow keys instead adds garbage to your screen, you can’t, but might consider installing the appropriate Term::ReadLine module that got left out of your Perl distribution (for OS/X users it's Term::ReadLine::Perl).

If you want to enter more than one command on a line, separate them with semicolons. Each one will be executed in turn before you are returned to the main prompt.

The Most Important Commands

The most important commands to remember are “quit”, “help” and “huh”.

Quit

The “quit” command makes tsh stop running.

HELP

If you’re not sure how to use a command, then try typing “help the-name-of-the-command”. Here’s an example, showing what one version of tsh shows when you enter “help help”:

Usage: help topic

Use this command to view built-in documentation.  For fuller details, please
consult the HTML reference manual.  Enter “help index” to see a list of
available commands, and “help” followed by a command name to find out more
about that command. 

The first line tells you that when you use the “help” command you are expected to enter a topic after the word “help” so that tsh will know what you are asking for help about. Most commands require some supplementary information (called arguments) such as a division name, round number or player number.

The DOCumentation command opens a web browser to this reference documentation. If you enter “doc”, a window should appear displaying this manual’s introductory page.

HUH

If you’re not sure what a message means, and it has a code in [square brackets] after it, enter “huh the-message-code”. Again, messages are documented in this way, and soon all of them will be. If you enter “huh” on its own, the last message you saw will be explained. To take a mostly random example, if you saw the message “If you are sure you want to pair Round 12 based on Round 10, please specify config session_breaks. [eacpnsb]” you might want to know more and enter “huh eacpnsb”. You would then see the message:

[eacpnsb] It looks like you are relying on the default Chew pairing system, but
the program is not sure whether you wanted to compute pairings for the upcoming
round based on the first or second preceding round.  You can resolve the
ambiguity by setting a value for the configuration variable 'session_breaks' in
your configuration file. 

This tries to explain the original, brief message. If neither the detailed explanation nor the related documentation is clear to you, please ask John to provide further clarification.

tsh Command Reference

All currently available tsh commands are listed below in tables for reference, grouped by function. Most users will not use most of these commands. Each command has a name which verbosely describes its purpose, but which can be abbreviated to the portion shown in capital letters as shown in its example. Most commands must be followed (on the same line, before pressing “return”) by one or more arguments. These arguments are represented in examples by names, which must be replaced by actual values. If you don’t enter correct arguments, tsh will tell you what the correct ones should be, and where it stopped understanding what you were typing. Within modal commands, the syntax of what you are supposed to type varies, but is usually shown in the prompt.

To take one case, the example for the “RoundStandings” command, which displays standings in a division as of a specified round, reads rs r d. This means that “RoundStandings” can be abbreviated to its capitalised letters “rs”, and that it must be followed by a round number and a division name. You would enter “rs 5 b” and press the “return” key to ask for Division B standings as of Round 5. If you have only one division in your tournament, you may omit division names as arguments to commands. In the preceding example, you would just enter “rs 5”.

If you can’t remember a player number, you may enter enough of the player’s last and/or first names to unambiguously identify them, joined by a comma. For example, if “Chew, John” is the only player who has “HEW” in their last name, then you can see his scorecard by typing “sc hew,”. The comma is optional if you include at least two letters from one of the player’s names. As of the current release, this is not consistently implemented in modal commands such as the “Addscore” command, where the comma is not optional.

Data Entry Commands

The following commands are used for entering tournament results, as well as checking and correcting them:

CommandExampleDescription
Addscorea r dBegin entering new game scores for round r, division d. This command is modal, and keeps prompting for scores until you press “return” on a line without scores.
CheckRoundScorescrs r dList all entered scores for round r, division d, to facilitate checking of data entry.
DELETEscoredelete p1 s1 p2 s2 r dDelete the previously entered scores s1 for player p1 and s2 for player p2 in round r division d. To delete a forfeit or bye, enter the spread as s1 and 0 for p2 and s2. This syntax is intentionally verbose to discourage the use of this command.
EditScorees d p rBegin editing previously entered game scores, starting with player p in round r, division d. This command is modal and fully documented in the data entry section.
MISSINGmissing r divList all players in division div whose round r scores have not yet been entered. If div is omitted, all divisions are included.
showScoreCardsc d pShow the correct scorecard for player p in division d, for checking.

Report Generation Commands

The following commands generate reports based on tournament results. You can use the “Browse” command to open your web browser to an index page showing what reports you have generated so far. The “BrowseLast” command opens your web browser to the most recent report that you requested, so that you can easily print it.

CommandExampleDescription
ABSPgridabsp [d...]Shows a results grid suitable for submission for ABSP ratings. Omit divisions unless you only want to submit results from some division.
AUPAIRaupair dCreates a .TOU file named for the division, containing ratings input information in AUPAIR.EXE format.
AVEragesave divList average scores for all players in a division.
HighCombinedhc n divList top n high combined scores in a division.
HighLosshl n divList top n high losing scores in a division.
HighRoundLosseshrl r1-r2 divList the high losing score in each round in a range of rounds in a division.
HighRoundWinshrl r1-r2 divList the high winning score in each round in a range of rounds in a division.
HighWinhw n divList top n high winning scores in a division.
LowLossll n divList bottom n low losing scores in a division.
LowWinlw n divList bottom n low winning scores in a division.
LUCKYstiffstiff n divList players according to the total of their n closest wins, the opposite of a TUFFluck prize.
PRiZesprizes dList all prizes to be awarded, based on current division standings.
RATingsrat dShow current division standings (with ratings estimates) for division d. See the “config rating_system” option.
ResultsByRoundrbr r1-r2 dRank players in division d based only on rounds r1 through r2, typically to compute “best results, day n” prizes.
ROSTERSrostersList all players, with their player numbers and ratings.
ROTOroto rList rotisserie standings as of round r (if omitted, the current round).
RoundHandiCaprhc r1-r2 dShow Thai handicaps in rounds r1–r2 for division d.
RoundRATingsrrat r1-r2 dShow standings with ratings estimates for division d as of round r2, and refresh report files for rounds r1 through r2-1. The “r1-” is optional.
RoundStandingsrs r dShow standings for division d as of round r.
ScoreBoardsb d rk1 rkn size cols secsCreate an HTML-only scoreboard showing what is going on in division d between ranks rk1 and rkn with player photos (where available) scaled to size pixels wide in cols columns refreshed automatically every secsseconds.
SHOW12show12 dList firsts and seconds for all players in a division.
ShowDivisionScoreCardssdsc dGenerate in HTML form the scorecards for every player in division d, for printing and distribution at the beginning of the tournament.
ShowManyPairingssmp r1-r2 dShow pairings for rounds r1-r2, division d.
ShowPairingssp r dShow pairings for round r, division d.
STandingsst dShow current standings for division d.
showRankedWallChartrwc dShow ranked wall chart for division d, as a summary of the entire tournament state.
showWallChartwc dShow correct wall chart for division d, to check against the physical chart.
SPITroastspit r dList UK rotisserie standings for division d as of round r.
STATisticSstatsReport on summary statistics for a tournament.
TeamStandingsts dShow current team standings for division d.
THAICASHthaicash r dShow Thai cash bonuses payable in round r for d.
TOTalScoretots divList players ranked according to the total number of points each has scored.
TotalTeamStandingsttsShow current total team standings across all divisions.
TUFFlucktuff n divList players according to the total of their n closest losses, for the NSA’s “Tuff Luck” prize.
UPSETsupset dShow ratings upsets for division d.

Pairing Commands

The following commands are used mainly for manually pairing rounds. You will need to know about them if you are configuring tsh before a tournament, or if you encounter an unexpected pairing situation and want to override automatic pairings. See the section on pairing theory for more detailed information about pairing systems.

CommandExampleDescription
BASDFinalbasdf r dAdd Round r of BASD final pairings to division d.
BASDSemibasds dAdd three rounds of BASD semifinal pairings to division d.
BRACKetpairbrack n dSet up pairings for single-elimination with n repeated pairings in each stage for division d.
CAMbridgePaircamp dSet up seven-round pairings as used in Cambridge ON for division d.
ChewPaircp sr dSet up Chew Pairings in division d based on round sr standings.
FactorPairfp rd rpt sr dPair players permitting rpt repeats based on sr standings in division d, optimally matching players whose ranks differ by rd.
GREENgreen dSet up pairings as used by John Green for division d.
GUELPHguelph dSet up pairings as used in Guelph ON CAN for division d.
InitFontesif nr dSet up fixed pairings for nr rounds (typically 3) in division d to give later Fontes pairings a place to start. Players are randomly chosen from quartiles and paired in round-robin quads.
KOTHkoth rpt sr dAdd king-of-the-hill pairings allowing rpt repeats (0 for none, 1 for simple repeats, 2 for threepeats), based on round sr standings in division d. To restrict the number of repeats after a certain round, e.g., KOTH pairings based on round 10 standings with no repeats after round 8, use koth 0>8 10 a.
LowerRoundRobinslrr rk rds dAdd rds rounds of round robin groups pairings to division d starting at rank rk, allowing any number of repeats.
NASTnast dAdd 4 or 5 rounds of fixed NAST pairings.
NewSwissns rpt sr dAdd a round of Swiss pairings. See KOTH above for descriptions of arguments.
PAIRpair p1 p2 r dManually pair players p1 and p2 in round r, division d. Use “0” as the player number of the opponent of a player with no opponent.
Pair1324p1324 rpt sr dPair 1–3, 2–4, 5–7, 6–8, and so on, i.e., factored pairings with factor two. See KOTH above for descriptions of arguments.
PairManypm r dBegin manually pairing a large number of players in round r, division d. This command is modal.
RandomPairrp rpt sr dAdd a round of random pairings to a division.
RoundRobinrr n dAdd a full round robin to a division. If n is specified, it is the number of times each player should play each opponent consecutively; n defaults to the value 1.
TeamRoundRobintrr n dPair each player in one team in division d with each player in the other. If n is specified, have them play eacah other n times in succession.
UnPairRoundupr r dDelete all round r pairings from division d. Only the last round’s pairings may be deleted, and only if no scores have been entered. Use DELETEscore to delete scores, or edit the “.t” files directly.

The following pairing commands are deprecated, but are listed in case there is anyone who is still using them. All of these commands have been replaced by NewSwiss, which produces much better quality Swiss pairings.

CommandExampleDescription
BYEbye p s r dDeprecated: use PAIR and Addscore instead.
PrePreSwissppsw rpt p1 p2 dDeprecated: use NewSwiss instead.
PRESWissppsw rpt p1 p2 dDeprecated: use NewSwiss instead.
SWisssw rpt sr dDeprecated: use NewSwiss instead.

Testing Commands

The following commands are used mostly for testing your tsh configuration before your tournament begins.

CommandExampleDescription
DEBUGdebug code levelTurns debugging for sections labelled with code on if level is 1 or off if 0. Examine the tsh source code to find applicable codes.
DRYrundry r dSimulates an entire tournament for a division, using random data and whatever pairings you have configured. If you specify a round number, the simulation begins after that round, and you must have exactly that many rounds completed in your data files. If you omit the round number or give it as 0, the simulation begins at the start of the tournament.
EVALeval codeEvaluate arbitary perl code. Use only if you know what you’re doing.
RANDomscoresrand d...Give each player in division d a random score, to help simulate a tournament’s pairing system. Entering more than one division acts on each division, entering a division name more than once adds more than one round’s worth of random data.
RESETEVERYTHINGreseteverythingDelete all pairings, scores, start information and board assignments from tournament data files, and delete all journal and print files. Use with extreme caution.
TRUNCATEROUNDStruncaterounds r dDiscards all data in a division after the given round (if 0, discard all data). Use with caution.

Miscellaneous Commands

And here all the commands which don’t fit into one of the above categories:

CommandExampleDescription
BrowsebOpens your web browser to the tournament report index.
BrowseLastblOpens your web browser to the last report you generated.
EXPORTRATINGSexportratingsCreates a copy of the ratings database used by the “USERATINGS” command including the results of the current tournament.
HELPhelp topicDisplays builtin documentation. topic is typically a command name.
HUHhuh codeGive a detailed explanation of a diagnostic message that included a [code].
LOOKl wordLook up word in dictionary. SOWPODS 2003 and TWL 2006 lexicon files available as a separate download.
QuitqQuit tsh.
SUBMITsubmitSubmit ratings data to the NSA web site.
TWEETtweet d p1 p2Report to twitter about how players ranked p1 through p2 are doing in division d.
UPDATEupdateUpdate tsh software using a web connection.
UPDATEPIXupdatepixUpdate the local photo database used by the “ShowPairings” command. Photos are copied from the local photo database into the ‘pix’ subdirectory of the event’ HTML directory when tsh starts up.
UpdatePLAYersuplayUpdate the player roster by referring to cross-tables.com. (Experimental)
UPDATERATINGSupdateratingsUpdate the ratings database used by the “USERATINGS” command, currently only available for the NSA realm.
USERATINGSuseratingsUpdate all player ratings using the ratings database most recently updated by the “UPDATERATINGS” command.

Plug-In Commands

There may also be external (plug-in) commands installed in your particular copy of tsh. These will be in a directory called ‘bin’, and listed in a configuration file there called ‘tshxcfg.txt’. They have been tested with OS/X (and should therefore work with most other flavours of Unix) and Windows XP, but may not work with more primitive operating systems. If not, you may still be able to use externals by running them separately from the command line. The following externals are part of the default distribution.

CommandExampleDescription
maketmmaketm divMake a TourneyMan data file for a division.
nsscnssc divList School Championship prizes for a division.
update-dictupdate-dictUpdate the lexica (word lists) used by the LOOK command.

Plug-In Commands

There are also a number of standalone utilities found in the “util/” directory, which are currently provided on an as-is basis. They are ‘standalone’ in that they have to be run in a separate window from tsh. Documentation will be provided here for any command upon request.

CommandExampleDescription
mirror-ftpmirror-ftp -u username -p password event-name...As long as it keeps running, this script will copy any of the files related to any of the named events (as with tsh, if no event is specified, the one with the most recently modified ‘config.tsh’ file is used) to an FTP server. To use this script with an event, the event must specify the following configuration parameters: “ftp_host”, “ftp_path”. It may also specify the parameters “ftp_username” and “ftp_password”, but it is strongly recommended that users use “-u” and “-p” to specify this information instead, and support for these configuration parameters will likely be removed in a future release of tsh. “util/mirror-ftp” uploads the following files: the event config.tsh file, each division’s ‘.t’ file, and the contents of the ‘html’ subdirectory of the event directory. Files ending in ‘.css, ‘.html’, ‘.htm’, ‘.t’ or ‘.txt’ are sent in text (ASCII) mode; others are transmitted in binary mode. “util/mirror-ftp” decides whether or not a file is stale and needs to be transmitted by comparing it to a zero-size file of the same name in ‘flags/event-name’ in the tsh directory.