NAME
primes —
generate primes
SYNOPSIS
primes |
[-dh]
[start
[stop]] |
DESCRIPTION
The
primes utility prints primes in ascending order, one per
line, starting at or above
start and continuing until,
but not including
stop. The
start
value must be at least 0 and not greater than
stop. The
stop value must not be greater than 3825123056546413050.
The default value of
stop is 3825123056546413050.
When the
primes utility is invoked with no arguments,
start is read from standard input and
stop is taken to be 3825123056546413050. The
start value may be preceded by a single ‘+’.
The
start value is terminated by a non-digit character
(such as a newline). The input line must not be longer than 255 characters.
When given the
-d argument,
primes prints
the difference between the current and the previous prime.
When given the
-h argument,
primes prints
the prime numbers in hexadecimal.
DIAGNOSTICS
Out of range or invalid input results in an appropriate error message to
standard error.
AUTHORS
Originally by
Landon Curt Noll, extended to some 64-bit
primes by
Colin Percival.
CAVEATS
This
primes program won't get you a world record.
The program is not able to list primes between 3825123056546413050 and
18446744073709551615 (2^64 - 1) as it relies on strong pseudoprime tests after
sieving, and it is yet unknown how many of those tests are needed to prove
primality for integers larger than 3825123056546413050.