ffmpeg/doc/eval.texi

@chapter Expression Evaluation
@c man begin EXPRESSION EVALUATION

When evaluating an arithemetic expression, FFmpeg uses an internal
formula evaluator, implemented through the @file{libavutil/eval.h}
interface.

An expression may contain unary, binary operators, constants, and
functions.

Two expressions @var{expr1} and @var{expr2} can be combined to form
another expression "@var{expr1};@var{expr2}".
@var{expr1} and @var{expr2} are evaluated in turn, and the new
expression evaluates to the value of @var{expr2}.

The following binary operators are available: @code{+}, @code{-},
@code{*}, @code{/}, @code{^}.

The following unary operators are available: @code{+}, @code{-}.

The following functions are available:
@table @option
@item sinh(x)
@item cosh(x)
@item tanh(x)
@item sin(x)
@item cos(x)
@item tan(x)
@item atan(x)
@item asin(x)
@item acos(x)
@item exp(x)
@item log(x)
@item abs(x)
@item squish(x)
@item gauss(x)
@item isnan(x)
Return 1.0 if @var{x} is NAN, 0.0 otherwise.

@item mod(x, y)
@item max(x, y)
@item min(x, y)
@item eq(x, y)
@item gte(x, y)
@item gt(x, y)
@item lte(x, y)
@item lt(x, y)
@item st(var, expr)
Allow to store the value of the expression @var{expr} in an internal
variable. @var{var} specifies the number of the variable where to
store the value, and it is a value ranging from 0 to 9. The function
returns the value stored in the internal variable.

@item ld(var)
Allow to load the value of the internal variable with number
@var{var}, which was previosly stored with st(@var{var}, @var{expr}).
The function returns the loaded value.

@item while(cond, expr)
Evaluate expression @var{expr} while the expression @var{cond} is
non-zero, and returns the value of the last @var{expr} evaluation, or
NAN if @var{cond} was always false.
@end table

Note that:

@code{*} works like AND

@code{+} works like OR

thus
@example
if A then B else C
@end example
is equivalent to
@example
A*B + not(A)*C
@end example

When A evaluates to either 1 or 0, that is the same as
@example
A*B + eq(A,0)*C
@end example

In your C code, you can extend the list of unary and binary functions,
and define recognized constants, so that they are available for your
expressions.

The evaluator also recognizes the International System number
postfixes. If 'i' is appended after the postfix, powers of 2 are used
instead of powers of 10. The 'B' postfix multiplies the value for 8,
and can be appended after another postfix or used alone. This allows
using for example 'KB', 'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as postfix.

Follows the list of available International System postfixes, with
indication of the corresponding powers of 10 and of 2.
@table @option
@item y
-24 / -80
@item z
-21 / -70
@item a
-18 / -60
@item f
-15 / -50
@item p
-12 / -40
@item n
-9 / -30
@item u
-6 / -20
@item m
-3 / -10
@item c
-2
@item d
-1
@item h
2
@item k
3 / 10
@item K
3 / 10
@item M
6 / 20
@item G
9 / 30
@item T
12 / 40
@item P
15 / 40
@item E
18 / 50
@item Z
21 / 60
@item Y
24 / 70
@end table

@c man end