PLGEN(1)

✨ PLGEN — the power-law sample generator, bestie ✨

okay so this is a page from the User Commands part of the manual, section 1, and it's all about a little program called plgen. it's giving "I make random numbers and I make them fabulous". let's get into it 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

plgen — generate samples from a power-law distribution 🦋

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

plgen [OPTIONS] num_samples gamma [kappa]

like... that's the whole vibe. you hand it a number, a gamma, and maybe a kappa, and it hands you back samples. iconic behavior fr fr.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so real talk: plgen generates a given number of samples from a power-law distribution, with an optional exponential cutoff. that's it, that's the job, and it does it gorgeously.

the pdf that's being sampled is, and I quote verbatim because I would never change a single character of math:

P(k) = C * k^(-gamma) * exp(-k/kappa)

where C is an appropriate normalization constant (it's just doing its little normalization thing, no notes).

so where do the values come from? bestie, keep up:

• gamma is given by the second command line argument. yes, positional. yes, it matters.
• kappa is given by the -k switch. so if you want that exponential cutoff, that's your girl.

no cap, if you skip kappa you're just getting the plain power-law with no cutoff. that's not a bug, that's a choice, and it's yours to make 💜

✨ OPTIONS ✨

one bullet per flag, because we are thorough and we are cute:

• -h — shows this help message. your little "what do I do" bestie. zero judgment 🫶
• -v — shows version information. gotta know what era of plgen you're living in ⭐
• -c — generate continuous samples. not discrete, not playing around. continuous 💫
• -k KAPPA — use exponential cutoff with kappa = KAPPA. this is the one that puts the exp in your pdf 🔥
• -o OFFSET — add OFFSET to each generated sample. every single one. shifting the whole squad over 🌈
• -s SEED — use SEED to seed the random number generator. for when you need your randomness to be, um, reproducible. the chaos is deterministic, slay 👑
• -x XMIN — generate a power-law distribution that starts at XMIN. sets the floor. nothing below this, periodt 🎀

🦋 that's a wrap 🦋

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this manual was brought to you by plfit, and it's dated July 2021 — so it's vintage at this point, honestly, and we respect our elders 🙈💖 go forth, generate samples, be the main character of your own distribution. mwah 💅✨