units
Shares rank 42 of 86 privilege escalation tools by recommenders
A free command-line unit converter that people recommend for quick conversions in the terminal, with a wide range of built-in units.
A free command-line unit converter that people recommend for quick conversions in the terminal, with a wide range of built-in units.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Quick conversions from the terminal
“The output format is weird. I recommend `units --one-line` (or `units -1` for short).”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “We can't send mail farther than 500 miles (2002)” “Python or units[1] is always a better choice if I'm near a computer”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still physical calculators?” Free, well-liked command-line tool
“Units is a cool piece of software, but I have since switched to qalculate.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “We can't send mail farther than 500 miles (2002)” “GNU units work well enough for me”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “But can your calculator run Linux?”
Other privilege escalation tools people recommend
The four most recommended other privilege escalation tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 86 privilege escalation tools, rankedWhat people said
8 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“GNU units work well enough for me”
“I think your interface is a bit inconsistent, this is why people ask that question.”
“Python or units[1] is always a better choice if I'm near a computer”
“The output format is weird. I recommend `units --one-line` (or `units -1` for short).”
“Units is a cool piece of software, but I have since switched to qalculate.”
“If I use "units" the resulting calculations are reversed.”
“It has it in the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/units”
“500+ unit conversions with bulk tables and calculators”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.