---
name: "infnoise-entcheck"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "infnoise"
version: "0.3.3+dfsg-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/infnoise-entcheck"
---

# infnoise-entcheck(1)

estimates the entropy of a stream

## NAME

entcheck - estimates the entropy of a stream

## SYNOPSIS

**entcheck** \[**-N** \<*bits*\>\] \[**-s** \<*streams*\>\]

## DESCRIPTION

**entcheck** estimates the entropy of its standard input. It uses the previous *bits* bits (16 by default) to predict the next bit, and estimates the entropy based on the level of surprise, that is to say the base-2 logarithm of the probability of seeing the given string of bits.

In some scenarios, such as the output of an 8-bit DAC, some bits are special: entropy then needs to be predicted per bit over the width of the input data. The **-s** option sets the width of the input data in this case.

## OPTIONS

- **-N** \<*bits*\>

  specifies the number of *bits* to use to predict the next bit.

- **-s** \<*streams*\>

  specifies the number of streams to use.

## SEE ALSO

[**infnoise**(8)](/infnoise/8.md).