EDA tool vendors and tool users may define tasks and functions specific to their tool, such as text output or waveform displays.

System tasks and functions begin with the $ (dollar sign).
Users may define additional built-in tasks and functions using the Verilog Programming Language Interface (PLI).
A few of the most common system tasks and functions are listed in this section.

Text Formatting Codes
%b %o %d %h %e %f %t	binary values octal values decimal values hex values real values-exponential real values-decimal formatted time values	%s %m \t \n \" \\ %%	character strings hierarchical names print a tab print a newline print a quote print a backslash print a percent sign
A zero in format codes (e.g.: %0d) displays the value using the minimum field width required. The %e and %f may specify the field width for both sides of the decimal point (e.g.: %5.2f)

$monitor("text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... );

Invokes a background process that continuously monitors the signals listed, and prints the formatted message whenever one of the signals changes. A newline is automatically added to the text printed.

$display("text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... );

Prints the formatted message once when the statement is executed during simulation. A newline is automatically added to the text printed.

$write("text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... );

Like $display statement, except that no newline is added.

$strobe("text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... );

Like the $display statement, except that the printing of the text is delayed until all simulation events in the current time step have executed.

mcd = $fopen("file_name");

A function that opens a disk file for writing, and returns a 32-bit integer multi-channel-descriptor (mcd) pointer to the file.

$fclose(mcd);

A function that closes a disk file that was opened by $fopen.

$monitor(mcd, "text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... ); $display(mcd, "text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... ); $write(mcd, "text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... ); $strobe(mcd, "text_with_format_specifiers", signal, signal, ... );

Variations of the text display tasks that write to files which have been opened with $fopen.

$time

Returns the current simulation time as a 64-bit integer.

$stime

Returns the lower 32-bits of simulation time as an integer.

$realtime

Returns the current simulation time as a real number.

$timeformat(unit, precision, "suffix", min_field_width);

Controls the format used by the %t text format specifier.

unit is the base that time is to be displayed in, from 0 to -15
precision is the number of decimal points to display.
suffix is a string appended to the time, such as " ns".
min_field_width is the minimum number of characters that will be displayed.

  0 =   1 sec
 -1 = 100 ms
 -2 =  10 ms
 -3 =   1 ms

 
 -4 = 100 us
 -5 =  10 us
 -6 =   1 us

 
 -7 = 100 ns
 -8 =  10 ns
 -9 =   1 ns

 
-10 = 100 ps
-11 =  10 ps
-12 =   1 ps

 
-13 = 100 fs
-14 =  10 fs
-15 =   1 fs

Example: $timeformat(-9, 2, " ns", 10);

$printtimescale(module_hierarchical_name);: Prints the time scale of the specified module, or the scope from which it is called if no module is specified.
$random(seed);: Returns a random 32-bit signed integer.
$readmemb("file_name", register_array, start, end); $readmemh("file_name", register_array, start, end);: Opens a file for reading, and loads the contents into a register memory array. The file must be an ASCII file with values represented in binary ($readmemb) or hex ($readmemh). The start and end address values are optional.
$finish;: Finishes a simulation and exits the simulation process.
$stop;: Halts a simulation and enters an interactive debug mode.