Property Specification /

Non-probabilistic Properties

PRISM also supports most operators from the temporal logic CTL [CE81], of which the probabilistic logics PCTL and CSL are an extension. CTL uses the A (for all) and E (there exists) operators, instead of the probabilistic P operator, to ask whether all (or some) paths from a state satisfy a particular path formula.

For example:

E [ F "goal" ]
A [ F "goal" ]

mean "there exists a path that reaches a state labelled with goal" and "all paths reach a state labelled with goal", respectively.

Similarly:

E [ G "inv" ]
A [ G "inv" ]

state that some path (or all paths) satisfy G "inv", meaning that label "inv" holds in every state along the path.

Counterexamples and Witnesses

If you check a property of the form A [ G "inv" ] and it is false, PRISM will generate a counterexample in the form of a path that reaches a state where "inv" is not true. This is displayed either in the simulator (from the GUI) or at the command-line. Similarly, if you check E [ F "goal" ] and the result is true, a witness (a path reaching a "goal" state) will be generated.

PRISM Manual

Property Specification

[ View all ]