1M4(1)                            User Commands                           M4(1)
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NAME

6       m4 - macro processor
7

SYNOPSIS

9       m4 [OPTION]... [FILE]...
10

DESCRIPTION

12       Process  macros in FILEs.  If no FILE or if FILE is `-', standard input
13       is read.
14
15       Mandatory or optional  arguments  to  long  options  are  mandatory  or
16       optional for short options too.
17
18   Operation modes:
19       --help display this help and exit
20
21       --version
22              output version information and exit
23
24       -E, --fatal-warnings
25              once:  warnings  become  errors,  twice: stop execution at first
26              error
27
28       -i, --interactive
29              unbuffer output, ignore interrupts
30
31       -P, --prefix-builtins
32              force a `m4_' prefix to all builtins
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34       -Q, --quiet, --silent
35              suppress some warnings for builtins
36
37       --warn-macro-sequence[=REGEXP]
38              warn if macro definition matches REGEXP,
39
40              default \$\({[^}]*}\|[0-9][0-9]+\)
41
42   Preprocessor features:
43       -D, --define=NAME[=VALUE]
44              define NAME as having VALUE, or empty
45
46       -I, --include=DIRECTORY
47              append DIRECTORY to include path
48
49       -s, --synclines
50              generate `#line NUM "FILE"' lines
51
52       -U, --undefine=NAME
53              undefine NAME
54
55   Limits control:
56       -g, --gnu
57              override -G to re-enable GNU extensions
58
59       -G, --traditional
60              suppress all GNU extensions
61
62       -H, --hashsize=PRIME
63              set symbol lookup hash table size [509]
64
65       -L, --nesting-limit=NUMBER
66              change nesting limit, 0 for unlimited [0]
67
68   Frozen state files:
69       -F, --freeze-state=FILE
70              produce a frozen state on FILE at end
71
72       -R, --reload-state=FILE
73              reload a frozen state from FILE at start
74
75   Debugging:
76       -d, --debug[=FLAGS]
77              set debug level (no FLAGS implies `aeq')
78
79       --debugfile[=FILE]
80              redirect debug and trace output to FILE (default stderr, discard
81              if empty string)
82
83       -l, --arglength=NUM
84              restrict macro tracing size
85
86       -t, --trace=NAME
87              trace NAME when it is defined
88
89   FLAGS is any of:
90       a      show actual arguments
91
92       c      show before collect, after collect and after call
93
94       e      show expansion
95
96       f      say current input file name
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98       i      show changes in input files
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100       l      say current input line number
101
102       p      show results of path searches
103
104       q      quote values as necessary, with a or e flag
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106       t      trace for all macro calls, not only traceon'ed
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108       x      add a unique macro call id, useful with c flag
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110       V      shorthand for all of the above flags
111
112       If defined, the environment variable `M4PATH' is a colon-separated list
113       of directories included after any specified by `-I'.
114
115       Exit status is 0 for success, 1 for failure, 63 for frozen file version
116       mismatch, or whatever value was passed to the m4exit macro.
117

AUTHOR

119       Written by Rene' Seindal.
120

REPORTING BUGS

122       Report    bugs    to    <bug-m4@gnu.org>.     GNU    M4    home   page:
123       <http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/>.  General help  using  GNU  software:
124       <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>.
125
127       Copyright  ©  2009  Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
128       GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
129       This is free software: you are free  to  change  and  redistribute  it.
130       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
131

SEE ALSO

133       The  full  documentation  for m4 is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If
134       the info and m4 programs are properly installed at your site, the  com‐
135       mand
136
137              info m4
138
139       should give you access to the complete manual.
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143GNU M4 1.4.13                     March 2009                             M4(1)
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