1M4(1) User Commands M4(1)
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6 m4 - macro processor
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9 m4 [OPTION]... [FILE]...
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12 Process macros in FILEs. If no FILE or if FILE is `-', standard input
13 is read.
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15 Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are mandatory or
16 optional for short options too.
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18 Operation modes:
19 --help display this help and exit
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21 --version
22 output version information and exit
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24 -E, --fatal-warnings
25 once: warnings become errors, twice: stop execution at first
26 error
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28 -i, --interactive
29 unbuffer output, ignore interrupts
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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
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37 --warn-macro-sequence[=REGEXP]
38 warn if macro definition matches REGEXP,
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40 default \$\({[^}]*}\|[0-9][0-9]+\)
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42 Preprocessor features:
43 -D, --define=NAME[=VALUE]
44 define NAME as having VALUE, or empty
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46 -I, --include=DIRECTORY
47 append DIRECTORY to include path
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49 -s, --synclines
50 generate `#line NUM "FILE"' lines
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52 -U, --undefine=NAME
53 undefine NAME
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55 Limits control:
56 -g, --gnu
57 override -G to re-enable GNU extensions
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59 -G, --traditional
60 suppress all GNU extensions
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62 -H, --hashsize=PRIME
63 set symbol lookup hash table size [509]
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65 -L, --nesting-limit=NUMBER
66 change nesting limit, 0 for unlimited [0]
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68 Frozen state files:
69 -F, --freeze-state=FILE
70 produce a frozen state on FILE at end
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72 -R, --reload-state=FILE
73 reload a frozen state from FILE at start
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75 Debugging:
76 -d, --debug[=FLAGS]
77 set debug level (no FLAGS implies `aeq')
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79 --debugfile[=FILE]
80 redirect debug and trace output to FILE (default stderr, discard
81 if empty string)
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83 -l, --arglength=NUM
84 restrict macro tracing size
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86 -t, --trace=NAME
87 trace NAME when it is defined
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89 FLAGS is any of:
90 a show actual arguments
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92 c show before collect, after collect and after call
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94 e show expansion
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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
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102 p show results of path searches
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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
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112 If defined, the environment variable `M4PATH' is a colon-separated list
113 of directories included after any specified by `-I'.
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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.
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119 Written by Rene' Seindal.
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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/>.
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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.
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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
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137 info m4
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139 should give you access to the complete manual.
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143GNU M4 1.4.13 March 2009 M4(1)