1. NAME▲
m4 - macro processor
2. SYNOPSIS ▲
m4 [OPTION]... [FILE]...
3. DESCRIPTION ▲
Process macros in FILEs. If no FILE or if FILE is `-', standard input is read.
Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are mandatory or optional for short options too.
3.1. Operation modes: ▲
- --help
display this help and exit - --version
output version information and exit - -E, --fatal-warnings
once: warnings become errors, twice: stop execution at first error - -i, --interactive
unbuffer output, ignore interrupts - -P, --prefix-builtins
force a `m4_' prefix to all builtins - -Q, --quiet, --silent
suppress some warnings for builtins - --warn-macro-sequence[=REGEXP]
warn if macro definition matches REGEXP,
default \$\({[^}]*}\|[0-9][0-9]+\)
3.2. Preprocessor features: ▲
- -D, --define=NAME[=VALUE]
define NAME as having VALUE, or empty - -I, --include=DIRECTORY
append DIRECTORY to include path - -s, --synclines
generate `#line NUM "FILE"' lines - -U, --undefine=NAME
undefine NAME
3.3. Limits control: ▲
- -g, --gnu
override -G to re-enable GNU extensions - -G, --traditional
suppress all GNU extensions - -H, --hashsize=PRIME
set symbol lookup hash table size [509] - -L, --nesting-limit=NUMBER
change nesting limit, 0 for unlimited [0]
3.4. Frozen state files: ▲
- -F, --freeze-state=FILE
produce a frozen state on FILE at end - -R, --reload-state=FILE
reload a frozen state from FILE at start
3.5. Debugging: ▲
- -d, --debug[=FLAGS]
set debug level (no FLAGS implies `aeq') - --debugfile[=FILE]
redirect debug and trace output to FILE (default stderr, discard if empty string) - -l, --arglength=NUM
restrict macro tracing size - -t, --trace=NAME
trace NAME when it is defined
3.6. FLAGS is any of: ▲
- a
show actual arguments - c
show before collect, after collect and after call - e
show expansion - f
say current input file name - i
show changes in input files - l
say current input line number - p
show results of path searches - q
quote values as necessary, with a or e flag - t
trace for all macro calls, not only traceon'ed - x
add a unique macro call id, useful with c flag - V
shorthand for all of the above flags
If defined, the environment variable `M4PATH' is a colon-separated list of directories included after any specified by `-I'.
Exit status is 0 for success, 1 for failure, 63 for frozen file version mismatch, or whatever value was passed to the m4exit macro.
4. AUTHOR ▲
Written by Rene' Seindal.
5. REPORTING BUGS ▲
Report bugs to: GNU M4 home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/> General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
6. COPYRIGHT ▲
Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
7. SEE ALSO ▲
The full documentation for
m4 is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the
info and
m4 programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info m4
should give you access to the complete manual.