Synopsis
m4 [OPTION]... [FILE]...
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.
Operation modes: --help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit
-E, --fatal-warnings stop execution after first warning
-e, --interactive unbuffer output, ignore interrupts
-P, --prefix-builtins force a `m4_' prefix to all builtins
-Q, --quiet, --silent suppress some warnings for builtins
Preprocessor features: -D, --define=NAME[=VALUE] define NAME has having VALUE, or empty
-I, --include=DIRECTORY append DIRECTORY to include path
-s, --synclines generate `#line NUM "FILE"' lines
-U, --undefine=NAME undefine NAME
Limits control: -G, --traditional suppress all GNU extensions
-H, --hashsize=PRIME set symbol lookup hash table size [509]
-L, --nesting-limit=NUMBER change artificial nesting limit [1024]
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
Debugging: -d, --debug[=FLAGS] set debug level (no FLAGS implies `aeq')
-l, --arglength=NUM restrict macro tracing size
-o, --error-output=FILE redirect debug and trace output
-t, --trace=NAME trace NAME when it will be defined
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.
Author
Written by Rene' Seindal.
Reporting Bugs
Report bugs to bug-m4@gnu.org.
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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.
FSF August 2006 M4(1)