m4(1)


NAME

   m4 - macro processor

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
          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 \$\({[^}]*}\|[0-9][0-9]+\)

   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

   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]

   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')

   --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

   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
   GNU M4 home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/m4/>
   General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

COPYRIGHT

   Copyright    2013  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.

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.





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