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M4(1)                                           User Commands                                          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
              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 (C) 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)