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Annotation of 43BSDTahoe/man/man1/m4.1, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .\"    @(#)m4.1        6.1 (Berkeley) 4/29/85
        !             2: .\"
        !             3: .TH M4 1 "April 29, 1985"
        !             4: .AT 3
        !             5: .SH NAME
        !             6: m4 \- macro processor
        !             7: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             8: .B m4
        !             9: [ files ]
        !            10: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            11: .I M4
        !            12: is a macro processor intended as a front end for Ratfor, C, and other languages.
        !            13: Each of the argument files is processed in order;
        !            14: if there are no arguments, or if an argument is `\-',
        !            15: the standard input is read.
        !            16: The processed text is written on the standard output.
        !            17: .PP
        !            18: Macro calls have the form
        !            19: .PP
        !            20:        name(arg1,arg2, . . . , argn)
        !            21: .br
        !            22: .PP
        !            23: The `(' must immediately follow the name of the macro.
        !            24: If a defined macro name is not followed by a `(',
        !            25: it is deemed to have no arguments.
        !            26: Leading unquoted blanks, tabs, and newlines are ignored while collecting
        !            27: arguments.  Potential macro names consist of alphabetic letters,
        !            28: digits, and underscore `\_', where the first character is not a digit.
        !            29: .PP
        !            30: Left and right single quotes (\`\|\') are used to quote strings.
        !            31: The value of a quoted string is the string stripped of the quotes.
        !            32: .PP
        !            33: When a macro name is recognized, its arguments are collected by searching
        !            34: for a matching right parenthesis.
        !            35: Macro evaluation proceeds normally during the collection of the arguments,
        !            36: and any commas or right parentheses which happen to turn up within the value
        !            37: of a nested call are as effective as those in the original input text.
        !            38: After argument collection, the value of the macro is pushed back onto the
        !            39: input stream and rescanned.
        !            40: .PP
        !            41: .I M4
        !            42: makes available the following built-in macros.
        !            43: They may be redefined, but once this is done the original meaning is lost.
        !            44: Their values are null unless otherwise stated.
        !            45: .TP 10
        !            46: .B define
        !            47: The second argument is installed as the value of the macro
        !            48: whose name is the first argument.
        !            49: Each occurrence of $\fIn\fR in the replacement text, where
        !            50: .I n
        !            51: is a digit, is replaced by the
        !            52: .IR n -th
        !            53: argument.  Argument 0 is the name of the macro;
        !            54: missing arguments are replaced by the null string.
        !            55: .TP
        !            56: .B undefine
        !            57: removes the definition of the macro named in its argument.
        !            58: .TP
        !            59: .B ifdef
        !            60: If the first argument is defined, the value is the second argument,
        !            61: otherwise the third.  If there is no third argument, the value is null.
        !            62: The word
        !            63: .I unix
        !            64: is predefined on UNIX versions of
        !            65: .IR m4 .
        !            66: .TP
        !            67: .B changequote
        !            68: Change quote characters to the first and second arguments.
        !            69: .I Changequote
        !            70: without arguments restores the original values (i.e., \`\|\').
        !            71: .TP
        !            72: .B divert
        !            73: .I M4
        !            74: maintains 10 output streams, numbered 0-9.
        !            75: The final output is the concatenation of the streams in numerical order;
        !            76: initially stream 0 is the current stream.  The
        !            77: .I divert
        !            78: macro changes the current output stream to its (digit-string) argument.
        !            79: Output diverted to a stream other than 0 through 9 is discarded.
        !            80: .TP
        !            81: .B undivert
        !            82: causes immediate output of text from diversions named as
        !            83: arguments, or all diversions if no argument.
        !            84: Text may be undiverted into another diversion.
        !            85: Undiverting discards the diverted text.
        !            86: .TP
        !            87: .B divnum
        !            88: returns the value of the current output stream.
        !            89: .TP
        !            90: .B dnl
        !            91: reads and discards characters up to and including the next newline.
        !            92: .TP
        !            93: .B ifelse
        !            94: has three or more arguments.
        !            95: If the first argument is the same string as the second,
        !            96: then the value is the third argument.
        !            97: If not, and if there are more than four arguments, the process is repeated with arguments 4, 5, 6 and 7.
        !            98: Otherwise, the value is either the fourth string, or, if it is not present,
        !            99: null.
        !           100: .TP
        !           101: .B incr
        !           102: returns the value of its argument incremented by 1.
        !           103: The value of the argument is calculated
        !           104: by interpreting an initial digit-string as a decimal number.
        !           105: .TP
        !           106: .B eval
        !           107: evaluates its argument as an arithmetic expression, using 32-bit arithmetic.
        !           108: Operators include +, \-, \(**, /, %, ^ (exponentiation); relationals;
        !           109: parentheses.
        !           110: .TP
        !           111: .B len
        !           112: returns the number of characters in its argument.
        !           113: .TP
        !           114: .B index
        !           115: returns the position in its first argument where the second argument
        !           116: begins (zero origin), or \-1 if the second argument does not occur.
        !           117: .TP
        !           118: .B substr
        !           119: returns a substring of its first argument.
        !           120: The second argument is a zero origin number selecting the first character;
        !           121: the third argument indicates the length of the substring.
        !           122: A missing third argument is taken to be large enough to extend to
        !           123: the end of the first string.
        !           124: .TP
        !           125: .B translit
        !           126: transliterates the characters in its first argument
        !           127: from the set given by the second argument to the set given by the third.
        !           128: No abbreviations are permitted.
        !           129: .TP
        !           130: .B include
        !           131: returns the contents of the file named in the argument.
        !           132: .TP
        !           133: .B sinclude
        !           134: is identical to
        !           135: .I include,
        !           136: except that it says nothing if the file is inaccessible.
        !           137: .TP
        !           138: .B syscmd
        !           139: executes the UNIX command given in the first argument.
        !           140: No value is returned.
        !           141: .TP
        !           142: .B maketemp
        !           143: fills in a string of XXXXX in its argument with the current process id.
        !           144: .TP
        !           145: .B errprint
        !           146: prints its argument on the diagnostic output file.
        !           147: .TP
        !           148: .B dumpdef
        !           149: prints current names and definitions,
        !           150: for the named items, or for all if no arguments are given.
        !           151: .dt
        !           152: .SH "SEE ALSO"
        !           153: B. W. Kernighan and D. M. Ritchie,
        !           154: .I The M4 Macro Processor

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