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1.1 root 1: .TH M4 1 "18 January 1983"
2: .SH NAME
3: m4 \- macro processor
4: .SH SYNOPSIS
5: .B m4
6: [ files ]
7: .SH DESCRIPTION
8: .I M4
9: is a macro processor intended as a front end for Ratfor, C, and other languages.
10: Each of the argument files is processed in order;
11: if there are no arguments, or if an argument is `\-',
12: the standard input is read.
13: The processed text is written on the standard output.
14: .PP
15: Macro calls have the form
16: .PP
17: name(arg1,arg2, . . . , argn)
18: .br
19: .PP
20: The `(' must immediately follow the name of the macro.
21: If a defined macro name is not followed by a `(',
22: it is deemed to have no arguments.
23: Leading unquoted blanks, tabs, and newlines are ignored while collecting
24: arguments. Potential macro names consist of alphabetic letters,
25: digits, and underscore `\_', where the first character is not a digit.
26: .PP
27: Left and right single quotes (\`\|\') are used to quote strings.
28: The value of a quoted string is the string stripped of the quotes.
29: .PP
30: When a macro name is recognized, its arguments are collected by searching
31: for a matching right parenthesis.
32: Macro evaluation proceeds normally during the collection of the arguments,
33: and any commas or right parentheses which happen to turn up within the value
34: of a nested call are as effective as those in the original input text.
35: After argument collection, the value of the macro is pushed back onto the
36: input stream and rescanned.
37: .PP
38: .I M4
39: makes available the following built-in macros.
40: They may be redefined, but once this is done the original meaning is lost.
41: Their values are null unless otherwise stated.
42: .TP 10
43: .B define
44: The second argument is installed as the value of the macro
45: whose name is the first argument.
46: Each occurrence of $\fIn\fR in the replacement text, where
47: .I n
48: is a digit, is replaced by the
49: .IR n -th
50: argument. Argument 0 is the name of the macro;
51: missing arguments are replaced by the null string.
52: .TP
53: .B undefine
54: removes the definition of the macro named in its argument.
55: .TP
56: .B ifdef
57: If the first argument is defined, the value is the second argument,
58: otherwise the third. If there is no third argument, the value is null.
59: The word
60: .I unix
61: is predefined on UNIX versions of
62: .IR m4 .
63: .TP
64: .B changequote
65: Change quote characters to the first and second arguments.
66: .I Changequote
67: without arguments restores the original values (i.e., \`\|\').
68: .TP
69: .B divert
70: .I M4
71: maintains 10 output streams, numbered 0-9.
72: The final output is the concatenation of the streams in numerical order;
73: initially stream 0 is the current stream. The
74: .I divert
75: macro changes the current output stream to its (digit-string) argument.
76: Output diverted to a stream other than 0 through 9 is discarded.
77: .TP
78: .B undivert
79: causes immediate output of text from diversions named as
80: arguments, or all diversions if no argument.
81: Text may be undiverted into another diversion.
82: Undiverting discards the diverted text.
83: .TP
84: .B divnum
85: returns the value of the current output stream.
86: .TP
87: .B dnl
88: reads and discards characters up to and including the next newline.
89: .TP
90: .B ifelse
91: has three or more arguments.
92: If the first argument is the same string as the second,
93: then the value is the third argument.
94: If not, and if there are more than four arguments, the process is repeated with arguments 4, 5, 6 and 7.
95: Otherwise, the value is either the fourth string, or, if it is not present,
96: null.
97: .TP
98: .B incr
99: returns the value of its argument incremented by 1.
100: The value of the argument is calculated
101: by interpreting an initial digit-string as a decimal number.
102: .TP
103: .B eval
104: evaluates its argument as an arithmetic expression, using 32-bit arithmetic.
105: Operators include +, \-, \(**, /, %, ^ (exponentiation); relationals;
106: parentheses.
107: .TP
108: .B len
109: returns the number of characters in its argument.
110: .TP
111: .B index
112: returns the position in its first argument where the second argument
113: begins (zero origin), or \-1 if the second argument does not occur.
114: .TP
115: .B substr
116: returns a substring of its first argument.
117: The second argument is a zero origin number selecting the first character;
118: the third argument indicates the length of the substring.
119: A missing third argument is taken to be large enough to extend to
120: the end of the first string.
121: .TP
122: .B translit
123: transliterates the characters in its first argument
124: from the set given by the second argument to the set given by the third.
125: No abbreviations are permitted.
126: .TP
127: .B include
128: returns the contents of the file named in the argument.
129: .TP
130: .B sinclude
131: is identical to
132: .I include,
133: except that it says nothing if the file is inaccessible.
134: .TP
135: .B syscmd
136: executes the UNIX command given in the first argument.
137: No value is returned.
138: .TP
139: .B maketemp
140: fills in a string of XXXXX in its argument with the current process id.
141: .TP
142: .B errprint
143: prints its argument on the diagnostic output file.
144: .TP
145: .B dumpdef
146: prints current names and definitions,
147: for the named items, or for all if no arguments are given.
148: .dt
149: .SH "SEE ALSO"
150: B. W. Kernighan and D. M. Ritchie,
151: .I The M4 Macro Processor
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