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

       -i, --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 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, --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)

       --debugfile=FILE
	      redirect debug and trace output

       -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 traceoned

       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 .

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  com
       mand

	      info m4

       should give you access to the complete manual.



FSF				 November 2006				 M4(1)