a2p
accept
access
acct
addftinfo
addr2line
adjtime
afmtodit
after
aio_cancel
aio_error
aio_read
aio_return
aio_suspend
aio_waitcomplete
aio_write
alias
aliases
alloc
anvil
append
apply
apropos
ar
array
as
asa
asn1parse
at
atq
atrm
attemptckalloc
attemptckrealloc
authlib
authtest
autopoint
awk
b64decode
b64encode
basename
batch
bc
bdes
bell
bg
bgerror
biff
big5
binary
bind
bindkey
bindtags
bindtextdomain
bio
bitmap
blowfish
bn
bootparams
bootptab
bounce
brandelf
break
breaksw
brk
bsdiff
bsdtar
bsnmpd
bspatch
bthost
btsockstat
buffer
builtin
builtins
bunzip2
button
byacc
bzcat
bzegrep
bzfgrep
bzgrep
bzip2
c2ph
c89
c99
ca
cal
calendar
canvas
cap_mkdb
case
cat
catch
catman
cc
cd
cdcontrol
chdir
checkbutton
checknr
chflags
chfn
chgrp
chio
chkey
chmod
chown
chpass
chroot
chsh
ci
ciphers
ckalloc
ckdist
ckfree
ckrealloc
cksum
cleanup
clear
clipboard
clock
clock_getres
clock_gettime
clock_settime
close
cmp
co
col
colcrt
colldef
colors
colrm
column
comm
command
compile_et
complete
compress
concat
config
connect
console
continue
core
courierlogger
couriertcpd
cp
cpan
cpio
cpp
creat
crl
crontab
crunchgen
crunchide
crypt
crypto
csh
csplit
ctags
ctm
ctm_dequeue
ctm_rmail
ctm_smail
cu
cursor
cursors
cut
cvs
date
dbiprof
dbiproxy
dc
dcgettext
dcngettext
dd
dde
default
defer
deliverquota
des
destroy
devfs
df
dgettext
dgst
dh
dhparam
dialog
diff
diff3
dig
dir
dirent
dirname
dirs
discard
disktab
dngettext
do
domainname
done
dprofpp
dsa
dsaparam
dtmfdecode
du
dup
dup2
eaccess
ec
ecdsa
echo
echotc
ecparam
ed
edit
editrc
ee
egrep
elf
elfdump
elif
else
enc
enc2xs
encoding
end
endif
endsw
engine
enigma
entry
env
envsubst
eof
eqn
err
errno
error
errstr
esac
ethers
euc
eui64
eval
event
evp
ex
exec
execve
exit
expand
export
exports
expr
extattr
extattr_delete_fd
extattr_delete_file
extattr_get_fd
extattr_get_file
extattr_set_fd
extattr_set_file
f77
false
famm
famx
fblocked
fbtab
fc
fchdir
fchflags
fchmod
fchown
fcntl
fconfigure
fcopy
fdescfs
fdformat
fdread
fdwrite
fetch
fg
fgrep
fhopen
fhstat
fhstatfs
fi
file
file2c
fileevent
filename
filetest
find
find2perl
finger
flex
flock
flush
fmt
focus
fold
font
fontedit
for
foreach
fork
format
forward
fpathconf
frame
from
fs
fstab
fstat
fstatfs
fsync
ftp
ftpchroot
ftpusers
ftruncate
futimes
g711conv
gb2312
gb18030
gbk
gcc
gcore
gcov
gdb
gencat
gendsa
genrsa
gensnmptree
getconf
getdents
getdirentries
getdtablesize
getegid
geteuid
getfacl
getfh
getfsstat
getgid
getgroups
getitimer
getlogin
getopt
getopts
getpeername
getpgid
getpgrp
getpid
getppid
getpriority
getresgid
getresuid
getrlimit
getrusage
gets
getsid
getsockname
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gettext
gettextize
gettimeofday
gettytab
getuid
glob
global
gmake
goto
gperf
gprof
grab
grep
grid
grn
grodvi
groff
groff_font
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groff_tmac
grog
grolbp
grolj4
grops
grotty
group
groups
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gzcat
gzexe
gzip
h2ph
h2xs
hash
hashstat
hd
head
help2man
hesinfo
hexdump
history
host
hostname
hosts
hosts_access
hosts_options
hpftodit
http
hup
i386_get_ioperm
i386_get_ldt
i386_set_ioperm
i386_set_ldt
i386_vm86
iconv
id
ident
idprio
if
ifnames253
ifnames259
image
imapd
incr
indent
indxbib
info
infokey
inode
install
instmodsh
interp
intro
introduction
ioctl
ipcrm
ipcs
ipf
ipftest
ipnat
ippool
ipresend
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jail_attach
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jot
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keysyms
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kill
killall
killpg
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kldsym
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kse
kse_create
kse_exit
kse_release
kse_switchin
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kse_wakeup
ktrace
label
labelframe
lam
lappend
last
lastcomm
lastlog
lchflags
lchmod
lchown
ld
ldap
ldapadd
ldapcompare
ldapdelete
ldapmodify
ldapmodrdn
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ldapsearch
ldapwhoami
ldd
leave
less
lesskey
lex
lgetfh
lhash
libnetcfg
library
limit
limits
lindex
link
linprocfs
linsert
lint
lio_listio
list
listbox
listen
lj4_font
lkbib
llength
lmtp
ln
load
loadfont
local
locale
locate
lock
lockf
log
logger
login
logins
logname
logout
look
lookbib
lorder
lower
lp
lpq
lpr
lprm
lptest
lrange
lreplace
ls
lsearch
lseek
lset
lsort
lstat
lsvfs
lutimes
lynx
m4
madvise
magic
mail
maildiracl
maildirkw
maildirmake
mailq
mailx
make
makeinfo
makewhatis
man
manpath
master
mc
mcedit
mcview
md2
md4
md5
mdc2
memory
menu
menubar
menubutton
merge
mesg
message
mincore
minherit
minigzip
mkdep
mkdir
mkfifo
mkimapdcert
mklocale
mknod
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mkstr
mktemp
mlock
mlockall
mmap
mmroff
modfind
modfnext
modnext
modstat
moduli
more
motd
mount
mprotect
mptable
msdos
msdosfs
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msgcat
msgcmp
msgcomm
msgconv
msgen
msgexec
msgfilter
msgfmt
msggrep
msginit
msgmerge
msgs
msgunfmt
msguniq
mskanji
msql2mysql
msync
mt
munlock
munlockall
munmap
mv
myisamchk
myisamlog
myisampack
mysql
mysqlaccess
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mysqlhotcopy
mysqlimport
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mysql_config
mysql_fix_privilege_tables
mysql_zap
namespace
nanosleep
nawk
nc
ncal
ncplist
ncplogin
ncplogout
neqn
netconfig
netgroup
netid
netstat
networks
newaliases
newgrp
nex
nfsstat
nfssvc
ngettext
nice
nl
nm
nmount
nohup
nologin
notify
nroff
nseq
nslookup
ntp_adjtime
ntp_gettime
nvi
nview
objcopy
objdump
objformat
ocsp
od
onintr
open
openssl
opieaccess
opieinfo
opiekey
opiekeys
opiepasswd
option
options
oqmgr
pack
package
packagens
pagesize
palette
pam_auth
panedwindow
parray
passwd
paste
patch
pathchk
pathconf
pawd
pax
pbm
pcre
pcreapi
pcrebuild
pcrecallout
pcrecompat
pcrecpp
pcregrep
pcrematching
pcrepartial
pcrepattern
pcreperform
pcreposix
pcreprecompile
pcresample
pcretest
perl
perl56delta
perl58delta
perl561delta
perl570delta
perl571delta
perl572delta
perl573delta
perl581delta
perl582delta
perl583delta
perl584delta
perl585delta
perl586delta
perl587delta
perl588delta
perl5004delta
perl5005delta
perlaix
perlamiga
perlapi
perlapio
perlapollo
perlartistic
perlbeos
perlbook
perlboot
perlbot
perlbs2000
perlbug
perlcall
perlcc
perlce
perlcheat
perlclib
perlcn
perlcompile
perlcygwin
perldata
perldbmfilter
perldebguts
perldebtut
perldebug
perldelta
perldgux
perldiag
perldoc
perldos
perldsc
perlebcdic
perlembed
perlepoc
perlfaq
perlfaq1
perlfaq2
perlfaq3
perlfaq4
perlfaq5
perlfaq6
perlfaq7
perlfaq8
perlfaq9
perlfilter
perlfork
perlform
perlfreebsd
perlfunc
perlglossary
perlgpl
perlguts
perlhack
perlhist
perlhpux
perlhurd
perlintern
perlintro
perliol
perlipc
perlirix
perlivp
perljp
perlko
perllexwarn
perllinux
perllocale
perllol
perlmachten
perlmacos
perlmacosx
perlmint
perlmod
perlmodinstall
perlmodlib
perlmodstyle
perlmpeix
perlnetware
perlnewmod
perlnumber
perlobj
perlop
perlopenbsd
perlopentut
perlos2
perlos390
perlos400
perlothrtut
perlpacktut
perlplan9
perlpod
perlpodspec
perlport
perlqnx
perlre
perlref
perlreftut
perlrequick
perlreref
perlretut
perlrun
perlsec
perlsolaris
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perlsub
perlsyn
perlthrtut
perltie
perltoc
perltodo
perltooc
perltoot
perltrap
perltru64
perltw
perlunicode
perluniintro
perlutil
perluts
perlvar
perlvmesa
perlvms
perlvos
perlwin32
perlxs
perlxstut
perror
pfbtops
pftp
pgrep
phones
photo
pic
pickup
piconv
pid
pipe
pkcs7
pkcs8
pkcs12
pkg_add
pkg_check
pkg_create
pkg_delete
pkg_info
pkg_sign
pkg_version
pkill
pl2pm
place
pod2html
pod2latex
pod2man
pod2text
pod2usage
podchecker
podselect
poll
popd
popup
posix_madvise
postalias
postcat
postconf
postdrop
postfix
postkick
postlock
postlog
postmap
postqueue
postsuper
pr
pread
preadv
printcap
printenv
printf
proc
procfs
profil
protocols
prove
proxymap
ps
psed
psroff
pstruct
ptrace
publickey
pushd
puts
pwd
pwrite
pwritev
qmgr
qmqpd
quota
quotactl
radiobutton
raise
rand
ranlib
rcp
rcs
rcsclean
rcsdiff
rcsfile
rcsfreeze
rcsintro
rcsmerge
read
readelf
readlink
readonly
readv
realpath
reboot
recv
recvfrom
recvmsg
red
ree
refer
regexp
registry
regsub
rehash
remote
rename
repeat
replace
req
reset
resolver
resource
return
rev
revoke
rfcomm_sppd
rfork
rhosts
ripemd
ripemd160
rlog
rlogin
rm
rmd160
rmdir
rpc
rpcgen
rs
rsa
rsautl
rsh
rtld
rtprio
rup
ruptime
rusers
rwall
rwho
s2p
safe
sasl
sasldblistusers2
saslpasswd2
sbrk
scache
scale
scan
sched
sched_getparam
sched_getscheduler
sched_get_priority_max
sched_get_priority_min
sched_rr_get_interval
sched_setparam
sched_setscheduler
sched_yield
scon
scp
script
scrollbar
sdiff
sed
seek
select
selection
semctl
semget
semop
send
sendbug
sendfile
sendmail
sendmsg
sendto
services
sess_id
set
setegid
setenv
seteuid
setfacl
setgid
setgroups
setitimer
setlogin
setpgid
setpgrp
setpriority
setregid
setresgid
setresuid
setreuid
setrlimit
setsid
setsockopt
settc
settimeofday
setty
setuid
setvar
sftp
sh
sha
sha1
sha256
shar
shells
shift
shmat
shmctl
shmdt
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showq
shutdown
sigaction
sigaltstack
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sigreturn
sigsetmask
sigstack
sigsuspend
sigvec
sigwait
size
slapadd
slapcat
slapd
slapdn
slapindex
slappasswd
slaptest
sleep
slogin
slurpd
smbutil
smime
smtp
smtpd
socket
socketpair
sockstat
soelim
sort
source
spawn
speed
spinbox
spkac
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split
squid
squid_ldap_auth
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sscop
ssh
sshd_config
ssh_config
stab
startslip
stat
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strings
strip
stty
su
subst
sum
suspend
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symlink
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syscall
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s_client
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talk
tar
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tcsh
tee
tell
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termcap
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test
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_exit
__syscall
 
FreeBSD/Linux/UNIX General Commands Manual
Hypertext Man Pages
m4
 
M4(1)			FreeBSD General Commands Manual 		 M4(1)

NAME
     m4 -- macro language processor

SYNOPSIS
     m4 [-d flags] [-t name] [-gs] [-D name[=value]] [-U name] [-I dirname]
	[file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     The m4 utility is a macro processor that can be used as a front end to
     any language (e.g., C, ratfor, fortran, lex, and yacc).  The m4 utility
     reads from the standard input and writes the processed text to the stan-
     dard output.

     Macro calls have the form name(argument1[, argument2, ..., argumentN]).

     There cannot be any space following the macro name and the open parenthe-
     sis (`(').  If the macro name is not followed by an open parenthesis it
     is processed with no arguments.

     Macro names consist of a leading alphabetic or underscore possibly fol-
     lowed by alphanumeric or underscore characters, e.g., valid macro names
     match the pattern ``[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*''.

     In arguments to macros, leading unquoted space, tab, and newline (`\n')
     characters are ignored.  To quote strings, use left and right single
     quotes (e.g., ` this is a string with a leading space').  You can change
     the quote characters with the changequote built-in macro.

     Most built-ins do not make any sense without arguments, and hence are not
     recognized as special when not followed by an open parenthesis.

     The options are as follows:

     -s      Emit #line directives for cpp(1).

     -D name[=value]
	     Define the symbol name to have some value (or NULL).

     -U name
	     Undefine the symbol name.

     -I dirname
	     Add directory dirname to the include path.

     -d flags
	     Set trace flags.  The flags argument may hold the following:

	     a	     print macro arguments
	     c	     print macro expansion over several lines
	     e	     print result of macro expansion
	     f	     print filename location
	     l	     print line number
	     q	     quote arguments and expansion with the current quotes
	     t	     start with all macros traced
	     x	     number macro expansions
	     V	     turn on all options

	     By default, trace is set to eq.

     -t macro
	     Turn tracing on for macro.

     -g      Activate GNU-m4 compatibility mode.  In this mode, changequote
	     with two empty parameters deactivates quotes, translit handles
	     simple character ranges (e.g., a-z), regular expressions mimic
	     emacs(1) behavior, and the number of diversions is unlimited.

SYNTAX
     The m4 utility provides the following built-in macros.  They may be rede-
     fined, losing their original meaning.  Return values are null unless oth-
     erwise stated.

     builtin	  Calls a built-in by its name, overriding possible redefini-
		  tions.

     changecom	  Changes the start and end comment sequences.	The default is
		  the pound sign (`#') and the newline character.  With no
		  arguments, the comment sequence is reset to the default, in
		  GNU m4 mode, comments are turned off.  The maximum length
		  for a comment marker is five characters.

     changequote  Defines the quote symbols to be the first and second argu-
		  ments.  The symbols may be up to five characters long.  If
		  no arguments are given it restores the default open and
		  close single quotes.

     decr	  Decrements the argument by 1.  The argument must be a valid
		  numeric string.

     define	  Define a new macro named by the first argument to have the
		  value of the second argument.  Each occurrence of `$n'
		  (where n is 0 through 9) is replaced by the n'th argument.
		  `$0' is the name of the calling macro.  Undefined arguments
		  are replaced by a null string.  `$#' is replaced by the num-
		  ber of arguments; `$*' is replaced by all arguments comma
		  separated; `$@' is the same as `$*' but all arguments are
		  quoted against further expansion.

     defn	  Returns the quoted definition for each argument.  This can
		  be used to rename macro definitions (even for built-in
		  macros).

     divert	  There are 10 output queues (numbered 0-9).  At the end of
		  processing m4 concatenates all the queues in numerical order
		  to produce the final output.	Initially the output queue is
		  0.  The divert macro allows you to select a new output queue
		  (an invalid argument passed to divert causes output to be
		  discarded).

     divnum	  Returns the current output queue number.

     dnl	  Discards input characters up to and including the next new-
		  line.

     dumpdef	  Prints the names and definitions for the named items, or for
		  everything if no arguments are passed.

     errprint	  Prints the first argument on the standard error output
		  stream.

     esyscmd	  Passes its first argument to a shell and returns the shell's
		  standard output.  Note that the shell shares its standard
		  input and standard error with m4.

     eval	  Computes the first argument as an arithmetic expression
		  using 32-bit arithmetic.  Operators are the standard C
		  ternary, arithmetic, logical, shift, relational, bitwise,
		  and parentheses operators.  You can specify octal, decimal,
		  and hexadecimal numbers as in C.  The second argument (if
		  any) specifies the radix for the result, and the third argu-
		  ment (if any) specifies the minimum number of digits in the
		  result.

     expr	  This is an alias for eval.

     ifdef	  If the macro named by the first argument is defined then
		  return the second argument, otherwise the third.  If there
		  is no third argument, the value is NULL.  The word unix is
		  predefined.

     ifelse	  If the first argument matches the second argument then
		  ifelse returns the third argument.  If the match fails, the
		  three arguments are discarded and the next three arguments
		  are used until there is zero or one arguments left, either
		  this last argument or NULL is returned if no other matches
		  were found.

     include	  Returns the contents of the file specified in the first
		  argument.  If the file is not found as is, look through the
		  include path: first the directories specified with -I on the
		  command line, then the environment variable M4PATH, as a
		  colon-separated list of directories.	Aborts with an error
		  message if the file cannot be included.

     incr	  Increments the argument by 1.  The argument must be a valid
		  numeric string.

     index	  Returns the index of the second argument in the first argu-
		  ment (e.g., index(the quick brown fox jumped, fox) returns
		  16).	If the second argument is not found, index returns -1.

     indir	  Indirectly calls the macro whose name is passed as the first
		  arguments, with the remaining arguments passed as first,
		  etc. arguments.

     len	  Returns the number of characters in the first argument.
		  Extra arguments are ignored.

     m4exit	  Immediately exits with the return value specified by the
		  first argument, 0 if none.

     m4wrap	  Allows you to define what happens at the final EOF, usually
		  for cleanup purposes (e.g., m4wrap(cleanup(tempfile)) causes
		  the macro cleanup to be invoked after all other processing
		  is done).

     maketemp	  Translates the string ``XXXXX'' in the first argument with
		  the current process ID leaving other characters alone.  This
		  can be used to create unique temporary file names.

     paste	  Includes the contents of the file specified by the first
		  argument without any macro processing.  Aborts with an error
		  message if the file cannot be included.

     patsubst	  Substitutes a regular expression in a string with a replace-
		  ment string.	Usual substitution patterns apply: an amper-
		  sand (`&') is replaced by the string matching the regular
		  expression.  The string `\#', where # is a digit, is
		  replaced by the corresponding back-reference.

     popdef	  Restores the pushdefed definition for each argument.

     pushdef	  Takes the same arguments as define, but it saves the defini-
		  tion on a stack for later retrieval by popdef.

     regexp	  Finds a regular expression in a string.  If no further argu-
		  ments are given, it returns the first match position or -1
		  if no match.	If a third argument is provided, it returns
		  the replacement string, with sub-patterns replaced.

     shift	  Returns all but the first argument, the remaining arguments
		  are quoted and pushed back with commas in between.  The
		  quoting nullifies the effect of the extra scan that will
		  subsequently be performed.

     sinclude	  Similar to include, except it ignores any errors.

     spaste	  Similar to paste, except it ignores any errors.

     substr	  Returns a substring of the first argument starting at the
		  offset specified by the second argument and the length spec-
		  ified by the third argument.	If no third argument is
		  present it returns the rest of the string.

     syscmd	  Passes the first argument to the shell.  Nothing is
		  returned.

     sysval	  Returns the return value from the last syscmd.

     traceon	  Enables tracing of macro expansions for the given arguments,
		  or for all macros if no argument is given.

     traceoff	  Disables tracing of macro expansions for the given argu-
		  ments, or for all macros if no argument is given.

     translit	  Transliterate the characters in the first argument from the
		  set given by the second argument to the set given by the
		  third.  You cannot use tr(1) style abbreviations.

     undefine	  Removes the definition for the macros specified by its argu-
		  ments.

     undivert	  Flushes the named output queues (or all queues if no argu-
		  ments).

     unix	  A pre-defined macro for testing the OS platform.

     __line__	  Returns the current file's line number.

     __file__	  Returns the current file's name.

EXIT STATUS
     The m4 utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

     The m4exit macro may be used to change the exit status from the input
     file.

COMPATIBILITY
     The m4 utility follows the Version 2 of the Single UNIX Specification
     (``SUSv2''), along with a few extensions taken from GNU-m4.  Flags -I,
     -d, and -t are non-standard.

     The output format of tracing and of dumpdef are not specified in any
     standard, are likely to change and should not be relied upon.  The cur-
     rent format of tracing is closely modeled on GNU-m4, to allow autoconf to
     work.

     For portability, one should not use the macros builtin, esyscmd, expr,
     indir, paste, patsubst, regexp, spaste, unix, __line__, and __file__.

     All built-ins do expand without arguments in many other m4 implementa-
     tions.

     Many other m4 implementations have dire size limitations with respect to
     buffer sizes.

STANDARDS
     The m4 utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'').

HISTORY
     An m4 command appeared in PWB UNIX.

AUTHORS
     Ozan Yigit  and Richard A. O'Keefe
     .  GNU-m4 compatibility extensions by Marc Espie
     .

BUGS
     The m4 utility does not recognize multibyte characters.

FreeBSD 6.1			 July 3, 2004			   FreeBSD 6.1
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