FILEPP(1)FILEPP(1)NAMEfilepp - A generic file preprocessor
SYNOPSISfilepp [options] filename(s)DESCRIPTIONfilepp is a generic file preprocessor designed to allow the functional‐
ity provided by the C preprocessor cpp(1) to be used with any file
type. filepp is designed to be easily customised and extended.
OPTIONSfilepp accepts the following command line options:
-b Suppress blank lines originating from include files (this has no
effect on the top-level file).
-c Read input from STDIN instead of a file. Note: if both -c and
input files are specified, both are used as inputs in the order
given.
-Dmacro
Predefine macro to have a definition of `1'.
-Dmacro=defn
Predefine macro to have a definition of defn.
-d Output debugging information.
-dd Output verbose debugging information. This option shows all
normal debugging information, plus the full list of defined
macros every time the list changes.
-dl Output light debugging information. This option shows minimal
debugging information.
-dprechar
Prefix all debugging information with char (can be character or
string), can be used to make debugging easier to read.
-dpostchar
Postfix all debugging information with char (can be character or
string), this defaults to a newline. If char does not contain a
newline, then no newline will be printed after debugging mes‐
sages. (Newlines can be put in char using the __NEWLINE__
macro.)
-ds Print debugging info on stdout rather than stderr.
-e Define all environment variables as macros with prefix envchar.
-ec char
Set envchar (prefix of environment variables defined as macros)
to char, defaults to $. (Note: this option only takes effect at
the time the environment variables are converted to macros).
-ecn Set envchar (prefix of environment variables defined as macros)
to nothing (no prefix).
-h Show summary of options.
-Idir Append directory dir to the list of directories searched for
include files.
-imacros file
Reads in macros from file, but discards everything else in the
file.
-k Turn off parsing of all keywords. This is useful if you just
want to use the macro expansion facilities of filepp. With this
option all keywords found will be ignored, filepp will just
replace any macros specified with the -Dmacro=defn option.
-kc char
Set keyword prefix character to char (can also be a string).
All filepp keywords are prefixed with the character # by
default. This option allows the prefix to be changed to some‐
thing else.
-lc char
Set line continuation character to char (can also be a string).
When the line continuation character is found with a newline
following it, it and the newline are replaced by the line con‐
tinuation replacement character. Default is \ (cpp(1) style).
-lec char
Set optional keyword line end character to char (can also be a
string). This allows extra characters to be placed at the end
of a line containing a keyword. The extra characters will be
ignored. This is useful if keywords are to be embedded in HTML
or C style comments. For example, to embed keywords in an HTML
comment the keyword prefix character could be set to <--!# and
the optional keyword line end character set to -->. An example
keyword would then be:
<!--#include "header.h" -->
In the case the optional keyword line end characters --> would
be ignored.
-lr char
Set line continuation replacement character to char (can also be
a string). Default is a null string (cpp(1) style).
-lrn Set line continuation replacement character to be a newline.
-m module.pm
Load module module.pm. module.pm is a perl(1) module which can
be used to extend or modify the behaviour of filepp. See sec‐
tion FILEPP MODULES for details of modules included with filepp
and FILEPP MODULE API for details on how to write your own mod‐
ules.
-Mdir Append directory dir to the list of directories searched for
filepp modules. This list defaults to the directory the filepp
modules are installed (if any) plus the default Perl module
paths. (Note: this adds the directory to the Perl @INC list.)
-mp char
Prefix all macros with char. Macros are defined in the normal
way, but will only be replaced when found prefixed with char.
For example, filepp macros will behave similar to Bourne shell
(sh(1)) variables if char is set to $.
-mpnk Turns off macro prefixes within keywords. When using a macro
prefix character this option allows macros to be used without
the prefix in keyword processing. For example, if the macro
prefix is $ then and #if would be written as:
#if $MACRO == 1
Using the mpnk option allows the #if to be written as:
#if MACRO == 1
-o name
Write output to name instead of STDOUT. If there is only one
input file and it has the same name as the output file, the
original input file will be backed-up as name~.
-ov Overwrite mode, causes the output file to overwrite the input
file. Useful when modifying a large number of files at once,
eg:
filepp-ov -DTHIS=THAT *
The original input file(s) will be backed-up as name~.
-ovc IN=OUT
Similar to overwrite mode, the difference is the output filename
is input filename with IN part converted to OUT. For example,
to process a set of files all ending with .in and have the out‐
put files all ending in .out do:
filepp-ovc .in=.out *.in
In this case a file called test.in will be processed and the
output file will be test.out. Note: if the input file does not
contain IN then the output file will have the same name as the
input file and the original input file(s) will be backed-up as
name~!
-pb Preserve blank lines. Using this option attempts to keep as
many lines in the output file as are in the input file, so all
blank lines which normally would not get printed are printed.
Useful when comparing intput file with output.
-re Treat keyword and macro prefix characters and line continuation
character as Perl regular expressions instead of normal strings.
-s Run filepp in safe mode. This turns off the pragma keyword.
-Umacro
Undefine previously defined macro.
-u Undefine all currently defined macros, including predefined
ones.
-v Show version of program.
-w Turn on word boundaries when replacing macros. When word bound‐
aries are on, macros will only be replaced if the macro appears
in the text as a word. For example, by default macro would be
replaced in both cases of the following text:
macro as word, macroNOTaword
but only the first occurrence would be replaced with the -w
option.
With this option enabled filepp will only replace macros which
contain alphanumeric characters. International (non-ASCII)
character sets can be supported using Perl's locale handling.
KEYWORDSfilepp supports the following keywords:
#include <FILE>
Include a file in the file being processed. This variant is
used for "system" include files. It searches for a file named
FILE in a list of directories specified by you. Directories are
specified with the command option `-I'. filepp does not prede‐
fine any system directories in which to search for files.
#include "FILE"
Include a file in the file being processed. This variant is
used for include files of your own project. It searches for a
file named FILE first in the current directory, then in the list
of directories specified with the command option `-I'. The cur‐
rent directory is the directory the base input file is in.
#define macro
Define the macro macro to have a definition of `1'. macro can
then be used with the keywords #ifdef and #ifndef.
#define macro defn
Define the macro macro to have the value defn. macro can then
be used with the keywords #ifdef and #ifndef. Also, all
instances of macro following the #define statement will be
replaced with the string defn. The string defn is taken to be
all the characters on the line following macro.
#define macro(arg1, arg2, ...) defn
Define the macro macro to have the value defn with arguments
(arg1, arg2, ...). macro can be used as follows:
#define macro(foo) defn with foo in
Now when replacing occurs:
macro(bar)
will become:
defn with bar in
Macros can have any number of comma separated arguments.
Macros can also have variable numbers of arguments if the final
macro ends in ..., for example:
#define error(string, args...) fprintf(stderr, string, args);
Here the first argument given becomes string and all other argu‐
ments will become args. If called as: error("%d,%s", i, string)
it will give
fprintf(stderr, "%d,%s", i, string);
Also, if a macro with a variable number of arguments is passed
no arguments for the variable argument, then commas can be
optionally removed from the definition by preceding the defini‐
tion with "##". For example:
#define error(string, args...) fprintf(stderr, string, ##args);
If this is called as: error("empty") then result will be:
fprintf(stderr, "empty");
The comma immediately before ##args has been removed.
#if expr
A conditional statement, expr will be evaluated to true (1) or
false (0). If expr evaluates to true, the text between the #if
and the next #else or #endif will be included. If expr evalu‐
ates to false, the text between the #if and the next #else or
#endif will be ignored. expr can use all the usual cpp style
comparisons (==, !=, <, >, etc.). Multiple comparisons can be
combined with and (&&) and or (||). The defined keyword can
also be used to check if macros are defined. For example:
#if defined macro && macro == defn
Note: filepp's #if does not work in exactly the same way as
cpp(1)'s #if. cpp(1)'s #if only does numerical style compar‐
isons. Filepp's #if statement can also compare strings and reg‐
ular expressions using perl(1)'s full range of comaprison opera‐
tions. For example, to test if two strings are exactly equal
use:
#if "MACRO" eq "string"
To test if strings are not equal use ne instead of eq. Regular
expressions can also be tested, for example to test if a macro
has any whitespace in it use:
#if "MACRO" =~ /\s/
To test if a macro does not have any whitespace in it =~ can be
replaced with !~.
Perl experts: #if works by first parsing expr for the defined
keyword and checking if the macro it refers to is defined,
replacing it with 1 if it is and 0 if it isn't. It then checks
expr for any other macros and replaces them with their defini‐
tion. Finally it passes expr through Perl's eval function,
which returns true or false.
#elif expr
#elif stands for "else if". Like #else, it goes in the middle
of a #if[n][def]-#endif pair and subdivides it; it does not
require a matching #endif of its own. Like #if, the #elif
directive includes an expression to be tested.
#ifdef macro
A conditional statement, if macro has been defined the text
between the #ifdef and the next #else or #endif will be
included. If macro has not been defined the text between the
#ifdef and the next #else or #endif will be ignored.
#ifndef macro
The reverse case of the #ifdef conditional.
#else The #else directive can be added to a conditional to provide
alternative text to be used if the condition is false.
#endif Used to terminate a conditional statement. Normal processing
resumes following the #endif.
#undef macro
Undefine a previously defined macro.
#error mesg
Causes filepp to exit with the error message mesg.
#warning mesg
Causes filepp to issue the warning message mesg.
#comment mesg
As filepp is supposed to be a generic file preprocessor, it can‐
not support any known comment styles, therefore it defines its
own with this keyword. All lines starting with #comment are
treated as comments and removed by filepp.
#pragma filepp function arg1, arg2, ...
The #pragma keyword immediately followed by the word filepp
allows the user to execute a Perl function during parsing. The
word immediately following filepp is taken as the name of the
function and the remainder of the line is taken to be a comma
separated list of arguments to the function. Any of the filepp
internal functions (see section FILEPP MODULE API) can be called
with the #pragma keyword.
Warning: There are obvious security risks with allowing arbi‐
trary functions to be run, so the -s (safe mode) command line
option has been added which turns the #pragma keyword off.
PREDEFINED MACROSfilepp supports a set of predefined macros. All the predefined macros
are of the form __MACRO__, where MACRO is:
FILE This macro expands to the name of the current input file.
LINE This macro expands to the current input line number.
DATE This macro expands to a string that describes the date on which
the preprocessor is being run. The string contains eleven char‐
acters and looks like "Feb 27 2007".
ISO_DATE
This macro expands to a string that describes the date on which
the preprocessor is being run. The string is in the format
specified by ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) and looks like "2007-02-27".
TIME This macro expands to a string that describes the time at which
the preprocessor is being run. The string contains eight char‐
acters and looks like "20:02:16".
BASE_FILE
This macro expands to the name of the main input file.
INCLUDE_LEVEL
This macro expands to a decimal integer constant that represents
the depth of nesting in include files. The value of this macro
is incremented on every #include directive and decremented at
every end of file.
NEWLINE
This macro expands to a newline.
TAB This macro expands to a tab.
NULL This macro expands to nothing. It is useful if you want to
define something to be nothing.
VERSION
This macro expands to a string constant which describes the ver‐
sion number of filepp. The string is a sequence of decimal num‐
bers separated by periods and looks like "1.8.0".
FILEPP_INPUT
This macro expands to a string constant which says the file was
generated automatically from the current BASE_FILE and looks
like "Generated automatically from ./filepp.1.in by filepp".
FILEPP MODULES
The following modules are included with the main filepp distribution:
FOR MODULE - for.pm
The for module implements a simple for loop. Its file name is for.pm.
The for loop is similar in functionality to that of other programming
languages such as Perl or or C. It has a single variable (a filepp
macro) which is assigned a numerical value. This numerical value
changes by a set increment on each iteration through the loop. The
loop termiates when the value no longer passes a comparison test.
The for module implements the following keywords:
#for macro start compare end increment
The #for keyword is functionally equivalent to the following
Perl or C style loop:
for(macro=start; macro compare end; macro+=increment)
The #for keyword requires the following space separated parame‐
ters:
macro : The name of the macro to which the for loop should
assign its numerical value.
start : The value macro should be assigned at the start of the
loop. start should be a numerical value.
compare : The comparison to make between the current value of
macro and the value end to determine when the loop should termi‐
nate. Valid values for compare are <, >, >=, <=.
end : the for loop will terminate when the test
macro compare end
fails. end should be a numerical value.
increment : The value to increment macro on each iteration of
the loop. At the end of each iteration the value of increment
is added to the current value of macro. increment should be a
numerical value.
#endfor
The #endfor keyword is used to signify the end of the loop.
Everything within the opening #for and the closing #endfor will
be processed on each iteration of the loop.
Example usage:
#for COUNTER 10 > 1 -2.5
COUNTER
#endfor
In the above example COUNTER will be defined to have values 10, 7.5, 5
and 2.5 for each successive iteration through the loop.
Nested loops are also possible, as is changing the value of the macro
within the loop. start, end and increment should all be numerical val‐
ues, however it is possible to use macros instead provided the macros
are defined to have numerical values.
FOREACH MODULE - foreach.pm
The foreach module implements a simple foreach loop. Its file name is
foreach.pm.
The foreach loop is similar in functionality to that of other program‐
ming languages such as Perl. It takes a list of values separated by a
user definable delimiter (',' by default). It then iterates through
all values in the list, defining a macro to be each individual value
for each iteration of the loop. The loop terminates when all values
have been used.
The foreach module implements the following keywords:
#foreach macro list
The #foreach keyword is functionally equivalent to the following
Perl style loop:
foreach macro (split(/delim/, list))
The #foreach keyword requires the following space separated
parameters:
macro : The name of the macro to which the foreach loop should
assign the current list value.
list : The list of values, separated by delim (see #foreachdelim
keyword for how to set delim). list can also be a macro or con‐
tain macros.
The loop will run from the #foreach keyword to the next #end‐
foreach keyword.
#endforeach
The #endforeach keyword is used to signify the end of the loop.
Everything within the opening #foreach and the closing #endfore‐
ach will be processed on each iteration of the loop.
Example usage:
#foreach VALUE one, two, three, four
VALUE
#endforeach
In the above example VALUE will be defined to have values one, two,
three and four for each successive iteration through the loop.
Nested loops are also possible.
#foreachdelim /delim/
The #foreachdelim keyword is used to set the delimiter used in
each list. The delimiter can be any character, string or regu‐
lar expression. The delimiter should be enclosed in forward
slashes, in the same style as Perl regular expressions. The
default value for delim is ','. To set the delimiter to be a
single space do:
#foreachdelim / /
To set delim to be any amount of white space do:
#foreachdelim /\s+/
See the Perl documentation on regular expressions for more
advanced uses.
LITERAL MODULE - literal.pm
The literal module prevents macros appearing in literal strings from
being replaced. A literal string is defined as having the form:
"literal string with macro in"
In the above example, macro will not be replaced.
The behaviour of the literal module can be reveresed by defining the
macro LITERAL_REVERSE before loading the module, for example:
filepp-DLITERAL_REVERSE -m literal.pm <files>
This has the effect of only replacing macros which appear in strings.
TOUPPER MODULE - toupper.pm
The toupper module converts all lowercase letters to uppercase.
TOLOWER MODULE - tolower.pm
The tolower module converts all uppercase letters to lowercase.
C/C++ COMMENT MODULE - c-comment.pm
The c-comment module removes all C style:
/* comment */
and C++ style:
// comment
comments from a file. C and C++ comments are removed after keywords
have been processed. If you wish to remove C and C++ comments before
keywords are processed, define the macro REMOVE_C_COMMENTS_FIRST before
loading the module, eg:
filepp-DREMOVE_C_COMMENTS_FIRST -m c-comment.pm
HASH COMMENT MODULE - hash-comment.pm
The hash-comment module removes all comments of the style:
# comment
from a file. This is the commenting style used by Perl, Bourne Shell,
C Shell and many other programs and configuration files. Hash comments
are removed after keywords have been processed. If you wish to remove
hash comments before keywords are processed, define the macro
REMOVE_HASH_COMMENTS_FIRST before loading the module (Note: if you do
this and also use # as the keyword character then the keywords will be
removed BEFORE they are processed).
FUNCTION MODULE - function.pm
The function module allows the user write macros which call Perl func‐
tions. Its file name is function.pm.
The function module allows macros of the form:
macro(arg1, arg2, arg3, ...)
to be added to a file. When the macro is found, it will run a function
from a Perl module, with arguments arg1, arg2, arg3, ... passed to the
function. The function must return a string. The returned string will
replace the call to the function in the output. The function can have
any number of arguments. If the function has no arguments it should be
called with an empty argument list:
macro()
If the word macro is found in the input file without being followed by
a ( it will be ignored.
To use the function module, the user must provide a Perl function which
optionally takes in arguments and returns a string. The function can
either be one of filepp's internal functions or one of the user's own
provided in a Perl module. The function can be added in two ways. The
first way is through the function keyword:
#function macro function
macro is the name of the macro which is used to signify a call
to the function in the input file and function is the name of
the function to be called.
The second method of adding a function is to call the Perl function:
Function::AddFunction($macro,$function)
which has the same inputs as the function keyword.
Functions can be removed either through the keyword:
#rmfunction macro
or through the Perl function
Function::RemoveFunction($macro)
MATHS MODULE - maths.pm
The module provides a set of macros which perform mathematical opera‐
tions. When the macros are encoutered in an input file, they are eval‐
uated and the result is returned in the output.
The maths module includes the following macros:
add(a, b, c, ...)
Takes in any number of arguments and returns their sum: (a + b +
c + ...)
sub(a, b)
Returns a minus b: (a - b)
mul(a, b, c, ...)
Takes in any number of arguments and returns their product: (a *
b * c * ...)
div(a, b)
Returns a over b: (a / b)
abs(a) Returns the absoulte value of a.
atan2(a, b)
Returns the arctangent of a/b in the range -pi to pi.
cos(a) Returns the cosine of a in radians.
exp(a) Returns the e to the power of a.
int(a) Returns the integer portion of a.
log(a) Returns the natural logarithm (base e) of a.
rand(a)
Returns a random fractional number between the range 0 and a.
If a is omitted, returns a value between 0 and 1.
sin(a) Returns the sine of a in radians.
sqrt(a)
Returns the square root of a.
srand(a)
Sets the random number seed for rand().
The maths module also defines pi as M_PI as e as M_E.
The maths macros are implemented using the function.pm module. Nested
macros are allowed, as is passing other macros with numerical defin‐
tions as arguments.
FORMAT MODULE - format.pm
This module provides a set of macros for formating strings and numbers.
The format module provides the following macros:
printf(format, arg1, arg2, ...)
The printf macro behaves in the same way as the Perl/C function
printf. It takes in a format string followed by a list of argu‐
ments to print. See the printf(3) man page or Perl documenta‐
tion for full details of the printf function.
toupper(string)
Converts input string to upper case.
toupperfirst(string)
Converts first character of input string to upper case.
tolower(string)
Converts input string to lower case.
tolowerfirst(string)
Converts first character of input string to lower case.
substr(string, offset, length)
Extracts a substring from input string. substr behaves in the
same way as the Perl substr function. offset is used to speci‐
fiy the first character of the string to output (negative for
offset from end of string), length is the length of the string
to output. If length is omitted everything from the offset is
returned. For further information on substr see the Perl docu‐
mentation.
The format macros are implemented using the function.pm module.
BIGDEF MODULE - bigdef.pm
The bigdef module allows easy definition of multi-line macros. Its file
name is bigdef.pm.
A multi-line macro is a macro which has a definition which spans more
than one line. The normal way to define these is to place a line con‐
tinuation character at the end of each line in the definition. How‐
ever, this can be annoying and unreadable for large multi-line macros.
The bigdef module tries to improve on this by providing two keywords:
#bigdef macro definition...
The #bigdef keyword has the same syntax as #define, the only
difference being the macro definition is everything following
the macro name including all following lines up to the next
#endbigdef keyword.
#endbigdef
Ends a bigdef. Everything between this keyword and the last
preceding #bigdef is included in the macro.
Any keywords found in the definition will be evaluated as normal AT THE
TIME THE MACRO IS DEFINED and any output from these will be included in
the definition.
Note: The difference between bigfunc and bigdef is the time keywords in
the definition are evaluated. Bigdef evaluates them as the macro is
DEFINED, bigfunc evaluates them whenever the macro is REPLACED.
BIGFUNC MODULE - bigfunc.pm
The bigfunc module allows easy definition of multi-line macros. Its
file name is bigfunc.pm.
A multi-line macro is a macro which has a definition which spans more
than one line. The normal way to define these is to place a line con‐
tinuation character at the end of each line in the definition. How‐
ever, this can be annoying and unreadable for large multi-line macros.
The bigfunc module tries to improve on this by providing two keywords:
#bigfunc macro definition...
The #bigfunc keyword has the same syntax as #define, the only
difference being the macro definition is everything following
the macro name including all following lines up to the next
#endbigfunc keyword.
#endbigfunc
Ends a bigfunc. Everything between this keyword and the last
preceding #bigfunc is included in the macro.
Any keywords found in the definition will be evaluated as normal AT THE
TIME THE MACRO IS REPLACED and any output from these will be included
in the definition.
Note: The difference between bigfunc and bigdef is the time keywords in
the definition are evaluated. Bigdef evaluates them as the macro is
DEFINED, bigfunc evaluates them whenever the macro is REPLACED.
DEFPLUS MODULE - defplus.pm
The defplus module allows extra information to be appended to an exist‐
ing macro. Its file name is defplus.pm.
The defplus module allows further things to be appended to existing
macros. The module implements one keyword:
#defplus macro definition...
The #defplus keyword has the same syntax as #define, the only
difference being if the macro is already defined then definition
is appended to the existing definition of the macro. If the
macro is undefined then #defplus behaves in exactly the same way
as #define.
REGEXP MODULE - regexp.pm
The regexp module allows Perl regular expression replacement to be done
with filepp. Its file name is regexp.pm.
Perl regular expression replacement allows a regular expression to be
searched for and replaced with something else. Regular expressions are
defined as follows:
#regexp /regexp/replacement/
It is very similar to the Perl syntax and the following Perl
code will be executed on each line of the input file:
$line =~ s/regexp/replacement/g
For users who don't understand Perl, this means replace all
occurrences of regexp in the current line with replacement.
A full description of regular expressions and possible replacements is
beyond the scope of this man page. More information can be found in
the Perl documentation using the command:
perldoc perlre
Any number of regular expressions can be defined. Each regular expres‐
sion is evaluated once for each line of the input file. Regular
expressions are evaluated in the order they are defined.
Regular expressions can be undefined in the following way:
#rmregexp /regexp/replacement/
This will remove the specified regular expression.
In debugging mode the current list of regular expressions can be viewed
using the pragma keyword:
#pragma filepp ShowRegexp
When not in debugging mode, this will produce no output.
A single regular expression can also be defined on the command line
using the REGEXP macro, for example:
filepp -DREGEXP=/regexp/replacement/ -m regexp.pm inputfile
Note: the REGEXP macro must be defined BEFORE the regexp module is
loaded, putting -DREGEXP... after -m regexp.pm will not work. When
using the command line approach, if the REGEXP macro is successfully
parsed as a regular expression it will be undefined from the normal
filepp macro list before processing starts. Care should obviously be
taken when escaping special characters in the shell with command line
regexps.
BLC MODULE - blc.pm
The Bracket Line Continuation module causes lines to be continued if
they have more open brackets: "(" than close brackets: ")" on a line.
The line will be continued until an equal number of open and close
brackets are found.
Brackets can be prevented from being counted for line continuation by
escaping them with a backslash: "and "". Any brackets found with a
preceding backslash will be ignored when deciding if line continuation
should be done and then have the backslash removed once the full line
has been found.
C MACROS MODULE - cmacros.pm
The cmacros module causes the definition of the following predefined
macros to be quoted: DATE, TIME, VERSION, BASE_FILE, FILE, (note: pre‐
defined macros are written as __MACRO__).
This makes the macros more "C" like, as the C preprocessor also puts
quotes around these macros.
C MACROS MODULE - cpp.pm
The cpp makes filepp behave in a similar manner to a C preprocessor
cpp(1).
DISCLAIMER: filepp is not meant to be a drop in replacement for a C
preprocessor even with this module. I would not recommend using filepp
as a C preprocessor unless you fully understand how it differs from a
real C preprocessor. The output from filepp with the cpp module will
not be the same as a real C preprocessor.
GRAB MODULE - grab.pm
The grab module is used to grab input before processing. Its file name
is grab.pm.
The grab module is mainly for use in other modules, such as for.pm and
bigfunc.pm. It grabs all input from a file before any processing is
done on it. This allows other modules to do processing on the original
input data before the main processing is done. For example, the for
module will store the original input inside a loop and re-use it each
time the loop is processed.
#grab macro definition...
The grab module will start grabbing of all input from the grab
keyword, onwards.
#endgrab
Ends a grab. Everything between this keyword and the last pre‐
ceding #grab will be grabbed and stored for use in other mod‐
ules.
Grabs can be nested if required.
When calling grab from another module, use the following functions:
Grab::StartGrab($startkeyword,$endkeyword)
$startkeyword is the keyword that StartGrab is called from.
$endkeyword is the keyword that grabbing should stop at.
@List=Grab::GetInput()
Returns a Perl list containing all input grabbed from when grab
was last run.
$line=Grab::GetInputLine()
Returns the line number of the input file where grabbing last
started.
FILEPP MODULE API
The behaviour of filepp can be modified or extended through the use of
modules. filepp modules are in fact perl(1) modules, and the rest of
this section assumes the reader has a knowledge of Perl.
filepp modules are perl(1) modules which extend or modify filepp's be‐
haviour by either calling or replacing filepp's internal functions.
filepp has the Perl package name Filepp so its internal functions can
be called within modules either as Filepp::function() or just func‐
tion(). Any of filepp's internal functions can be called or replaced
from within a filepp module, the most useful ones are:
Debug($string,$number)
Print $string as debugging information if debugging is enabled.
$number is optional and can be used to set the debugging level
at which $string should be printed, lower numbers being higher
priority. Command line option d prints all debugging info for 2
and below, option dd prints all debugging information for 3 and
below and option dl prints all debugging information for 1 and
below. If $number is not provided, defaults to 1.
AddProcessor($function,$pos,$type)
Allows the module to add a function named $function to filepp's
processing chain. The processing chain is a set of functions
which are run on each line of a file as it is processed. The
default functions in the processing chain are ParseKeywords
which does keyword parsing and ReplaceDefines which does macro
replacement. Further functions can be added to the chain, with
each function taking a string (the current line) as input and
returning the processed string as output.
By default, or if $pos is set to 0, the processor is added to
the end of the processing chain. If $pos is set to 1 the pro‐
cessor is added to the start of the processing chain.
$type controls what the processor is run on. There are three
options for this, 0 (default): the processor runs on everything
passed to the processing chain; 1: the processor runs on full
lines only; 2: the processor runs on part lines only (a part
line is the text following a keyword such as if which needs to
be parsed for macros).
Both $pos and $type are optional parameters.
AddProcessorAfter($function,$existing,$type)
Adds function $function to the processing chain directly after
existing processor $existing. If $existing is not found then
$function is added to the end of the processing chain. Regular
expression matching is used to compare $existing with the names
of the functions in the processing chain.
$type is optional.
AddProcessorBefore($function,$existing,$type)
Adds function $function to the processing chain directly before
existing processor $existing. If $existing is not found then
$function is added to the start of the processing chain. Regu‐
lar expression matching is used to compare $existing with the
names of the functions in the processing chain.
$type is optional.
RemoveProcessor($function)
Removes the processor function $function from the processing
chain.
$string=ReplaceDefines($string)
Replaces all macros in $string with their definitions and
returns the processed string.
AddKeyword($string,$function)
Add the keyword named $string. When the keyword is found in
text processing the function named $function will be run with
everything following the keyword passed as a single argument.
RemoveKeyword($string)
Removes the keyword named $string.
RemoveAllKeywords()
Removes all the keywords currently defined for filepp (used for
the -k command line option).
AddIfword($string)
Adds keyword named $string to Ifword list. An Ifword takes in
the string following the keyword and optionally parses it,
returning a 1 if the string parses to true and 0 for false. The
default Ifwords are if, ifdef and ifndef.
RemoveIfword($string)
Removes keyword named $string from Ifword list (note: this does
NOT remove the keyword, use RemoveKeyword for that).
AddElseword($string)
Adds keyword named $string to Elseword list. An Elseword takes
in the string following the keyword and optionally parses it,
returning a 1 if the string parses to true and 0 for false. The
default Elsewords are else and elif.
RemoveElseword($string)
Removes keyword named $string from Elseword list.
AddEndifword($string)
Adds keyword named $string to Endifword list. An Endifword
should return a 1 to indicate successful termination of the if
block. If the Endifword returns 0 the Endifword is ignored and
filepp assumes the current if block carries on after the Endif‐
word. The default Endifword is endif.
RemoveEndifword($string)
Removes keyword named $string from Endifword list.
AddIncludePath($string)
Adds the include path $string to the list of directories to
search for include files (used for the -I command line option).
AddModulePath($string)
Adds the path $string to the list of directories to search for
filepp modules (used for the -M command line option).
AddOpenInputFunc($function)
Adds a $function to a list of functions to be run each time a
new base input file is opened.
AddCloseInputFunc($function)
Adds a $function to a list of functions to be run each time a
new base input file is closed.
AddOpenOutputFunc($function)
Adds a $function to a list of functions to be run each time an
output file is opened.
AddCloseOutputFunc($function)
Adds a $function to a list of functions to be run each time an
output file is closed.
AddInputFile($string)
Adds another input file to the list of files to be processed
(used for adding input files at the command line).
ChangeOutputFile($string)
Closes the current output file and attempts to open a new one
named $string.
SetKeywordchar($string)
Set the initial keyword char to $string (used for the -kc com‐
mand line option).
SetContchar($string)
Set the line continuation char to $string (used for the -lc com‐
mand line option).
SetContrepchar($string)
Set the line continuation replacement char to $string (used for
the -lr command line option).
SetOptLineEndchar($string)
Set the optional keyword line end character to $string (used for
the -lec command line option).
SetBlankSupp(1/0)
Turns blank-line suppression on/off (1 = suppress, 0 = don't
suppress). When blank-line suppression is on, blank lines in
input files will not be copied to the output. Unlike the corre‐
sponding command-line option (-b), this function can also have
effect in the top-level file. The setting of blank-line sup‐
pression applies to the current file being processed and all
files included in the current file.
ResetBlankSupp()
Resets blank-line suppression to the command-line specified
value. This only affects the output of blank lines from the
current file being processed and all files included in the cur‐
rent file. In the top-level file, this always turns blank-line
suppression off.
SetEatTrail($string)
If $string is a macro, whenever the macro is replaced all blank
space between the macro's replacement and the next character on
the line will be eaten. For example, if macro foo is defined to
bar and foo has been set to have it's trail eaten, the follow‐
ing:
eat my foo trail
is replaced with
eat my bartrail
CheckEatTrail($string)
Returns 1 if macro $string will have it's tail eaten, 0 other‐
wise.
SetEnvchar($string)
Set the prefix of environment variables converted to macros
(envchar) to $string (used for -ec and -ecn command line
options).
DefineEnv()
Define all environment variables as macros with prefix envchar
(used for -e command line option).
SetOutput(1/0)
Turns writing of parsed input file to output file on/off. This
takes either 1 (output on) or 0 (output off) as input. When the
output is turned off, the only output produced from filepp will
be that generated by modules.
SetWordBoundaries(1/0)
Turns on(1) or off(0) word boundary checking when replacing
macros (used for the -w command line option).
SetCharPerlre(1/0)
Turns on(1) or off(0) allowing of keyword prefix char and line
continuation char to be Perl regular expressions (used for the
-re command line option).
UndefAll()
Undefines all currently defined macros, including predefined
ones (used for the -u command line option).
UseModule($string)
Loads a perl(1) module named $string using the Perl command
require (used for the -m command line option).
SetParseLineEnd($function)
Sets the function to determine if line continuation should be
done on current line to $function.
$string=GetNextLine()
Returns the next line (after line continuation has been dealt
with) of the input file currently being processed. Returns NULL
for end of file.
Write($string)
Writes $string to the current output file.
Output($string)
Conditionally writes $string to the current output file. If
output is turned on then writes $string. Output is toggled
off/on using SetOutput function.
In addition all the standard filepp keywords have equivalent functions
which optionally take a single argument. The functions have the same
name as the keyword, only with a capital first letter (eg: #define
string calls the function Define(string)).
A full description of the Parse function and all the other filepp
internal functions is beyond the scope of this man page. The filepp
script is well commented and hopefully readable by a Perl programmer,
so use the source Luke!
BUGSfilepp has no known bugs, only "features". If you find any "features",
please report them to the author.
COPYING
Copyright (C) 2000-2007 Darren Miller
filepp is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MER‐
CHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free
Software Foundation, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
SEE ALSOcpp(1), perl(1)AUTHOR
Darren Miller <darren@cabaret.demon.co.uk>.
Version: 1.8.0 Feb 27 2007 FILEPP(1)
