hier [ -Aacikmnstuv ] [ -b boxName] [ -hheight ] [ -L language ]
[ -o base ] [ -wwidth ] [ cpp options ] file ...
hier prints the inheritance hierarchy for the C++ source code contained, directly or indirectly, in the given collection of files. While the source code is being processed, templates are treated similar to classes, with every option applicable to class also applicable to template. The output construct name for template contains the argument names enclosed by angle brackets. In the absence of any -L options, the standard output consists of lines of the form
A protection B
where A and B are class names, protection is one of "public", "private", or "protected", and A inherits from B in the stated way. Virtual inheritance is denoted by
A protection B virtual
(The format is intended to make it easier for post-processors to parse.)
Notice that all files, including those directly or indirectly included by the specified files, are searched for inheritance (but see -t below).
If graphic output is desired, the -L option can be used. The output language can be any of "ps" (postscript), "dag", "pic", "tex", or "dvi". Multiple -L options are allowed. hier places its output for these languages in the file(s) hierout. ext, where ext is the name of the language.
If any of the input files to hier is dag source, (presumably produced by a previous run of hier), then the inheritance graph contained therein is incorporated into the current graph. It is up to the user to make certain that the settings of the a, i, and n options which were used to produce the input dag source match the current settings.
TeX output produced by hier can be included in any tex or latex document by the following sequence of commands:
\input{hierout}
\centerline{\box\graph}
where hierout.tex is the TeX file produced by hier.
Additional options to hier are as follows:
-c, -s, -u Print information for classes (structs, unions). If none of these switches is selected, the default is -c.
-n Also print the names of isolated classes (classes with no predecessors or successors in the inheritance graph).
-t Only print inheritances directly contained in the files specified on the command line (i.e., do not print inheritances only contained in included files). For .i files, only print inheritances for the first file mentioned in a #line directive, as well as anything preceding that line.
The following options apply only to graphic output specified by -L:
-A Print ascii output on the standard output in addition to any output(s) specified by -L.
-a Differentiate aggregate types in the inheritance graph by drawing classes as ellipses, structs as boxes, and unions as diamonds. (Normally, all are drawn as ellipses.)
-i Do not differentiate type of inheritance in the inheritance graph. (Normally, private inheritance is drawn as a dashed arrow.)
-k Draw inheritance edges backwards, that is, from derived class to base class rather than from base class to derived class.
-m (With -L dag.) In the dag output, insert cpp-style comments showing the file name and line number where each of the edges in the inheritance graph is defined. (But see the Warnings below.)
-v Orient the inheritance graph vertically rather than horizontally.
-b boxName (With -L tex.) Make boxName, rather than "graph", be the name of the box defined by the TeX code.
-w width, -hheight Scale the graph width inches wide, height inches high. width and height should be dimensionless inches, e.g., -h5.2. The default graph size is 8.5x10.
-o base Use base, rather than hierout, as the base name for all output files. base may be any arbitrary path name; any extension on base is ignored.
hier -L tex -L dvi *.h
produces page-sized TeX and dvi versions of the inheritance hierarchy for the classes defined in the header files in the current directory. The outputs are on hierout.tex and hierout.dvi, respectively. (Notice that hierout.dvi is not what one would get by directly running tex on hierout.tex.)
dag is an AT&T proprietary tool.
The comments inserted by the -m option are not treated as comments by dag(1), and will have to be stripped out (e.g., with sed(1)) before further processing.
Depending on the capabilities of your document production environment, dashed lines in .dvi files may be rendered as solid lines.
Printing the word "virtual" over arrows in order to denote virtual inheritance is ugly.
Some people think hier's notion of "backwards" (see the -k option) is backwards.