CPROTO(1) CPROTO(1)
October 2020
NAME
cproto - generate C function prototypes and convert function
definitions
SYNOPSIS
cproto [ option ... ] [ file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Cproto generates function prototypes for functions defined in the
specified C source files to the standard output. The function
definitions may be in the old style or ANSI C style. Optionally,
cproto also outputs declarations for variables defined in the files.
If no file argument is given, cproto reads its input from the standard
input. By giving a command line option, cproto will also convert
function definitions in the specified files from the old style to the
ANSI C style. The original source files along with files specified by
#include "file"
directives appearing in the source code will be overwritten with the
converted code. If no file names are given on the command line, then
the program reads the source code from the standard input and outputs
the converted source to the standard output. If any comments appear
in the parameter declarations for a function definition, such as in
the example,
main (argc, argv)
int argc; /* number of arguments */
char *argv[]; /* arguments */
{
}
then the converted function definition will have the form
int
main (
int argc, /* number of arguments */
char *argv[] /* arguments */
)
{
}
Otherwise, the converted function definition will look like
int
main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
}
Cproto can optionally convert function definitions from the ANSI style
to the old style. In this mode, the program also converts function
declarators and prototypes that appear outside function bodies. This
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is not a complete ANSI C to old C conversion. The program does not
change anything within function bodies. Cproto can optionally
generate source in lint-library format. This is useful in
environments where the lint utility is used to supplement prototype
checking of your program.
OPTIONS
-e Output the keyword extern in front of every generated prototype
or declaration that has global scope.
-f n Set the style of generated function prototypes where n is a
number from 0 to 3. For example, consider the function
definition
main (argc, argv)
int argc;
char *argv[];
{
}
If the value is 0, then no prototypes are generated. When set to
1, the output is:
int main(/*int argc, char *argv[]*/);
For a value of 2, the output has the form:
int main(int /*argc*/, char */*argv*/[]);
The default value is 3. It produces the full function prototype:
int main(int argc, char *argv[]);
-l Generate text for a lint-library (overrides the "-f" option).
The output includes the comment
/* LINTLIBRARY */
Special comments LINT_EXTERN and LINT_PREPRO (a la "VARARGS")
respectively turn on the "-x" option and copy comment-text to the
output (for preprocessing in lint). Use the comment
/* LINT_EXTERN2 */
to include externs defined in the first level of include-files.
Use the comment
/* LINT_SHADOWED */
to cause cproto to put "#undef" directives before each lint
library declaration (i.e., to avoid conflicts with macros that
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happen to have to have the same name as the functions, thus
causing syntax errors).
Note that these special comments are not supported under VAX/VMS,
since there is no equivalent for the "-C" option of cpp with
VAX-C.
-c The parameter comments in the prototypes generated by the -f1 and
-f2 options are omitted by default. Use this option to enable
the output of these comments.
-m Put a macro around the parameter list of every generated
prototype. For example:
int main P_((int argc, char *argv[]));
-M name
Set the name of the macro used to surround prototype parameter
lists when option -m is selected. The default is "P_".
-d Omit the definition of the prototype macro used by the -m option.
-o file
Specify the name of the output file (default: standard output).
-O file
Specify the name of the error file (default: standard error).
-p Disable promotion of formal parameters in old style function
definitions. By default, parameters of type char or short in old
style function definitions are promoted to type int in the
function prototype or converted ANSI C function definition.
Parameters of type float get promoted to double as well.
-q Do not output any error messages when the program cannot read the
file specified in an #include directive.
-s By default, cproto only generates declarations for functions and
variables having global scope. This option will output static
declarations as well.
-S Output only static declarations.
-i By default, cproto only generates declarations for functions and
variables having global scope. This option will output inline
declarations as well.
-T Copy type definitions from each file. (Definitions in
included-files are copied, unlike the "-l" option).
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-v Also output declarations for variables defined in the source.
-x This option causes procedures and variables which are declared
"extern" to be included in the output.
-X level
This option limits the include-file level from which declarations
are extracted by examining the preprocessor output.
-a Convert function definitions from the old style to the ANSI C
style.
-t Convert function definitions from the ANSI C style to the
traditional style.
-b Rewrite function definition heads to include both old style and
new style declarations separated by a conditional compilation
directive. For example, the program can generate this function
definition:
#ifdef ANSI_FUNC
int
main (int argc, char *argv[])
#else
int
main (argc, argv)
int argc;
char *argv[]
#endif
{
}
-B directive
Set the conditional compilation directive to output at the
beginning of function definitions generated by the -b option.
The default is
#ifdef ANSI_FUNC
-P template
-F template
-C template
Set the output format for generated prototypes, function
definitions, and function definitions with parameter comments
respectively. The format is specified by a template in the
form
" int f ( a, b )"
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but you may replace each space in this string with any number of
whitespace characters. For example, the option
-F"int f(\n\ta,\n\tb\n\t)"
will produce
int main(
int argc,
char *argv[]
)
-D name[=value]
This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to
define symbols for use with conditionals such as #ifdef.
-U name
This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to
remove any definitions of this symbol.
-I directory
This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to
specify a directory to search for files that are referenced with
#include.
-E cpp
Pipe the input files through the specified C preprocessor command
when generating prototypes. By default, the program uses
/lib/cpp.
-E 0 Do not run the C preprocessor.
-V Print version information.
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable CPROTO is scanned for a list of options in
the same format as the command line options. Options given on the
command line override any corresponding environment option.
BUGS
If an un-tagged struct, union or enum declaration appears in a
generated function prototype or converted function definition, the
content of the declaration between the braces is empty. The program
does not pipe the source files through the C preprocessor when it is
converting function definitions. Instead, it tries to handle
preprocessor directives and macros itself and can be confused by
tricky macro expansions. The conversion also discards some comments
in the function definition head. The -v option does not generate
declarations for variables defined with the extern specifier. This
doesn't strictly conform to the C language standard but this rule was
implemented because include files commonly declare variables this way.
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When the program encounters an error, it usually outputs the not very
descriptive message "syntax error". (Your configuration may allow the
extended error reporting in yyerror.c). Options that take string
arguments only interpret the following character escape sequences:
\n newline
\s space
\t tab
VARARGS comments don't get passed through on systems whose C
preprocessors don't support this (e.g., VAX/VMS, MS-DOS).
AUTHOR
Chin Huang
cthuang@vex.net
cthuang@interlog.com
Thomas E. Dickey
dickey@invisible-island.net
modifications to support lint library, type-copying, and port to VAX/VMS.
SEE ALSO
cc(1), cpp(1)
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