simple-pp documentation

The distribution is available via anonymous ftp

ftp://ftp.cs.princeton.edu/pub/people/dwallach/simple-pp-1.2.tar.gz

simple-pp combines some features of cpp and NoWeb, without generating extraneous #line tags and other junk that clutter the output of cpp.

(yes, those #line directives are useful for a compiler / debugger, but they're not useful for an FAQ posting)

The Makefile shows how you can use simple-pp in two passes. The first pass generates a temporary file with the news headers, which you don't want messed up by lynx. The second pass puts the header back together with the lynx-formatted text.

Command line options:

-escape character

Changes the "escape" character for simple-pp (default is "#")

-define symbol OR -define symbol=value

Defines a new macro

-output filename

Changes the file output (default is standard output)

Built-in statements:

#ifdef symbol

tests if symbol has been defined, and disables output if it's undefined

#ifndef symbol

tests if symbol has not been defined, and disables output if it's defined

#if expression

treats expression as a Perl expression (passing it to eval) and disabling output if the expression is false

#else and #endif

work just like cpp's statements -- you can safely build nested if/else/endif statements, and it will work fine

#include file

replaces the current line with the contents of file, continuing macro processing on the file

#define macro OR #define macro value

defines the macro to either exist, or exist with a given value

#undefine macro

undefines the macro

#output filename OR #output -

changes the output file of simple-pp to filename
The special filename "-" maps to either stdout or the value passed to the -output command line argument

##

if you put multiple escape characters together, the line is taken to be a comment, and is removed

Pre-defined macros:

_line_

line number in the current input file

_file_

current input file name

_level_

recursion level of #include statements (it starts at 1, then increases)

Macros are used by typing #MACRO_NAME# which is then replaced by the value of the macro.