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 GNU `m4'
 ********
 
    GNU `m4' is an implementation of the traditional UNIX macro
 processor.  It is mostly SVR4 compatible, although it has some
 extensions (for example, handling more than 9 positional parameters to
 macros).  `m4' also has builtin functions for including files, running
 shell commands, doing arithmetic, etc.  Autoconf needs GNU `m4' for
 generating `configure' scripts, but not for running them.
 
    GNU `m4' was originally written by Ren'e Seindal, with subsequent
 changes by Franc,ois Pinard and other volunteers on the Internet.  All
 names and email addresses can be found in the file `THANKS' from the
 GNU `m4' distribution.
 
    This is release 1.4.  It is now to be considered stable, future
 releases are only meant to fix bugs, increase speed, or improve
 documentation.  However...
 
    An experimental feature, which would improve `m4' usefulness, allows
 for changing the syntax for what is a "word" in `m4'.  You should use:
      ./configure --enable-changeword
 
 if you want this feature compiled in.  The current implementation slows
 down `m4' considerably and is hardly acceptable.  So, it might go away,
 do not count on it yet.

 
* Preliminaries               Introduction and preliminaries
* Syntax                      Lexical and syntactic conventions
 
* Macros                      How to invoke macros
* Definitions                 How to define new macros
* Conditionals                Conditionals and loops
 
* Debugging                   How to debug macros and input
 
* Input Control               Input control
* File Inclusion              File inclusion
* Diversions                  Diverting and undiverting output
 
* Text handling               Macros for text handling
* Arithmetic                  Macros for doing arithmetic
* UNIX commands               Macros for running UNIX commands
* Miscellaneous               Miscellaneous builtin macros
* Frozen files                Fast loading of frozen states
 
* Compatibility               Compatibility with other versions of m4
* Concept index               Index for many concepts
* Macro index                 Index for all m4 macros
 
  -- The Detailed Node Listing --
 
 Introduction and preliminaries
 
* Intro                       Introduction to `m4'
* History                     Historical references
 
* Invoking m4                 Invoking `m4'
* Bugs                        Problems and bugs
* Manual                      Using this manual
 
 Lexical and syntactic conventions
 
* Names                       Macro names
* Quoted strings              Quoting input to m4
* Other tokens                Other kinds of input tokens
* Comments                    Comments in m4 input
 
 How to invoke macros
 
* Invocation                  Macro invocation
* Inhibiting Invocation       Preventing macro invocation
* Macro Arguments             Macro arguments
* Quoting Arguments           On Quoting Arguments to macros
* Macro expansion             Expanding macros
 
 How to define new macros
 
* Define                      Defining a new macro
* Arguments                   Arguments to macros
* Pseudo Arguments            Pseudo arguments to macros
* Undefine                    Deleting a macro
* Defn                        Renaming macros
* Pushdef                     Temporarily redefining macros
 
* Indir                       Indirect call of macros
* Builtin                     Indirect call of builtins
 
 Conditionals, loops and recursion
 
* Ifdef                       Testing if a macro is defined
* Ifelse                      If-else construct, or multibranch
* Loops                       Loops and recursion in m4
 
 How to debug macros and input
 
* Dumpdef                     Displaying macro definitions
* Trace                       Tracing macro calls
* Debug Levels                Controlling debugging output
* Debug Output                Saving debugging output
 
 Input control
 
* Dnl                         Deleting whitespace in input
* Changequote                 Changing the quote characters
* Changecom                   Changing the comment delimiters
* Changeword                  Changing the lexical structure of words
* M4wrap                      Saving input until end of input
 
 File inclusion
 
* Include                     Including named files
* Search Path                 Searching for include files
 
 Diverting and undiverting output
 
* Divert                      Diverting output
* Undivert                    Undiverting output
* Divnum                      Diversion numbers
* Cleardiv                    Discarding diverted text
 
 Macros for text handling
 
* Len                         Calculating length of strings
* Index                       Searching for substrings
* Regexp                      Searching for regular expressions
* Substr                      Extracting substrings
* Translit                    Translating characters
* Patsubst                    Substituting text by regular expression
* Format                      Formatting strings (printf-like)
 
 Macros for doing arithmetic
 
* Incr                        Decrement and increment operators
* Eval                        Evaluating integer expressions
 
 Running UNIX commands
 
* Syscmd                      Executing simple commands
* Esyscmd                     Reading the output of commands
* Sysval                      Exit codes
* Maketemp                    Making names for temporary files
 
 Miscellaneous builtin macros
 
* Errprint                    Printing error messages
* M4exit                      Exiting from m4
 
 Compatibility with other versions of `m4'
 
* Extensions                  Extensions in GNU m4
* Incompatibilities           Facilities in System V m4 not in GNU m4
* Other Incompat              Other incompatibilities

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