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cpphs
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<h1>cpphs</h1>
<table><tr><td width=200 align=center>
<a href="#what">What is cpphs?</a><br>
<a href="#how">How do I use it?</a><br>
<a href="#download">Downloads</a><br>
</td><td width=200 align=center>
<a href="#diff">Differences to cpp</a><br>
<a href="#library">cpphs as a library</a><br>
<a href="#who">Contacts</a><br>
</td></tr></table>
</center>
<hr>
<center><h3><a name="what">What is cpphs?</a></h3></center>
<p>
<b>cpphs</b> is a liberalised re-implementation of
<a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-2.95.3/cpp.html">cpp</a>,
the C pre-processor, in <a href="http://haskell.org/">Haskell</a>.
<p>
Why re-implement cpp? Rightly or wrongly, the C pre-processor is
widely used in Haskell source code. It enables conditional compilation
for different compilers, different versions of the same compiler,
and different OS platforms. It is also occasionally used for its
macro language, which can enable certain forms of platform-specific
detail-filling, such as the tedious boilerplate generation of instance
definitions and FFI declarations. However, there are two problems with
cpp, aside from the obvious aesthetic ones:
<ul>
<li> For some Haskell systems, notably Hugs on Windows, a true cpp
is not available by default.
<li> Even for the other Haskell systems, the common cpp provided by
the gcc 3.x and 4.x series has changed subtly in ways that are
incompatible with Haskell's syntax. There have always been
problems with, for instance, string gaps, and prime characters
in identifiers. These problems are only going to get worse.
</ul>
So, it seemed right to provide an alternative to cpp, both more
compatible with Haskell, and itself written in Haskell so that it
can be distributed with compilers.
<p>
This version of the C pre-processor is pretty-much feature-complete,
and compatible with the <tt>-traditional</tt> style.
It has two main modes:
<ul>
<li> conditional compilation only (--nomacro),
<li> and full macro-expansion (default).
</ul>
In <tt>--nomacro</tt> mode, cpphs performs only conditional compilation
actions, namely <tt>#include</tt>'s, <tt>#if</tt>'s, and
<tt>#ifdef</tt>'s are processed according to text-replacement
definitions and macro expansions (both command-line and internal).
In full compatibility mode (the default), textual replacements and macro
expansions are also processed in the remaining body of non-cpp text.
<p>
Source language features:
<table border=0 align=center>
<tr><td>#ifdef</td> <td>simple conditional compilation</td></tr>
<tr><td>#if</td> <td>the full boolean language of defined(),
&&, ||, ==, etc.</td></tr>
<tr><td>#elif</td> <td>chained conditionals</td></tr>
<tr><td>#define</td> <td>in-line definitions (text replacements and macros)</td></tr>
<tr><td>#undef</td> <td>in-line revocation of definitions</td></tr>
<tr><td>#include</td><td>file inclusion</td></tr>
<tr><td>#line</td> <td>line number directives</td></tr>
<tr><td>#pragma</td> <td>cpp pragmas (ignored)</td></tr>
<tr><td>\\n</td> <td>line continuations within all # directives</td></tr>
<tr><td>/**/</td> <td>token catenation within a macro definition</td></tr>
<tr><td>##</td> <td>ANSI-style token catenation</td></tr>
<tr><td>#</td> <td>ANSI-style token stringisation</td></tr>
<tr><td>__FILE__</td><td>special text replacement for DIY error messages</td></tr>
<tr><td>__LINE__</td><td>special text replacement for DIY error messages</td></tr>
<tr><td>__DATE__</td><td>special text replacement</td></tr>
<tr><td>__TIME__</td><td>special text replacement</td></tr>
</table>
<p>
Macro expansion is recursive. Redefinition of a macro name does not
generate a warning. Macros can be defined on the command-line with
-D just like textual replacements. Macro names are permitted to be
Haskell identifiers e.g. with the prime ' and backtick ` characters,
which is slightly looser than in C, but they still may not include
operator symbols.
<p>
Numbering of lines in the output is preserved so that any later
processor can give meaningful error messages. When a file is
<tt>#include</tt>'d, cpphs inserts <tt>#line</tt> directives for the
same reason. Numbering should be correct even in the presence of
line continuations. If you don't want <tt>#line</tt> directives in
the final output, use the <tt>--noline</tt> option.
<p>
Any syntax error in a cpp directive gives a warning message to stderr.
Failure to find a #include'd file also produces a warning to stderr. In
both cases, processing continues on the rest of the input.
<hr>
<center><h3><a name="how">How do I use it?</a></h3></center>
<p>
<center><pre>
Usage: cpphs [ filename | -Dsym | -Dsym=val | -Ipath ]+ [-Ofile]
[--nomacro] [--noline] [--nowarn] [--pragma] [--strip]
[--text] [--hashes] [--layout] [--unlit]
[ --cpp compatopts ]
cpphs --version
</pre></center>
<p>
You can give any number of filenames on the command-line. The results
are catenated on standard output. (Macro definitions in one file do not
carry over into the next.) If no filename is given, cpphs reads from
standard input.
<p>
Options:
<table border=0 align=center>
<tr><td>-Dsym</td>
<td>define a textual replacement (default value is 1)</td></tr>
<tr><td>-Dsym=val</td>
<td>define a textual replacement with a specific value</td></tr>
<tr><td>-Dsym(args)=val</td>
<td>define a macro with arguments</td></tr>
<tr><td>-Ipath</td>
<td>add a directory to the search path for #include's</td></tr>
<tr><td>-Ofile</td>
<td>specify a file for output (default is stdout)</td></tr>
<tr><td>--nomacro</td>
<td>only process #ifdef's and #include's, do not expand macros</td></tr>
<tr><td>--noline</td>
<td>remove #line droppings from the output</td></tr>
<tr><td>--nowarn</td>
<td>suppress messages from missing #include files, or #warning</td></tr>
<tr><td>--pragma</td>
<td>retain #pragma in the output (normally removed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>--strip</td>
<td>convert C-style comments to whitespace, even outside
cpp directives</td></tr>
<tr><td>--hashes</td>
<td>recognise the ANSI # stringise operator, and ## for
token catenation, within macros</td></tr>
<tr><td>--text</td>
<td>treat input as plain text, not Haskell code</td></tr>
<tr><td>--layout</td>
<td>preserve newlines within macro expansions</td></tr>
<tr><td>--unlit</td>
<td>unlit literate source code</td></tr>
<tr><td>--cpp compatopts</td>
<td>accept standard cpp options: -o, -x, -ansi, -traditional,
-P, -C, -A, etc</td></tr>
<tr><td>--version</td>
<td>report version number of cpphs and stop</td></tr>
</table>
<p>
There are NO textual replacements defined by default. (Normal cpp
usually has definitions for machine, OS, etc. You can easily create
a wrapper script if you need these.) The search path is searched in
order of the -I options, except that the directory of the calling file,
then the current directory, are always searched first. Again, there
is no default search path (unless you define one via a wrapper script).
<hr>
<center><h3><a name="download">Downloads</a></h3></center>
<p>
<b>Current stable version:</b>
<p>
cpphs-1.5, release date 2007.06.05<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.5.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.5.zip">.zip</a>.
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs-1.5-win32.zip">Windows binary</a>,
<a href="http://www.haskell.org/fedora/">Fedora package</a>,
<a href="http://packages.gentoo.org/packages/?category=dev-haskell;name=cpphs">Gentoo package</a>,
<a href="http://www.freshports.org/devel/hs-cpphs/">FreeBSD port</a>,
<a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/devel/cpphs/">OpenBSD port</a>.
<ul>
<li> Fixed some more obscure corner cases, involving parameterised macro
expansion within conditionals e.g. #if FOO(BAR,QUUX)
<li> Internal refactoring, affecting parts of the library API.
</ul>
<p>
<b>Development:</b>
<p>
The current <a href="http://darcs.net/">darcs</a> repository of
cpphs is available at
<pre>
darcs get http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/darcs/cpphs
</pre>
(Users on Windows or MacOS filesystems need to use the
<tt>--partial</tt> flag.) The source tree and version history can
be browsed on-line through
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/darcs/">darcsweb</a>.
<p>
<b>Older versions:</b>
<p>
cpphs-1.4, release date 2007.04.17<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.4.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.4.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Added a "--pragma" option to retain #pragma in the output.
<li> Fixed a number of obscure corner cases involving the interaction of
multiple features e.g. foo##__LINE__.
<li> Added the "--nowarn" option.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-1.3, release date 2006.10.09<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.3.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.3.zip">.zip</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs-1.3-win32.zip">Windows binary</a>.
<ul>
<li> Added a "--cpp" option for drop-in compatibility with standard cpp.
It causes cpphs to accept standard cpp flags and translate
them to cpphs equivalents. Compatibility options include: -o, -ansi,
-traditional, -stdc, -x, -include, -P, -C, -CC, -A. The file
behaviour is different too - if two filenames are given on the
commandline, then the second is treated as the output location.
<li> Fixed a corner-case bug in evaluating chained and overlapping #ifdefs.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-1.2, release date 2006.05.04<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.2.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.2.zip">.zip</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs-1.2-win32.zip">Windows binary</a>.
<ul>
<li> Re-arranged the source files into hierarchical libraries.
<li> Exposed the library interface as an installable Cabal package, with
Haddock documentation.
<li> Added the --unlit option, for removing literate-style comments.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-1.1, release date 2005.10.14<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.1.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.1.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Fixed the .cabal way of building cpphs.
<li> Update the --version reported (forgotten in 1.0, which still
mistakenly reports 0.9).
<li> No longer throws an error on an empty file.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-1.0, release date 2005.10.05<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.0.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-1.0.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Included the <tt>cpphs.compat</tt> script for argument
compatibility with the original <em>cpp</em>.
<li> Placed quotes around replacements for special macros __FILE__, __DATE__,
and __TIME__.
<li> If no files are specified, read from stdin.
<li> Ignore #! lines (e.g. in scripts)
<li> Parse -D commandline options consistently with cpp,
i.e. -Dfoo means foo=1
<li> Fix compatibility with preprocessors like hsc2hs, which use
non-cpp directives like #def. They are now passed through to the
output with a warning to stderr.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.9, release date 2005.03.17<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.9.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.9.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Bugfix for <tt>ghc-6.4 -O</tt>: flush output buffer.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.8, release date 2004.11.14<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.8.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.8.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Added the <tt>--text</tt> option, to signify the input should not
be lexed as Haskell. This causes macros to be defined or expanded
regardless of their location within comments, string delimiters, etc.
<li> Shuffled some source files around - there is now a runhugs script
to invoke cpphs nicely.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.7, release date 2004.09.01<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.7.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.7.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Enable the <tt>__FILE__</tt>, <tt>__LINE__</tt>, <tt>__DATE__</tt>,
and <tt>__TIME__</tt> specials, which can be useful for creating
DIY error messages.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.6, release date 2004.07.30<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.6.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.6.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Recognise and ignore the <tt>#pragma</tt> cpp directive.
<li> Fix beginning-of-file bug, where in <tt>--noline</tt> mode, a
<tt>#line</tt> cpp directive appeared at the top of the output file.
<li> Fix chained parenthesised boolean exprs in <tt>#if</tt>, e.g.
<pre>#if ( foo ) && ( bar )</pre>
<li> Fix precedence in chained unparenthesised boolean exprs in
<tt>#if</tt>, e.g.
<pre>#if foo && bar || baz && frob</pre>
<li> For better compatibility with cpp, and because otherwise
there are certain constructs that cannot be expressed, we no
longer permit whitespace in a <tt>#define</tt> between the
symbolname and an opening parenthesis, e.g.
<pre>#define f (f' id)</pre>. Previously, this was interpreted
as a parametrised macro, with arguments in the parens, and
no expansion. Now, the space indicates that this is a textual
replacement, and the parenthesised expression is in fact the
replacement.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.5, release date 2004.06.07<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.5.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.5.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> Added a --version flag to report the version number.
<li> Renamed --stringise to --hashes, and use it to turn on ## catenation
as well.
<li> Bugfix for <tt>#if 1</tt>, previously interpreted as false.
<li> Bugfix for --nolines: it no longer adds extra spurious newlines.
<li> File inclusion now looks in the directory of the calling file.
<li> Failure to find an include file is now merely a warning to stderr
rather than an error.
<li> Added a --layout flag. Previously, line continuations in a macro
definition were always preserved in the output, permitting use
of the Haskell layout rule even inside a macro. The default is now
to remove line continuations for conformance with cpp, but the option
of using --layout is still possible.
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.4, release date 2004.05.19<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.4.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.4.zip">.zip</a>.
<ul>
<li> New flag -Ofile to redirect output
<li> Bugfix for precedence of ! in #if !False && False
<li> Bugfix for whitespace permitted between # and if
<li> Bugfix for <tt>#define F "blah"; #include F</tt>
</ul>
<p>
cpphs-0.3, release date 2004.05.18<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.3.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.3.zip">.zip</a>.
<p>
Fix recursive macro expansion bug. Added option to strip C comments.
Added option to recognise the # stringise operator.
<p>
cpphs-0.2, release date 2004.05.15<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.2.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.2.zip">.zip</a>.
<p>
Implements textual replacement and macro expansion.
<p>
cpphs-0.1, release date 2004.04.07<br>
By HTTP:
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.1.tar.gz">.tar.gz</a>,
<a href="http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/cpphs/cpphs-0.1.zip">.zip</a>.
<p>
Initial release: implements conditional compilation and file inclusion only.
<p>
<b>Building instructions</b>
<p>
To build cpphs, use
<pre> hmake cpphs [-package base]
</pre>
or
<pre> ghc --make cpphs [-o cpphs]
</pre>
or
<pre> mv cpphs.hugs cpphs # a simple runhugs script
</pre>
<p>
You will notice that the command-line arguments for <em>cpphs</em>
are not the same as for the original <em>cpp</em>. If you want
to use <em>cpphs</em> as a completely drop-in replacement for
the real <em>cpp</em>, that is, to accept the same arguments, and
have broadly the same behaviour in response to them, then use the
<tt>--cpp</tt> compatibility option as the first commandline flag.
<hr>
<center><h3><a name="diff">Differences from cpp</a></h3></center>
<p>
In general, cpphs is based on the <tt>-traditional</tt> behaviour, not
ANSI C, and has the following main differences from the standard cpp.
<p>
<b>General</b>
<ul>
<li> The <tt>#</tt> that introduces any cpp directive must be in the first
column of a line (whereas ANSI permits whitespace before the <tt>#</tt>).
<li> Generates the <tt>#line n "filename"</tt> syntax, not the <tt># n
"filename"</tt> variant.
<li> C comments are only removed from within cpp directives. They are
not stripped from other text. Consider for instance that in
Haskell, all of the following are valid operator symbols: <tt>/*
*/ */*</tt> However, you can turn on C-comment removal with the
<tt>--strip</tt> option.
<li> Macros are never expanded within Haskell comments, strings,
or character constants, unless you give the <tt>--text</tt> option to
disable lexing the input as Haskell.
<li> Macros are always expanded recursively, unlike ANSI, which detects
and prevents self-recursion. For instance, <tt>#define foo x:foo</tt>
expands <tt>foo</tt> once only to <tt>x:foo</tt> in ANSI, but in cpphs
it becomes an infinite list <tt>x:x:x:x:...</tt>, i.e. cpphs does not
terminate.
</ul>
<p>
<b>Macro definition language</b>
<ul>
<li> Accepts <tt>/**/</tt> for token-pasting in a macro definition.
However, <tt>/* */</tt> (with any text between the open/close
comment) inserts whitespace.
<li> The ANSI <tt>##</tt> token-pasting operator is available with
the <tt>--hashes</tt> flag. This is to avoid misinterpreting
any valid Haskell operator of the same name.
<li> Replaces a macro formal parameter with the actual, even inside a
string (double or single quoted). This is -traditional behaviour,
not supported in ANSI.
<li> Recognises the <tt>#</tt> stringisation operator in a macro
definition only if you use the <tt>--hashes</tt> option. (It is
an ANSI addition, only needed because quoted stringisation (above)
is prohibited by ANSI.)
<li> Preserves whitespace within a textual replacement definition
exactly (modulo newlines), but leading and trailing space is eliminated.
<li> Preserves whitespace within a macro definition (and trailing it)
exactly (modulo newlines), but leading space is eliminated.
<li> Preserves whitespace within macro call arguments exactly
(including newlines), but leading and trailing space is eliminated.
<li> With the <tt>--layout</tt> option, line continuations in a textual
replacement or macro definition are preserved as line-breaks in the
macro call. (Useful for layout-sensitive code in Haskell.)
</ul>
<hr>
<center><h3><a name="library">cpphs as a library</a></h3></center>
<p>
You can use cpphs as a library from within a Haskell program. The main
interface is in <tt>Language.Preprocessor.Cpphs</tt>. Haddock
documentation is <a href="cpphs/">here</a>. To make the library
available to your haskell compiler, you must install the cpphs package
using Cabal.
<hr>
<center><h3><a name="who">Contacts</a></h3></center>
<p>
I am interested in hearing your feedback on cpphs. Bug reports
especially welcome. You can send feature requests too, but I won't
guarantee to implement them if they depart much from the ordinary
cpp's behaviour. Please mail
<ul>
<li> <a href="mailto:Malcolm.Wallace@cs.york.ac.uk">
Malcolm.Wallace@cs.york.ac.uk</a>
</ul>
<p><b>Copyright:</b> © 2004-2007 Malcolm Wallace,
except for ParseLib (Copyright © 1995 Graham Hutton and Erik Meijer)
<p><b>License:</b> The library modules in cpphs are distributed under
the terms of the LGPL (see file <a href="LICENCE-LGPL">LICENCE-LGPL</a>
for more details). If that's a problem for you, contact me to make
other arrangements. The application module 'cpphs.hs' itself is GPL
(see file <a href="LICENCE-GPL">LICENCE-GPL</a>).
<p>
This software comes with no warranty. Use at your own risk.
<hr>
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