Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man error

User Commands                                            error(1)



NAME
     error - insert compiler error messages at right source lines

SYNOPSIS
     error [-n] [-q] [-s] [-v] [-t suffixlist] [-I ignorefile]
          [filename]


DESCRIPTION
     error analyzes error messages produced by a number  of  com-
     pilers  and  language  processors.  It replaces the painful,
     traditional methods of scribbling abbreviations of errors on
     paper,  and  permits  error  messages  and source code to be
     viewed simultaneously.


     error looks at error messages,  either  from  the  specified
     file filename or from the standard input, and:

         o    Determines which language processor  produced  each
              error message.

         o    Determines the file name and  line  number  of  the
              erroneous line.

         o    Inserts the error  message  into  the  source  file
              immediately preceding the erroneous line.


     Error messages that can't be categorized by language proces-
     sor  or content are not inserted into any file, but are sent
     to the standard output.  error  touches  source  files  only
     after all input has been read.


     error is intended to be run with  its  standard  input  con-
     nected  with  a  pipe  to  the  error  message source.  Some
     language processors put error  messages  on  their  standard
     error  file;  others put their messages on the standard out-
     put. Hence, both error sources should be piped together into
     error. For example, when using the csh syntax, the following
     command analyzes all the error messages produced by whatever
     programs make(1S) runs when making lint:


     example% make -s lint |& error -q -v


     error knows about the error  messages  produced  by:  as(1),
     cpp(1),   ld(1),  make(1S)  and  other  compilers.  For  all
     languages except Pascal, error messages  are  restricted  to
     one line. Some error messages refer to more than one line in



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User Commands                                            error(1)



     more than one file, in which case error duplicates the error
     message and inserts it in all the appropriate places.

OPTIONS
     -n               Do not touch any files; all error  messages
                      are sent to the standard output.


     -q               error  asks  whether  the  file  should  be
                      touched.   A  `y' or `n' to the question is
                      necessary to continue.  Absence of  the  -q
                      option  implies  that  all referenced files
                      (except those referring to discarded  error
                      messages) are to be touched.


     -s               Print out statistics  regarding  the  error
                      categorization.


     -v               After all files have been touched,  overlay
                      the visual editor vi with it set up to edit
                      all files touched, and  positioned  in  the
                      first  touched  file at the first error. If
                      vi(1) can't be found, try  ex(1)  or  ed(1)
                      from standard places.


     -t suffixlist    Take the following  argument  as  a  suffix
                      list. Files whose suffices do not appear in
                      the suffix list are not touched. The suffix
                      list  is  dot  separated, and `*' wildcards
                      work.  Thus the suffix list:

                      .c.y.f*.h

                      allows error to  touch  files  ending  with
                      `.c', `.y', `.f*' and `.h'.



     error catches interrupt  and  terminate  signals,  and  ter-
     minates in an orderly fashion.

EXAMPLES
     Example 1 Using the error Command


     In the following C  shell   (/usr/bin/csh)  example,   error
     takes its input from the FORTRAN compiler:





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User Commands                                            error(1)



       example% f77 -c any.f |& error options




     Here  is   the   same   example   using   the   Korn   shell
     (/usr/bin/ksh):


       example% f77 -c any.f 2>&1 | error options



USAGE
     error does one of six things with error messages.

     synchronize          Some language processors produce  short
                          errors  describing  which file they are
                          processing. error uses these to  deter-
                          mine  the  file name for languages that
                          do not include the file  name  in  each
                          error  message.  These  synchronization
                          messages  are  consumed   entirely   by
                          error.


     discard              Error messages from lint that refer  to
                          one   of   the   two   lint  libraries,
                          /usr/lib/lint/llib-lc               and
                          /usr/lib/lint/llib-port  are discarded,
                          to prevent accidentally touching  these
                          libraries.  Again, these error messages
                          are consumed entirely by error.


     nullify              Error messages from lint can be  nulli-
                          fied  if they refer to a specific func-
                          tion, which is known to generate  diag-
                          nostics which are not interesting. Nul-
                          lified error messages are not  inserted
                          into  the  source file, but are written
                          to the standard output.  The  names  of
                          functions  to  ignore  are  taken  from
                          either the file named .errorrc  in  the
                          user's home directory, or from the file
                          named by the -I  option.  If  the  file
                          does  not  exist, no error messages are
                          nullified.  If  the  file  does  exist,
                          there  must  be  one  function name per
                          line.





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User Commands                                            error(1)



     not file specific    Error messages that can't  be  intuited
                          are  grouped  together,  and written to
                          the standard output  before  any  files
                          are touched. They are not inserted into
                          any source file.


     file specific        Error messages that refer to a specific
                          file  but to no specific line are writ-
                          ten to the standard  output  when  that
                          file is touched.


     true errors          Error messages that can be intuited are
                          candidates  for insertion into the file
                          to which they refer.



     Only true error messages are  inserted  into  source  files.
     Other  error  messages are consumed entirely by error or are
     written to the standard output. error inserts the error mes-
     sages  into  the  source file on the line preceding the line
     number in the error message. Each error  message  is  turned
     into  a one line comment for the language, and is internally
     flagged with the string ### at the beginning of  the  error,
     and  %%% at the end of the error. This makes pattern search-
     ing for errors easier with an editor, and  allows  the  mes-
     sages  to be easily removed. In addition, each error message
     contains the source line number for  the  line  the  message
     refers  to.   A  reasonably  formatted source program can be
     recompiled with the error messages still in it, without hav-
     ing  the error messages themselves cause future errors.  For
     poorly formatted source programs in free  format  languages,
     such as C or Pascal, it is possible to insert a comment into
     another comment, which can wreak havoc with a future  compi-
     lation.   To  avoid this, format the source program so there
     are no language statements on the same line as the end of  a
     comment.

FILES
     ~/.errorrc    function names to ignore for lint  error  mes-
                   sages


     /dev/tty      user's teletype


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:




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User Commands                                            error(1)



     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | developer/object-file       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO
     as(1), cpp(1), csh(1), ed(1), ex(1), make(1S), ld(1), vi(1),
     attributes(5)

BUGS
     Opens the tty-device directly for user input.


     Source files with links make a new copy  of  the  file  with
     only one link to it.


     Changing a language processor's  error  message  format  may
     cause error to not understand the error message.


     error, since it is purely mechanical, will  not  filter  out
     subsequent  errors  caused by "floodgating" initiated by one
     syntactically trivial error. Humans are still much better at
     discarding these related errors.


     Pascal error messages belong after the lines affected, error
     puts  them  before.   The  alignment  of the `|' marking the
     point of error is also disturbed by error.


     error was designed for work on CRT  's  at  reasonably  high
     speed.  It is less pleasant on slow speed terminals, and was
     not designed for use on hardcopy terminals.


















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