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m4 as script interpreter

 
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# 1  
Old 05-30-2009
m4 problem
#!/usr/bin/m4

when running m4 scripts with "#!/usr/bin/m4" they are executed properly, but "#!/usr/bin/m4" is printed out - how to avoid it?
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Action; 05-30-2009 at 01:17 PM..
# 2  
Old 05-31-2009
Humm that does not make much sense. How are you invoking the m4 script?
# 3  
Old 05-31-2009
Code:
ed test.m4
test.m4: No such file or directory
a
#!/usr/bin/m4
define(`A',`Turbo')dnl
A
.
w
39
q
chmod a+x test.m4
test.m4
#!/usr/bin/m4
Turbo

Last edited by Action; 05-31-2009 at 10:47 PM.. Reason: post code as code
# 4  
Old 05-31-2009
Hi.

Quote:
Comments in `m4' are normally delimited by the characters `#' and
newline. All characters between the comment delimiters are ignored,
but the entire comment (including the delimiters) is passed through to
the output--comments are _not_ discarded by `m4'.

-- excerpt from info m4
So a code like:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/m4
# This is *another* comment.
define(`A',`Turbo')dnl
A

would produce:
Code:
% ./s1
#!/usr/bin/m4
# This is *another* comment.
Turbo

You could avoid this with:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env bash

m4 <<EOF
define('A','Turbo')dnl
A
EOF

which produces:
Code:
% ./s2
A

NOTE: see correction for quoting in post below.

Best wishes ... cheers, drl
Last edited by drl; 06-03-2009 at 12:07 AM.. Reason: Add note for correction in later post.
# 5  
Old 05-31-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by drl
Hi.


So a code like:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/m4
# This is *another* comment.
define(`A',`Turbo')dnl
A

would produce:
Code:
% ./s1
#!/usr/bin/m4
# This is *another* comment.
Turbo

You could avoid this with:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env bash

m4 <<EOF
define('A','Turbo')dnl
A
EOF

which produces:
Code:
% ./s2
A

Best wishes ... cheers, drl
Thank you!
# 6  
Old 06-03-2009
Hi.

Correction for quoting:
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env bash

m4 <<'EOF'
define(`A',`Turbo')dnl
A
EOF

producing:
Code:
% ./s2
Turbo

Apologies for the confusion ... cheers, drl
 
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