M4

1 definition found

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  m4
       
          A {macro} processor for {Unix} and {GCOS} which is more
          flexible than {cpp}.  m4 copies its input to the output,
          expanding macros which can be either built-in or user-defined.
          m4 has built-in functions for including files, running {Unix}


          commands, doing integer arithmetic, manipulating text in
          various ways and recursing.  m4 can be used either as a
          {front-end} to a compiler or as a stand-alone tool.
       
          {sendmail}'s configuration file (/etc/sendmail.cf) is writen
          in m4 macros.
       
          There is a {GNU m4 v1.1
          (ftp://gnu.org/pub/gnu/m4-1.0.tar.Z)} by Francois
          Pinard  and a {public domain} version
          by Ozan Yigit  and Richard A. O'Keefe
           (FTP from any {386BSD}, {NetBSD} or
          {FreeBSD} archive).  A {Macintosh} version is {here
          (ftp://nic.switch.ch/pub/software/mac/src/mpw-c/)}.
       
          See also {m3}, {m5}.
       
          ["The M4 Macro Processor",
          Kernighan & Ritchie, Jul 1977].