binutils/c++filt.1

   1 .\" Copyright (c) 1991 Free Software Foundation
   2 .\" See section COPYING for conditions for redistribution
   3 .TH c++filt 1 "June 1993" "cygnus support" "GNU Development Tools"
   4 .de BP
   5 .sp
   6 .ti \-.2i
   7 \(**
   8 ..
   9
  10 .SH NAME
  11 c++filt\(em\&demangle C++ symbols
  12
  13 .SH SYNOPSIS
  14 .hy 0
  15 .na
  16 .TP
  17 .B c++filt
  18 .RB "[\|" \-_ | \-\-strip-underscores "\|]"
  19 .RB "[\|" "\-s {gnu,lucid,arm} " | " \-\-format={gnu,lucid,arm}" "\|]"
  20 .RB "[\|" \-\-help "\|]"
  21 .RB "[\|" \-\-version "\|]"
  22 .RB "[\|" arg "...\|]"
  23 .SH DESCRIPTION
  24 The C++ language provides function overloading, which means that you can
  25 write many functions with the same name (providing each takes parameters
  26 of different types).  All C++ function names are encoded into a
  27 low-level assembly label (this process is known as
  28 .I mangling\c
  29 ).  The
  30 .B c++filt
  31 program does the inverse mapping: it decodes (\fIdemangles\fR)
  32 low-level names into user-level names so that the linker can keep
  33 these overloaded functions from clashing.
  34 .PP
  35 Every alphanumeric word (consisting of letters, digits, underscores,
  36 dollars, or periods) seen in the input is a potential label.  If the
  37 label decodes into a C++ name, the C++ name replaces the low-level
  38 name in the output.
  39 .PP
  40 A typical use of
  41 .B c++filt
  42 is to pipe the output of
  43 .B nm
  44 through it, using
  45 .B c++filt
  46 as a filter:
  47 .br
  48 .RS
  49 .B nm \fIobjfile\fB | c++filt
  50 .RE
  51 .PP
  52 You can also use
  53 .B c++filt
  54 to decipher individual symbols by specifying these symbols on the
  55 command line.
  56 .PP
  57 All results are printed on the standard output.
  58 .SH OPTIONS
  59 .TP
  60 .B \-_
  61 .TP
  62 .B \-\-strip\-underscores
  63 On some systems, both the C and C++ compilers put an
  64 underscore in front of every name.  For example, the C name
  65 .B foo
  66 gets the low-level name
  67 .BR _foo .
  68 This option removes the leading underscore.
  69
  70 .TP
  71 .B "\-s {gnu,lucid,arm}"
  72 .TP
  73 .B \-\-format={gnu,lucid,arm}
  74 GNU
  75 .B nm
  76 can decode three different methods of mangling, used by different C++
  77 compilers.  This option selects which method it uses: the one used by
  78 the GNU compiler, the one used by the Lucid compiler, or the one
  79 specified by the C++ Annotated Reference Manual.  The default is the
  80 GNU style.
  81
  82 .TP
  83 .B \-\-help
  84 Print a summary of the options to
  85 .B c++filt
  86 and exit.
  87
  88 .TP
  89 .B \-\-version
  90 Print the version number of
  91 .B c++filt
  92 and exit.
  93
  94 .SH "SEE ALSO"
  95 .RB "`\|" binutils "\|'"
  96 entry in
  97 .B
  98 info\c
  99 \&;
 100 .I
 101 The GNU Binary Utilities\c
 102 \&, Roland H. Pesch (June 1993).
 103
 104 .SH COPYING
 105 Copyright (c) 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 106 .PP
 107 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
 108 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
 109 are preserved on all copies.
 110 .PP
 111 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
 112 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
 113 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
 114 permission notice identical to this one.
 115 .PP
 116 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
 117 manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
 118 versions, except that this permission notice may be included in
 119 translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in
 120 the original English.