lfs-book/appendixa/m4-desc.xml

<sect2><title>&nbsp;</title><para>&nbsp;</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Descriptions</title>

<para>(Last checked against version &m4-contversion;.)</para>

<sect3><title>Program file descriptions</title>

<sect4><title>m4</title>
<para>m4 is a macro processor. It copies input to output, expanding macros as it
goes. Macros are either built-in or user-defined and can take any number
of arguments. Besides just doing macro expansion, m4 has built-in functions
for including named files, running Unix commands, doing integer arithmetic,
manipulating text in various ways, recursion, etc. The m4 program can be used either
as a front-end to a compiler or as a macro processor in its own
right.</para></sect4>

</sect3>

</sect2>