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1clang - the Clang C, C++, and Objective-C compiler
2==================================================
3
4SYNOPSIS
5--------
6
7:program:`clang` [*options*] *filename ...*
8
9DESCRIPTION
10-----------
11
12:program:`clang` is a C, C++, and Objective-C compiler which encompasses
13preprocessing, parsing, optimization, code generation, assembly, and linking.
14Depending on which high-level mode setting is passed, Clang will stop before
15doing a full link.  While Clang is highly integrated, it is important to
16understand the stages of compilation, to understand how to invoke it.  These
17stages are:
18
19Driver
20    The clang executable is actually a small driver which controls the overall
21    execution of other tools such as the compiler, assembler and linker.
22    Typically you do not need to interact with the driver, but you
23    transparently use it to run the other tools.
24
25Preprocessing
26    This stage handles tokenization of the input source file, macro expansion,
27    #include expansion and handling of other preprocessor directives.  The
28    output of this stage is typically called a ".i" (for C), ".ii" (for C++),
29    ".mi" (for Objective-C), or ".mii" (for Objective-C++) file.
30
31Parsing and Semantic Analysis
32    This stage parses the input file, translating preprocessor tokens into a
33    parse tree.  Once in the form of a parse tree, it applies semantic
34    analysis to compute types for expressions as well and determine whether
35    the code is well formed. This stage is responsible for generating most of
36    the compiler warnings as well as parse errors. The output of this stage is
37    an "Abstract Syntax Tree" (AST).
38
39Code Generation and Optimization
40    This stage translates an AST into low-level intermediate code (known as
41    "LLVM IR") and ultimately to machine code.  This phase is responsible for
42    optimizing the generated code and handling target-specific code generation.
43    The output of this stage is typically called a ".s" file or "assembly" file.
44
45    Clang also supports the use of an integrated assembler, in which the code
46    generator produces object files directly. This avoids the overhead of
47    generating the ".s" file and of calling the target assembler.
48
49Assembler
50    This stage runs the target assembler to translate the output of the
51    compiler into a target object file. The output of this stage is typically
52    called a ".o" file or "object" file.
53
54Linker
55    This stage runs the target linker to merge multiple object files into an
56    executable or dynamic library. The output of this stage is typically called
57    an "a.out", ".dylib" or ".so" file.
58
59:program:`Clang Static Analyzer`
60
61The Clang Static Analyzer is a tool that scans source code to try to find bugs
62through code analysis.  This tool uses many parts of Clang and is built into
63the same driver.  Please see <http://clang-analyzer.llvm.org> for more details
64on how to use the static analyzer.
65
66OPTIONS
67-------
68
69Stage Selection Options
70~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
71
72.. option:: -E
73
74 Run the preprocessor stage.
75
76.. option:: -fsyntax-only
77
78 Run the preprocessor, parser and type checking stages.
79
80.. option:: -S
81
82 Run the previous stages as well as LLVM generation and optimization stages
83 and target-specific code generation, producing an assembly file.
84
85.. option:: -c
86
87 Run all of the above, plus the assembler, generating a target ".o" object file.
88
89.. option:: no stage selection option
90
91 If no stage selection option is specified, all stages above are run, and the
92 linker is run to combine the results into an executable or shared library.
93
94Language Selection and Mode Options
95~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
96
97.. option:: -x <language>
98
99 Treat subsequent input files as having type language.
100
101.. option:: -std=<language>
102
103 Specify the language standard to compile for.
104
105.. option:: -stdlib=<library>
106
107 Specify the C++ standard library to use; supported options are libstdc++ and
108 libc++.
109
110.. option:: -ansi
111
112 Same as -std=c89.
113
114.. option:: -ObjC, -ObjC++
115
116 Treat source input files as Objective-C and Object-C++ inputs respectively.
117
118.. option:: -trigraphs
119
120 Enable trigraphs.
121
122.. option:: -ffreestanding
123
124 Indicate that the file should be compiled for a freestanding, not a hosted,
125 environment.
126
127.. option:: -fno-builtin
128
129 Disable special handling and optimizations of builtin functions like
130 :c:func:`strlen` and :c:func:`malloc`.
131
132.. option:: -fmath-errno
133
134 Indicate that math functions should be treated as updating :c:data:`errno`.
135
136.. option:: -fpascal-strings
137
138 Enable support for Pascal-style strings with "\\pfoo".
139
140.. option:: -fms-extensions
141
142 Enable support for Microsoft extensions.
143
144.. option:: -fmsc-version=
145
146 Set _MSC_VER. Defaults to 1300 on Windows. Not set otherwise.
147
148.. option:: -fborland-extensions
149
150 Enable support for Borland extensions.
151
152.. option:: -fwritable-strings
153
154 Make all string literals default to writable.  This disables uniquing of
155 strings and other optimizations.
156
157.. option:: -flax-vector-conversions
158
159 Allow loose type checking rules for implicit vector conversions.
160
161.. option:: -fblocks
162
163 Enable the "Blocks" language feature.
164
165.. option:: -fobjc-gc-only
166
167 Indicate that Objective-C code should be compiled in GC-only mode, which only
168 works when Objective-C Garbage Collection is enabled.
169
170.. option:: -fobjc-gc
171
172 Indicate that Objective-C code should be compiled in hybrid-GC mode, which
173 works with both GC and non-GC mode.
174
175.. option:: -fobjc-abi-version=version
176
177 Select the Objective-C ABI version to use. Available versions are 1 (legacy
178 "fragile" ABI), 2 (non-fragile ABI 1), and 3 (non-fragile ABI 2).
179
180.. option:: -fobjc-nonfragile-abi-version=<version>
181
182 Select the Objective-C non-fragile ABI version to use by default. This will
183 only be used as the Objective-C ABI when the non-fragile ABI is enabled
184 (either via :option:`-fobjc-nonfragile-abi`, or because it is the platform
185 default).
186
187.. option:: -fobjc-nonfragile-abi, -fno-objc-nonfragile-abi
188
189 Enable use of the Objective-C non-fragile ABI. On platforms for which this is
190 the default ABI, it can be disabled with :option:`-fno-objc-nonfragile-abi`.
191
192Target Selection Options
193~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
194
195Clang fully supports cross compilation as an inherent part of its design.
196Depending on how your version of Clang is configured, it may have support for a
197number of cross compilers, or may only support a native target.
198
199.. option:: -arch <architecture>
200
201  Specify the architecture to build for.
202
203.. option:: -mmacosx-version-min=<version>
204
205  When building for Mac OS X, specify the minimum version supported by your
206  application.
207
208.. option:: -miphoneos-version-min
209
210  When building for iPhone OS, specify the minimum version supported by your
211  application.
212
213.. option:: -march=<cpu>
214
215  Specify that Clang should generate code for a specific processor family
216  member and later.  For example, if you specify -march=i486, the compiler is
217  allowed to generate instructions that are valid on i486 and later processors,
218  but which may not exist on earlier ones.
219
220
221Code Generation Options
222~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
223
224.. option:: -O0, -O1, -O2, -O3, -Ofast, -Os, -Oz, -O, -O4
225
226  Specify which optimization level to use:
227
228    :option:`-O0` Means "no optimization": this level compiles the fastest and
229    generates the most debuggable code.
230
231    :option:`-O1` Somewhere between :option:`-O0` and :option:`-O2`.
232
233    :option:`-O2` Moderate level of optimization which enables most
234    optimizations.
235
236    :option:`-O3` Like :option:`-O2`, except that it enables optimizations that
237    take longer to perform or that may generate larger code (in an attempt to
238    make the program run faster).
239
240    :option:`-Ofast` Enables all the optimizations from :option:`-O3` along
241    with other aggressive optimizations that may violate strict compliance with
242    language standards.
243
244    :option:`-Os` Like :option:`-O2` with extra optimizations to reduce code
245    size.
246
247    :option:`-Oz` Like :option:`-Os` (and thus :option:`-O2`), but reduces code
248    size further.
249
250    :option:`-O` Equivalent to :option:`-O2`.
251
252    :option:`-O4` and higher
253
254      Currently equivalent to :option:`-O3`
255
256.. option:: -g, -gline-tables-only, -gmodules
257
258  Control debug information output.  Note that Clang debug information works
259  best at :option:`-O0`.  When more than one option starting with `-g` is
260  specified, the last one wins:
261
262    :option:`-g` Generate debug information.
263
264    :option:`-gline-tables-only` Generate only line table debug information. This
265    allows for symbolicated backtraces with inlining information, but does not
266    include any information about variables, their locations or types.
267
268    :option:`-gmodules` Generate debug information that contains external
269    references to types defined in Clang modules or precompiled headers instead
270    of emitting redundant debug type information into every object file.  This
271    option transparently switches the Clang module format to object file
272    containers that hold the Clang module together with the debug information.
273    When compiling a program that uses Clang modules or precompiled headers,
274    this option produces complete debug information with faster compile
275    times and much smaller object files.
276
277    This option should not be used when building static libraries for
278    distribution to other machines because the debug info will contain
279    references to the module cache on the machine the object files in the
280    library were built on.
281
282.. option:: -fstandalone-debug -fno-standalone-debug
283
284  Clang supports a number of optimizations to reduce the size of debug
285  information in the binary. They work based on the assumption that the
286  debug type information can be spread out over multiple compilation units.
287  For instance, Clang will not emit type definitions for types that are not
288  needed by a module and could be replaced with a forward declaration.
289  Further, Clang will only emit type info for a dynamic C++ class in the
290  module that contains the vtable for the class.
291
292  The :option:`-fstandalone-debug` option turns off these optimizations.
293  This is useful when working with 3rd-party libraries that don't come with
294  debug information.  This is the default on Darwin.  Note that Clang will
295  never emit type information for types that are not referenced at all by the
296  program.
297
298.. option:: -fexceptions
299
300  Enable generation of unwind information. This allows exceptions to be thrown
301  through Clang compiled stack frames.  This is on by default in x86-64.
302
303.. option:: -ftrapv
304
305  Generate code to catch integer overflow errors.  Signed integer overflow is
306  undefined in C. With this flag, extra code is generated to detect this and
307  abort when it happens.
308
309.. option:: -fvisibility
310
311  This flag sets the default visibility level.
312
313.. option:: -fcommon, -fno-common
314
315  This flag specifies that variables without initializers get common linkage.
316  It can be disabled with :option:`-fno-common`.
317
318.. option:: -ftls-model=<model>
319
320  Set the default thread-local storage (TLS) model to use for thread-local
321  variables. Valid values are: "global-dynamic", "local-dynamic",
322  "initial-exec" and "local-exec". The default is "global-dynamic". The default
323  model can be overridden with the tls_model attribute. The compiler will try
324  to choose a more efficient model if possible.
325
326.. option:: -flto, -emit-llvm
327
328  Generate output files in LLVM formats, suitable for link time optimization.
329  When used with :option:`-S` this generates LLVM intermediate language
330  assembly files, otherwise this generates LLVM bitcode format object files
331  (which may be passed to the linker depending on the stage selection options).
332
333Driver Options
334~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
335
336.. option:: -###
337
338  Print (but do not run) the commands to run for this compilation.
339
340.. option:: --help
341
342  Display available options.
343
344.. option:: -Qunused-arguments
345
346  Do not emit any warnings for unused driver arguments.
347
348.. option:: -Wa,<args>
349
350  Pass the comma separated arguments in args to the assembler.
351
352.. option:: -Wl,<args>
353
354  Pass the comma separated arguments in args to the linker.
355
356.. option:: -Wp,<args>
357
358  Pass the comma separated arguments in args to the preprocessor.
359
360.. option:: -Xanalyzer <arg>
361
362  Pass arg to the static analyzer.
363
364.. option:: -Xassembler <arg>
365
366  Pass arg to the assembler.
367
368.. option:: -Xlinker <arg>
369
370  Pass arg to the linker.
371
372.. option:: -Xpreprocessor <arg>
373
374  Pass arg to the preprocessor.
375
376.. option:: -o <file>
377
378  Write output to file.
379
380.. option:: -print-file-name=<file>
381
382  Print the full library path of file.
383
384.. option:: -print-libgcc-file-name
385
386  Print the library path for "libgcc.a".
387
388.. option:: -print-prog-name=<name>
389
390  Print the full program path of name.
391
392.. option:: -print-search-dirs
393
394  Print the paths used for finding libraries and programs.
395
396.. option:: -save-temps
397
398  Save intermediate compilation results.
399
400.. option:: -integrated-as, -no-integrated-as
401
402  Used to enable and disable, respectively, the use of the integrated
403  assembler. Whether the integrated assembler is on by default is target
404  dependent.
405
406.. option:: -time
407
408  Time individual commands.
409
410.. option:: -ftime-report
411
412  Print timing summary of each stage of compilation.
413
414.. option:: -v
415
416  Show commands to run and use verbose output.
417
418
419Diagnostics Options
420~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
421
422.. option:: -fshow-column, -fshow-source-location, -fcaret-diagnostics, -fdiagnostics-fixit-info, -fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits, -fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info, -fprint-source-range-info, -fdiagnostics-show-option, -fmessage-length
423
424  These options control how Clang prints out information about diagnostics
425  (errors and warnings). Please see the Clang User's Manual for more information.
426
427Preprocessor Options
428~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
429
430.. option:: -D<macroname>=<value>
431
432  Adds an implicit #define into the predefines buffer which is read before the
433  source file is preprocessed.
434
435.. option:: -U<macroname>
436
437  Adds an implicit #undef into the predefines buffer which is read before the
438  source file is preprocessed.
439
440.. option:: -include <filename>
441
442  Adds an implicit #include into the predefines buffer which is read before the
443  source file is preprocessed.
444
445.. option:: -I<directory>
446
447  Add the specified directory to the search path for include files.
448
449.. option:: -F<directory>
450
451  Add the specified directory to the search path for framework include files.
452
453.. option:: -nostdinc
454
455  Do not search the standard system directories or compiler builtin directories
456  for include files.
457
458.. option:: -nostdlibinc
459
460  Do not search the standard system directories for include files, but do
461  search compiler builtin include directories.
462
463.. option:: -nobuiltininc
464
465  Do not search clang's builtin directory for include files.
466
467
468ENVIRONMENT
469-----------
470
471.. envvar:: TMPDIR, TEMP, TMP
472
473  These environment variables are checked, in order, for the location to write
474  temporary files used during the compilation process.
475
476.. envvar:: CPATH
477
478  If this environment variable is present, it is treated as a delimited list of
479  paths to be added to the default system include path list. The delimiter is
480  the platform dependent delimiter, as used in the PATH environment variable.
481
482  Empty components in the environment variable are ignored.
483
484.. envvar:: C_INCLUDE_PATH, OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH, CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH, OBJCPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH
485
486  These environment variables specify additional paths, as for :envvar:`CPATH`, which are
487  only used when processing the appropriate language.
488
489.. envvar:: MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
490
491  If :option:`-mmacosx-version-min` is unspecified, the default deployment
492  target is read from this environment variable. This option only affects
493  Darwin targets.
494
495BUGS
496----
497
498To report bugs, please visit <http://llvm.org/bugs/>.  Most bug reports should
499include preprocessed source files (use the :option:`-E` option) and the full
500output of the compiler, along with information to reproduce.
501
502SEE ALSO
503--------
504
505:manpage:`as(1)`, :manpage:`ld(1)`
506
507