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1FileCheck - Flexible pattern matching file verifier
2===================================================
3
4.. program:: FileCheck
5
6SYNOPSIS
7--------
8
9:program:`FileCheck` *match-filename* [*--check-prefix=XXX*] [*--strict-whitespace*]
10
11DESCRIPTION
12-----------
13
14:program:`FileCheck` reads two files (one from standard input, and one
15specified on the command line) and uses one to verify the other.  This
16behavior is particularly useful for the testsuite, which wants to verify that
17the output of some tool (e.g. :program:`llc`) contains the expected information
18(for example, a movsd from esp or whatever is interesting).  This is similar to
19using :program:`grep`, but it is optimized for matching multiple different
20inputs in one file in a specific order.
21
22The ``match-filename`` file specifies the file that contains the patterns to
23match.  The file to verify is read from standard input unless the
24:option:`--input-file` option is used.
25
26OPTIONS
27-------
28
29Options are parsed from the environment variable ``FILECHECK_OPTS``
30and from the command line.
31
32.. option:: -help
33
34 Print a summary of command line options.
35
36.. option:: --check-prefix prefix
37
38 FileCheck searches the contents of ``match-filename`` for patterns to
39 match.  By default, these patterns are prefixed with "``CHECK:``".
40 If you'd like to use a different prefix (e.g. because the same input
41 file is checking multiple different tool or options), the
42 :option:`--check-prefix` argument allows you to specify (without the trailing
43 "``:``") one or more prefixes to match. Multiple prefixes are useful for tests
44 which might change for different run options, but most lines remain the same.
45
46 FileCheck does not permit duplicate prefixes, even if one is a check prefix
47 and one is a comment prefix (see :option:`--comment-prefixes` below).
48
49.. option:: --check-prefixes prefix1,prefix2,...
50
51 An alias of :option:`--check-prefix` that allows multiple prefixes to be
52 specified as a comma separated list.
53
54.. option:: --comment-prefixes prefix1,prefix2,...
55
56 By default, FileCheck ignores any occurrence in ``match-filename`` of any check
57 prefix if it is preceded on the same line by "``COM:``" or "``RUN:``". See the
58 section `The "COM:" directive`_ for usage details.
59
60 These default comment prefixes can be overridden by
61 :option:`--comment-prefixes` if they are not appropriate for your testing
62 environment. However, doing so is not recommended in LLVM's LIT-based test
63 suites, which should be easier to maintain if they all follow a consistent
64 comment style. In that case, consider proposing a change to the default
65 comment prefixes instead.
66
67.. option:: --allow-unused-prefixes
68
69 This option controls the behavior when using more than one prefix as specified
70 by :option:`--check-prefix` or :option:`--check-prefixes`, and some of these
71 prefixes are missing in the test file. If true, this is allowed, if false,
72 FileCheck will report an error, listing the missing prefixes.
73
74 It is currently, temporarily, true by default, and will be subsequently
75 switched to false.
76
77.. option:: --input-file filename
78
79  File to check (defaults to stdin).
80
81.. option:: --match-full-lines
82
83 By default, FileCheck allows matches of anywhere on a line. This
84 option will require all positive matches to cover an entire
85 line. Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored, unless
86 :option:`--strict-whitespace` is also specified. (Note: negative
87 matches from ``CHECK-NOT`` are not affected by this option!)
88
89 Passing this option is equivalent to inserting ``{{^ *}}`` or
90 ``{{^}}`` before, and ``{{ *$}}`` or ``{{$}}`` after every positive
91 check pattern.
92
93.. option:: --strict-whitespace
94
95 By default, FileCheck canonicalizes input horizontal whitespace (spaces and
96 tabs) which causes it to ignore these differences (a space will match a tab).
97 The :option:`--strict-whitespace` argument disables this behavior. End-of-line
98 sequences are canonicalized to UNIX-style ``\n`` in all modes.
99
100.. option:: --ignore-case
101
102  By default, FileCheck uses case-sensitive matching. This option causes
103  FileCheck to use case-insensitive matching.
104
105.. option:: --implicit-check-not check-pattern
106
107  Adds implicit negative checks for the specified patterns between positive
108  checks. The option allows writing stricter tests without stuffing them with
109  ``CHECK-NOT``\ s.
110
111  For example, "``--implicit-check-not warning:``" can be useful when testing
112  diagnostic messages from tools that don't have an option similar to ``clang
113  -verify``. With this option FileCheck will verify that input does not contain
114  warnings not covered by any ``CHECK:`` patterns.
115
116.. option:: --dump-input <value>
117
118  Dump input to stderr, adding annotations representing currently enabled
119  diagnostics.  When there are multiple occurrences of this option, the
120  ``<value>`` that appears earliest in the list below has precedence.  The
121  default is ``fail``.
122
123  * ``help``   - Explain input dump and quit
124  * ``always`` - Always dump input
125  * ``fail``   - Dump input on failure
126  * ``never``  - Never dump input
127
128.. option:: --dump-input-context <N>
129
130  In the dump requested by ``--dump-input``, print ``<N>`` input lines before
131  and ``<N>`` input lines after any lines specified by ``--dump-input-filter``.
132  When there are multiple occurrences of this option, the largest specified
133  ``<N>`` has precedence.  The default is 5.
134
135.. option:: --dump-input-filter <value>
136
137  In the dump requested by ``--dump-input``, print only input lines of kind
138  ``<value>`` plus any context specified by ``--dump-input-context``.  When
139  there are multiple occurrences of this option, the ``<value>`` that appears
140  earliest in the list below has precedence.  The default is ``error`` when
141  ``--dump-input=fail``, and it's ``all`` when ``--dump-input=always``.
142
143  * ``all``             - All input lines
144  * ``annotation-full`` - Input lines with annotations
145  * ``annotation``      - Input lines with starting points of annotations
146  * ``error``           - Input lines with starting points of error annotations
147
148.. option:: --enable-var-scope
149
150  Enables scope for regex variables.
151
152  Variables with names that start with ``$`` are considered global and
153  remain set throughout the file.
154
155  All other variables get undefined after each encountered ``CHECK-LABEL``.
156
157.. option:: -D<VAR=VALUE>
158
159  Sets a filecheck pattern variable ``VAR`` with value ``VALUE`` that can be
160  used in ``CHECK:`` lines.
161
162.. option:: -D#<FMT>,<NUMVAR>=<NUMERIC EXPRESSION>
163
164  Sets a filecheck numeric variable ``NUMVAR`` of matching format ``FMT`` to
165  the result of evaluating ``<NUMERIC EXPRESSION>`` that can be used in
166  ``CHECK:`` lines.  See section
167  ``FileCheck Numeric Variables and Expressions`` for details on supported
168  numeric expressions.
169
170.. option:: -version
171
172 Show the version number of this program.
173
174.. option:: -v
175
176  Print good directive pattern matches.  However, if ``-dump-input=fail`` or
177  ``-dump-input=always``, add those matches as input annotations instead.
178
179.. option:: -vv
180
181  Print information helpful in diagnosing internal FileCheck issues, such as
182  discarded overlapping ``CHECK-DAG:`` matches, implicit EOF pattern matches,
183  and ``CHECK-NOT:`` patterns that do not have matches.  Implies ``-v``.
184  However, if ``-dump-input=fail`` or ``-dump-input=always``, just add that
185  information as input annotations instead.
186
187.. option:: --allow-deprecated-dag-overlap
188
189  Enable overlapping among matches in a group of consecutive ``CHECK-DAG:``
190  directives.  This option is deprecated and is only provided for convenience
191  as old tests are migrated to the new non-overlapping ``CHECK-DAG:``
192  implementation.
193
194.. option:: --allow-empty
195
196  Allow checking empty input. By default, empty input is rejected.
197
198.. option:: --color
199
200  Use colors in output (autodetected by default).
201
202EXIT STATUS
203-----------
204
205If :program:`FileCheck` verifies that the file matches the expected contents,
206it exits with 0.  Otherwise, if not, or if an error occurs, it will exit with a
207non-zero value.
208
209TUTORIAL
210--------
211
212FileCheck is typically used from LLVM regression tests, being invoked on the RUN
213line of the test.  A simple example of using FileCheck from a RUN line looks
214like this:
215
216.. code-block:: llvm
217
218   ; RUN: llvm-as < %s | llc -march=x86-64 | FileCheck %s
219
220This syntax says to pipe the current file ("``%s``") into ``llvm-as``, pipe
221that into ``llc``, then pipe the output of ``llc`` into ``FileCheck``.  This
222means that FileCheck will be verifying its standard input (the llc output)
223against the filename argument specified (the original ``.ll`` file specified by
224"``%s``").  To see how this works, let's look at the rest of the ``.ll`` file
225(after the RUN line):
226
227.. code-block:: llvm
228
229   define void @sub1(i32* %p, i32 %v) {
230   entry:
231   ; CHECK: sub1:
232   ; CHECK: subl
233           %0 = tail call i32 @llvm.atomic.load.sub.i32.p0i32(i32* %p, i32 %v)
234           ret void
235   }
236
237   define void @inc4(i64* %p) {
238   entry:
239   ; CHECK: inc4:
240   ; CHECK: incq
241           %0 = tail call i64 @llvm.atomic.load.add.i64.p0i64(i64* %p, i64 1)
242           ret void
243   }
244
245Here you can see some "``CHECK:``" lines specified in comments.  Now you can
246see how the file is piped into ``llvm-as``, then ``llc``, and the machine code
247output is what we are verifying.  FileCheck checks the machine code output to
248verify that it matches what the "``CHECK:``" lines specify.
249
250The syntax of the "``CHECK:``" lines is very simple: they are fixed strings that
251must occur in order.  FileCheck defaults to ignoring horizontal whitespace
252differences (e.g. a space is allowed to match a tab) but otherwise, the contents
253of the "``CHECK:``" line is required to match some thing in the test file exactly.
254
255One nice thing about FileCheck (compared to grep) is that it allows merging
256test cases together into logical groups.  For example, because the test above
257is checking for the "``sub1:``" and "``inc4:``" labels, it will not match
258unless there is a "``subl``" in between those labels.  If it existed somewhere
259else in the file, that would not count: "``grep subl``" matches if "``subl``"
260exists anywhere in the file.
261
262The FileCheck -check-prefix option
263~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
264
265The FileCheck `-check-prefix` option allows multiple test
266configurations to be driven from one `.ll` file.  This is useful in many
267circumstances, for example, testing different architectural variants with
268:program:`llc`.  Here's a simple example:
269
270.. code-block:: llvm
271
272   ; RUN: llvm-as < %s | llc -mtriple=i686-apple-darwin9 -mattr=sse41 \
273   ; RUN:              | FileCheck %s -check-prefix=X32
274   ; RUN: llvm-as < %s | llc -mtriple=x86_64-apple-darwin9 -mattr=sse41 \
275   ; RUN:              | FileCheck %s -check-prefix=X64
276
277   define <4 x i32> @pinsrd_1(i32 %s, <4 x i32> %tmp) nounwind {
278           %tmp1 = insertelement <4 x i32>; %tmp, i32 %s, i32 1
279           ret <4 x i32> %tmp1
280   ; X32: pinsrd_1:
281   ; X32:    pinsrd $1, 4(%esp), %xmm0
282
283   ; X64: pinsrd_1:
284   ; X64:    pinsrd $1, %edi, %xmm0
285   }
286
287In this case, we're testing that we get the expected code generation with
288both 32-bit and 64-bit code generation.
289
290The "COM:" directive
291~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
292
293Sometimes you want to disable a FileCheck directive without removing it
294entirely, or you want to write comments that mention a directive by name. The
295"``COM:``" directive makes it easy to do this. For example, you might have:
296
297.. code-block:: llvm
298
299   ; X32: pinsrd_1:
300   ; X32:    pinsrd $1, 4(%esp), %xmm0
301
302   ; COM: FIXME: X64 isn't working correctly yet for this part of codegen, but
303   ; COM: X64 will have something similar to X32:
304   ; COM:
305   ; COM:   X64: pinsrd_1:
306   ; COM:   X64:    pinsrd $1, %edi, %xmm0
307
308Without "``COM:``", you would need to use some combination of rewording and
309directive syntax mangling to prevent FileCheck from recognizing the commented
310occurrences of "``X32:``" and "``X64:``" above as directives. Moreover,
311FileCheck diagnostics have been proposed that might complain about the above
312occurrences of "``X64``" that don't have the trailing "``:``" because they look
313like directive typos. Dodging all these problems can be tedious for a test
314author, and directive syntax mangling can make the purpose of test code unclear.
315"``COM:``" avoids all these problems.
316
317A few important usage notes:
318
319* "``COM:``" within another directive's pattern does *not* comment out the
320  remainder of the pattern. For example:
321
322  .. code-block:: llvm
323
324     ; X32: pinsrd $1, 4(%esp), %xmm0 COM: This is part of the X32 pattern!
325
326  If you need to temporarily comment out part of a directive's pattern, move it
327  to another line. The reason is that FileCheck parses "``COM:``" in the same
328  manner as any other directive: only the first directive on the line is
329  recognized as a directive.
330
331* For the sake of LIT, FileCheck treats "``RUN:``" just like "``COM:``". If this
332  is not suitable for your test environment, see :option:`--comment-prefixes`.
333
334* FileCheck does not recognize "``COM``", "``RUN``", or any user-defined comment
335  prefix as a comment directive if it's combined with one of the usual check
336  directive suffixes, such as "``-NEXT:``" or "``-NOT:``", discussed below.
337  FileCheck treats such a combination as plain text instead. If it needs to act
338  as a comment directive for your test environment, define it as such with
339  :option:`--comment-prefixes`.
340
341The "CHECK-NEXT:" directive
342~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
343
344Sometimes you want to match lines and would like to verify that matches
345happen on exactly consecutive lines with no other lines in between them.  In
346this case, you can use "``CHECK:``" and "``CHECK-NEXT:``" directives to specify
347this.  If you specified a custom check prefix, just use "``<PREFIX>-NEXT:``".
348For example, something like this works as you'd expect:
349
350.. code-block:: llvm
351
352   define void @t2(<2 x double>* %r, <2 x double>* %A, double %B) {
353 	%tmp3 = load <2 x double>* %A, align 16
354 	%tmp7 = insertelement <2 x double> undef, double %B, i32 0
355 	%tmp9 = shufflevector <2 x double> %tmp3,
356                               <2 x double> %tmp7,
357                               <2 x i32> < i32 0, i32 2 >
358 	store <2 x double> %tmp9, <2 x double>* %r, align 16
359 	ret void
360
361   ; CHECK:          t2:
362   ; CHECK: 	        movl	8(%esp), %eax
363   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movapd	(%eax), %xmm0
364   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movhpd	12(%esp), %xmm0
365   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movl	4(%esp), %eax
366   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movapd	%xmm0, (%eax)
367   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	ret
368   }
369
370"``CHECK-NEXT:``" directives reject the input unless there is exactly one
371newline between it and the previous directive.  A "``CHECK-NEXT:``" cannot be
372the first directive in a file.
373
374The "CHECK-SAME:" directive
375~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
376
377Sometimes you want to match lines and would like to verify that matches happen
378on the same line as the previous match.  In this case, you can use "``CHECK:``"
379and "``CHECK-SAME:``" directives to specify this.  If you specified a custom
380check prefix, just use "``<PREFIX>-SAME:``".
381
382"``CHECK-SAME:``" is particularly powerful in conjunction with "``CHECK-NOT:``"
383(described below).
384
385For example, the following works like you'd expect:
386
387.. code-block:: llvm
388
389   !0 = !DILocation(line: 5, scope: !1, inlinedAt: !2)
390
391   ; CHECK:       !DILocation(line: 5,
392   ; CHECK-NOT:               column:
393   ; CHECK-SAME:              scope: ![[SCOPE:[0-9]+]]
394
395"``CHECK-SAME:``" directives reject the input if there are any newlines between
396it and the previous directive.
397
398"``CHECK-SAME:``" is also useful to avoid writing matchers for irrelevant
399fields. For example, suppose you're writing a test which parses a tool that
400generates output like this:
401
402.. code-block:: text
403
404   Name: foo
405   Field1: ...
406   Field2: ...
407   Field3: ...
408   Value: 1
409
410   Name: bar
411   Field1: ...
412   Field2: ...
413   Field3: ...
414   Value: 2
415
416   Name: baz
417   Field1: ...
418   Field2: ...
419   Field3: ...
420   Value: 1
421
422To write a test that verifies ``foo`` has the value ``1``, you might first
423write this:
424
425.. code-block:: text
426
427   CHECK: Name: foo
428   CHECK: Value: 1{{$}}
429
430However, this would be a bad test: if the value for ``foo`` changes, the test
431would still pass because the "``CHECK: Value: 1``" line would match the value
432from ``baz``. To fix this, you could add ``CHECK-NEXT`` matchers for every
433``FieldN:`` line, but that would be verbose, and need to be updated when
434``Field4`` is added. A more succint way to write the test using the
435"``CHECK-SAME:``" matcher would be as follows:
436
437.. code-block:: text
438
439   CHECK:      Name: foo
440   CHECK:      Value:
441   CHECK-SAME:        {{ 1$}}
442
443This verifies that the *next* time "``Value:``" appears in the output, it has
444the value ``1``.
445
446Note: a "``CHECK-SAME:``" cannot be the first directive in a file.
447
448The "CHECK-EMPTY:" directive
449~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
450
451If you need to check that the next line has nothing on it, not even whitespace,
452you can use the "``CHECK-EMPTY:``" directive.
453
454.. code-block:: llvm
455
456   declare void @foo()
457
458   declare void @bar()
459   ; CHECK: foo
460   ; CHECK-EMPTY:
461   ; CHECK-NEXT: bar
462
463Just like "``CHECK-NEXT:``" the directive will fail if there is more than one
464newline before it finds the next blank line, and it cannot be the first
465directive in a file.
466
467The "CHECK-NOT:" directive
468~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
469
470The "``CHECK-NOT:``" directive is used to verify that a string doesn't occur
471between two matches (or before the first match, or after the last match).  For
472example, to verify that a load is removed by a transformation, a test like this
473can be used:
474
475.. code-block:: llvm
476
477   define i8 @coerce_offset0(i32 %V, i32* %P) {
478     store i32 %V, i32* %P
479
480     %P2 = bitcast i32* %P to i8*
481     %P3 = getelementptr i8* %P2, i32 2
482
483     %A = load i8* %P3
484     ret i8 %A
485   ; CHECK: @coerce_offset0
486   ; CHECK-NOT: load
487   ; CHECK: ret i8
488   }
489
490The "CHECK-COUNT:" directive
491~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
492
493If you need to match multiple lines with the same pattern over and over again
494you can repeat a plain ``CHECK:`` as many times as needed. If that looks too
495boring you can instead use a counted check "``CHECK-COUNT-<num>:``", where
496``<num>`` is a positive decimal number. It will match the pattern exactly
497``<num>`` times, no more and no less. If you specified a custom check prefix,
498just use "``<PREFIX>-COUNT-<num>:``" for the same effect.
499Here is a simple example:
500
501.. code-block:: text
502
503   Loop at depth 1
504   Loop at depth 1
505   Loop at depth 1
506   Loop at depth 1
507     Loop at depth 2
508       Loop at depth 3
509
510   ; CHECK-COUNT-6: Loop at depth {{[0-9]+}}
511   ; CHECK-NOT:     Loop at depth {{[0-9]+}}
512
513The "CHECK-DAG:" directive
514~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
515
516If it's necessary to match strings that don't occur in a strictly sequential
517order, "``CHECK-DAG:``" could be used to verify them between two matches (or
518before the first match, or after the last match). For example, clang emits
519vtable globals in reverse order. Using ``CHECK-DAG:``, we can keep the checks
520in the natural order:
521
522.. code-block:: c++
523
524    // RUN: %clang_cc1 %s -emit-llvm -o - | FileCheck %s
525
526    struct Foo { virtual void method(); };
527    Foo f;  // emit vtable
528    // CHECK-DAG: @_ZTV3Foo =
529
530    struct Bar { virtual void method(); };
531    Bar b;
532    // CHECK-DAG: @_ZTV3Bar =
533
534``CHECK-NOT:`` directives could be mixed with ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives to
535exclude strings between the surrounding ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives. As a result,
536the surrounding ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives cannot be reordered, i.e. all
537occurrences matching ``CHECK-DAG:`` before ``CHECK-NOT:`` must not fall behind
538occurrences matching ``CHECK-DAG:`` after ``CHECK-NOT:``. For example,
539
540.. code-block:: llvm
541
542   ; CHECK-DAG: BEFORE
543   ; CHECK-NOT: NOT
544   ; CHECK-DAG: AFTER
545
546This case will reject input strings where ``BEFORE`` occurs after ``AFTER``.
547
548With captured variables, ``CHECK-DAG:`` is able to match valid topological
549orderings of a DAG with edges from the definition of a variable to its use.
550It's useful, e.g., when your test cases need to match different output
551sequences from the instruction scheduler. For example,
552
553.. code-block:: llvm
554
555   ; CHECK-DAG: add [[REG1:r[0-9]+]], r1, r2
556   ; CHECK-DAG: add [[REG2:r[0-9]+]], r3, r4
557   ; CHECK:     mul r5, [[REG1]], [[REG2]]
558
559In this case, any order of that two ``add`` instructions will be allowed.
560
561If you are defining `and` using variables in the same ``CHECK-DAG:`` block,
562be aware that the definition rule can match `after` its use.
563
564So, for instance, the code below will pass:
565
566.. code-block:: text
567
568  ; CHECK-DAG: vmov.32 [[REG2:d[0-9]+]][0]
569  ; CHECK-DAG: vmov.32 [[REG2]][1]
570  vmov.32 d0[1]
571  vmov.32 d0[0]
572
573While this other code, will not:
574
575.. code-block:: text
576
577  ; CHECK-DAG: vmov.32 [[REG2:d[0-9]+]][0]
578  ; CHECK-DAG: vmov.32 [[REG2]][1]
579  vmov.32 d1[1]
580  vmov.32 d0[0]
581
582While this can be very useful, it's also dangerous, because in the case of
583register sequence, you must have a strong order (read before write, copy before
584use, etc). If the definition your test is looking for doesn't match (because
585of a bug in the compiler), it may match further away from the use, and mask
586real bugs away.
587
588In those cases, to enforce the order, use a non-DAG directive between DAG-blocks.
589
590A ``CHECK-DAG:`` directive skips matches that overlap the matches of any
591preceding ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives in the same ``CHECK-DAG:`` block.  Not only
592is this non-overlapping behavior consistent with other directives, but it's
593also necessary to handle sets of non-unique strings or patterns.  For example,
594the following directives look for unordered log entries for two tasks in a
595parallel program, such as the OpenMP runtime:
596
597.. code-block:: text
598
599    // CHECK-DAG: [[THREAD_ID:[0-9]+]]: task_begin
600    // CHECK-DAG: [[THREAD_ID]]: task_end
601    //
602    // CHECK-DAG: [[THREAD_ID:[0-9]+]]: task_begin
603    // CHECK-DAG: [[THREAD_ID]]: task_end
604
605The second pair of directives is guaranteed not to match the same log entries
606as the first pair even though the patterns are identical and even if the text
607of the log entries is identical because the thread ID manages to be reused.
608
609The "CHECK-LABEL:" directive
610~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
611
612Sometimes in a file containing multiple tests divided into logical blocks, one
613or more ``CHECK:`` directives may inadvertently succeed by matching lines in a
614later block. While an error will usually eventually be generated, the check
615flagged as causing the error may not actually bear any relationship to the
616actual source of the problem.
617
618In order to produce better error messages in these cases, the "``CHECK-LABEL:``"
619directive can be used. It is treated identically to a normal ``CHECK``
620directive except that FileCheck makes an additional assumption that a line
621matched by the directive cannot also be matched by any other check present in
622``match-filename``; this is intended to be used for lines containing labels or
623other unique identifiers. Conceptually, the presence of ``CHECK-LABEL`` divides
624the input stream into separate blocks, each of which is processed independently,
625preventing a ``CHECK:`` directive in one block matching a line in another block.
626If ``--enable-var-scope`` is in effect, all local variables are cleared at the
627beginning of the block.
628
629For example,
630
631.. code-block:: llvm
632
633  define %struct.C* @C_ctor_base(%struct.C* %this, i32 %x) {
634  entry:
635  ; CHECK-LABEL: C_ctor_base:
636  ; CHECK: mov [[SAVETHIS:r[0-9]+]], r0
637  ; CHECK: bl A_ctor_base
638  ; CHECK: mov r0, [[SAVETHIS]]
639    %0 = bitcast %struct.C* %this to %struct.A*
640    %call = tail call %struct.A* @A_ctor_base(%struct.A* %0)
641    %1 = bitcast %struct.C* %this to %struct.B*
642    %call2 = tail call %struct.B* @B_ctor_base(%struct.B* %1, i32 %x)
643    ret %struct.C* %this
644  }
645
646  define %struct.D* @D_ctor_base(%struct.D* %this, i32 %x) {
647  entry:
648  ; CHECK-LABEL: D_ctor_base:
649
650The use of ``CHECK-LABEL:`` directives in this case ensures that the three
651``CHECK:`` directives only accept lines corresponding to the body of the
652``@C_ctor_base`` function, even if the patterns match lines found later in
653the file. Furthermore, if one of these three ``CHECK:`` directives fail,
654FileCheck will recover by continuing to the next block, allowing multiple test
655failures to be detected in a single invocation.
656
657There is no requirement that ``CHECK-LABEL:`` directives contain strings that
658correspond to actual syntactic labels in a source or output language: they must
659simply uniquely match a single line in the file being verified.
660
661``CHECK-LABEL:`` directives cannot contain variable definitions or uses.
662
663FileCheck Regex Matching Syntax
664~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
665
666All FileCheck directives take a pattern to match.
667For most uses of FileCheck, fixed string matching is perfectly sufficient.  For
668some things, a more flexible form of matching is desired.  To support this,
669FileCheck allows you to specify regular expressions in matching strings,
670surrounded by double braces: ``{{yourregex}}``. FileCheck implements a POSIX
671regular expression matcher; it supports Extended POSIX regular expressions
672(ERE). Because we want to use fixed string matching for a majority of what we
673do, FileCheck has been designed to support mixing and matching fixed string
674matching with regular expressions.  This allows you to write things like this:
675
676.. code-block:: llvm
677
678   ; CHECK: movhpd	{{[0-9]+}}(%esp), {{%xmm[0-7]}}
679
680In this case, any offset from the ESP register will be allowed, and any xmm
681register will be allowed.
682
683Because regular expressions are enclosed with double braces, they are
684visually distinct, and you don't need to use escape characters within the double
685braces like you would in C.  In the rare case that you want to match double
686braces explicitly from the input, you can use something ugly like
687``{{[}][}]}}`` as your pattern.  Or if you are using the repetition count
688syntax, for example ``[[:xdigit:]]{8}`` to match exactly 8 hex digits, you
689would need to add parentheses like this ``{{([[:xdigit:]]{8})}}`` to avoid
690confusion with FileCheck's closing double-brace.
691
692FileCheck String Substitution Blocks
693~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
694
695It is often useful to match a pattern and then verify that it occurs again
696later in the file.  For codegen tests, this can be useful to allow any
697register, but verify that that register is used consistently later.  To do
698this, :program:`FileCheck` supports string substitution blocks that allow
699string variables to be defined and substituted into patterns.  Here is a simple
700example:
701
702.. code-block:: llvm
703
704   ; CHECK: test5:
705   ; CHECK:    notw	[[REGISTER:%[a-z]+]]
706   ; CHECK:    andw	{{.*}}[[REGISTER]]
707
708The first check line matches a regex ``%[a-z]+`` and captures it into the
709string variable ``REGISTER``.  The second line verifies that whatever is in
710``REGISTER`` occurs later in the file after an "``andw``". :program:`FileCheck`
711string substitution blocks are always contained in ``[[ ]]`` pairs, and string
712variable names can be formed with the regex ``[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*``.  If a
713colon follows the name, then it is a definition of the variable; otherwise, it
714is a substitution.
715
716:program:`FileCheck` variables can be defined multiple times, and substitutions
717always get the latest value.  Variables can also be substituted later on the
718same line they were defined on. For example:
719
720.. code-block:: llvm
721
722    ; CHECK: op [[REG:r[0-9]+]], [[REG]]
723
724Can be useful if you want the operands of ``op`` to be the same register,
725and don't care exactly which register it is.
726
727If ``--enable-var-scope`` is in effect, variables with names that
728start with ``$`` are considered to be global. All others variables are
729local.  All local variables get undefined at the beginning of each
730CHECK-LABEL block. Global variables are not affected by CHECK-LABEL.
731This makes it easier to ensure that individual tests are not affected
732by variables set in preceding tests.
733
734FileCheck Numeric Substitution Blocks
735~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
736
737:program:`FileCheck` also supports numeric substitution blocks that allow
738defining numeric variables and checking for numeric values that satisfy a
739numeric expression constraint based on those variables via a numeric
740substitution. This allows ``CHECK:`` directives to verify a numeric relation
741between two numbers, such as the need for consecutive registers to be used.
742
743The syntax to capture a numeric value is
744``[[#%<fmtspec>,<NUMVAR>:]]`` where:
745
746* ``%<fmtspec>,`` is an optional format specifier to indicate what number
747  format to match and the minimum number of digits to expect.
748
749* ``<NUMVAR>:`` is an optional definition of variable ``<NUMVAR>`` from the
750  captured value.
751
752The syntax of ``<fmtspec>`` is: ``.<precision><conversion specifier>`` where:
753
754* ``.<precision>`` is an optional printf-style precision specifier in which
755  ``<precision>`` indicates the minimum number of digits that the value matched
756  must have, expecting leading zeros if needed.
757
758* ``<conversion specifier>`` is an optional scanf-style conversion specifier
759  to indicate what number format to match (e.g. hex number).  Currently
760  accepted format specifiers are ``%u``, ``%d``, ``%x`` and ``%X``.  If absent,
761  the format specifier defaults to ``%u``.
762
763
764For example:
765
766.. code-block:: llvm
767
768    ; CHECK: mov r[[#REG:]], 0x[[#%.8X,ADDR:]]
769
770would match ``mov r5, 0x0000FEFE`` and set ``REG`` to the value ``5`` and
771``ADDR`` to the value ``0xFEFE``. Note that due to the precision it would fail
772to match ``mov r5, 0xFEFE``.
773
774As a result of the numeric variable definition being optional, it is possible
775to only check that a numeric value is present in a given format. This can be
776useful when the value itself is not useful, for instance:
777
778.. code-block:: gas
779
780    ; CHECK-NOT: mov r0, r[[#]]
781
782to check that a value is synthesized rather than moved around.
783
784
785The syntax of a numeric substitution is
786``[[#%<fmtspec>, <constraint> <expr>]]`` where:
787
788* ``<fmtspec>`` is the same format specifier as for defining a variable but
789  in this context indicating how a numeric expression value should be matched
790  against. If absent, both components of the format specifier are inferred from
791  the matching format of the numeric variable(s) used by the expression
792  constraint if any, and defaults to ``%u`` if no numeric variable is used,
793  denoting that the value should be unsigned with no leading zeros. In case of
794  conflict between format specifiers of several numeric variables, the
795  conversion specifier becomes mandatory but the precision specifier remains
796  optional.
797
798* ``<constraint>`` is the constraint describing how the value to match must
799  relate to the value of the numeric expression. The only currently accepted
800  constraint is ``==`` for an exact match and is the default if
801  ``<constraint>`` is not provided. No matching constraint must be specified
802  when the ``<expr>`` is empty.
803
804* ``<expr>`` is an expression. An expression is in turn recursively defined
805  as:
806
807  * a numeric operand, or
808  * an expression followed by an operator and a numeric operand.
809
810  A numeric operand is a previously defined numeric variable, an integer
811  literal, or a function. Spaces are accepted before, after and between any of
812  these elements. Numeric operands have 64-bit precision. Overflow and underflow
813  are rejected. There is no support for operator precedence, but parentheses
814  can be used to change the evaluation order.
815
816The supported operators are:
817
818  * ``+`` - Returns the sum of its two operands.
819  * ``-`` - Returns the difference of its two operands.
820
821The syntax of a function call is ``<name>(<arguments>)`` where:
822
823* ``name`` is a predefined string literal. Accepted values are:
824
825  * add - Returns the sum of its two operands.
826  * div - Returns the quotient of its two operands.
827  * max - Returns the largest of its two operands.
828  * min - Returns the smallest of its two operands.
829  * mul - Returns the product of its two operands.
830  * sub - Returns the difference of its two operands.
831
832* ``<arguments>`` is a comma separated list of expressions.
833
834For example:
835
836.. code-block:: llvm
837
838    ; CHECK: load r[[#REG:]], [r0]
839    ; CHECK: load r[[#REG+1]], [r1]
840    ; CHECK: Loading from 0x[[#%x,ADDR:]]
841    ; CHECK-SAME: to 0x[[#ADDR + 7]]
842
843The above example would match the text:
844
845.. code-block:: gas
846
847    load r5, [r0]
848    load r6, [r1]
849    Loading from 0xa0463440 to 0xa0463447
850
851but would not match the text:
852
853.. code-block:: gas
854
855    load r5, [r0]
856    load r7, [r1]
857    Loading from 0xa0463440 to 0xa0463443
858
859Due to ``7`` being unequal to ``5 + 1`` and ``a0463443`` being unequal to
860``a0463440 + 7``.
861
862
863A numeric variable can also be defined to the result of a numeric expression,
864in which case the numeric expression constraint is checked and if verified the
865variable is assigned to the value. The unified syntax for both checking a
866numeric expression and capturing its value into a numeric variable is thus
867``[[#%<fmtspec>,<NUMVAR>: <constraint> <expr>]]`` with each element as
868described previously. One can use this syntax to make a testcase more
869self-describing by using variables instead of values:
870
871.. code-block:: gas
872
873    ; CHECK: mov r[[#REG_OFFSET:]], 0x[[#%X,FIELD_OFFSET:12]]
874    ; CHECK-NEXT: load r[[#]], [r[[#REG_BASE:]], r[[#REG_OFFSET]]]
875
876which would match:
877
878.. code-block:: gas
879
880    mov r4, 0xC
881    load r6, [r5, r4]
882
883The ``--enable-var-scope`` option has the same effect on numeric variables as
884on string variables.
885
886Important note: In its current implementation, an expression cannot use a
887numeric variable defined earlier in the same CHECK directive.
888
889FileCheck Pseudo Numeric Variables
890~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
891
892Sometimes there's a need to verify output that contains line numbers of the
893match file, e.g. when testing compiler diagnostics.  This introduces a certain
894fragility of the match file structure, as "``CHECK:``" lines contain absolute
895line numbers in the same file, which have to be updated whenever line numbers
896change due to text addition or deletion.
897
898To support this case, FileCheck expressions understand the ``@LINE`` pseudo
899numeric variable which evaluates to the line number of the CHECK pattern where
900it is found.
901
902This way match patterns can be put near the relevant test lines and include
903relative line number references, for example:
904
905.. code-block:: c++
906
907   // CHECK: test.cpp:[[# @LINE + 4]]:6: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
908   // CHECK-NEXT: {{^int a}}
909   // CHECK-NEXT: {{^     \^}}
910   // CHECK-NEXT: {{^     ;}}
911   int a
912
913To support legacy uses of ``@LINE`` as a special string variable,
914:program:`FileCheck` also accepts the following uses of ``@LINE`` with string
915substitution block syntax: ``[[@LINE]]``, ``[[@LINE+<offset>]]`` and
916``[[@LINE-<offset>]]`` without any spaces inside the brackets and where
917``offset`` is an integer.
918
919Matching Newline Characters
920~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
921
922To match newline characters in regular expressions the character class
923``[[:space:]]`` can be used. For example, the following pattern:
924
925.. code-block:: c++
926
927   // CHECK: DW_AT_location [DW_FORM_sec_offset] ([[DLOC:0x[0-9a-f]+]]){{[[:space:]].*}}"intd"
928
929matches output of the form (from llvm-dwarfdump):
930
931.. code-block:: text
932
933       DW_AT_location [DW_FORM_sec_offset]   (0x00000233)
934       DW_AT_name [DW_FORM_strp]  ( .debug_str[0x000000c9] = "intd")
935
936letting us set the :program:`FileCheck` variable ``DLOC`` to the desired value
937``0x00000233``, extracted from the line immediately preceding "``intd``".
938