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1FileCheck - Flexible pattern matching file verifier
2===================================================
3
4SYNOPSIS
5--------
6
7:program:`FileCheck` *match-filename* [*--check-prefix=XXX*] [*--strict-whitespace*]
8
9DESCRIPTION
10-----------
11
12:program:`FileCheck` reads two files (one from standard input, and one
13specified on the command line) and uses one to verify the other.  This
14behavior is particularly useful for the testsuite, which wants to verify that
15the output of some tool (e.g. :program:`llc`) contains the expected information
16(for example, a movsd from esp or whatever is interesting).  This is similar to
17using :program:`grep`, but it is optimized for matching multiple different
18inputs in one file in a specific order.
19
20The ``match-filename`` file specifies the file that contains the patterns to
21match.  The file to verify is read from standard input unless the
22:option:`--input-file` option is used.
23
24OPTIONS
25-------
26
27.. option:: -help
28
29 Print a summary of command line options.
30
31.. option:: --check-prefix prefix
32
33 FileCheck searches the contents of ``match-filename`` for patterns to match.
34 By default, these patterns are prefixed with "``CHECK:``".  If you'd like to
35 use a different prefix (e.g. because the same input file is checking multiple
36 different tool or options), the :option:`--check-prefix` argument allows you
37 to specify a specific prefix to match.
38
39.. option:: --input-file filename
40
41  File to check (defaults to stdin).
42
43.. option:: --strict-whitespace
44
45 By default, FileCheck canonicalizes input horizontal whitespace (spaces and
46 tabs) which causes it to ignore these differences (a space will match a tab).
47 The :option:`--strict-whitespace` argument disables this behavior. End-of-line
48 sequences are canonicalized to UNIX-style ``\n`` in all modes.
49
50.. option:: -version
51
52 Show the version number of this program.
53
54EXIT STATUS
55-----------
56
57If :program:`FileCheck` verifies that the file matches the expected contents,
58it exits with 0.  Otherwise, if not, or if an error occurs, it will exit with a
59non-zero value.
60
61TUTORIAL
62--------
63
64FileCheck is typically used from LLVM regression tests, being invoked on the RUN
65line of the test.  A simple example of using FileCheck from a RUN line looks
66like this:
67
68.. code-block:: llvm
69
70   ; RUN: llvm-as < %s | llc -march=x86-64 | FileCheck %s
71
72This syntax says to pipe the current file ("``%s``") into ``llvm-as``, pipe
73that into ``llc``, then pipe the output of ``llc`` into ``FileCheck``.  This
74means that FileCheck will be verifying its standard input (the llc output)
75against the filename argument specified (the original ``.ll`` file specified by
76"``%s``").  To see how this works, let's look at the rest of the ``.ll`` file
77(after the RUN line):
78
79.. code-block:: llvm
80
81   define void @sub1(i32* %p, i32 %v) {
82   entry:
83   ; CHECK: sub1:
84   ; CHECK: subl
85           %0 = tail call i32 @llvm.atomic.load.sub.i32.p0i32(i32* %p, i32 %v)
86           ret void
87   }
88
89   define void @inc4(i64* %p) {
90   entry:
91   ; CHECK: inc4:
92   ; CHECK: incq
93           %0 = tail call i64 @llvm.atomic.load.add.i64.p0i64(i64* %p, i64 1)
94           ret void
95   }
96
97Here you can see some "``CHECK:``" lines specified in comments.  Now you can
98see how the file is piped into ``llvm-as``, then ``llc``, and the machine code
99output is what we are verifying.  FileCheck checks the machine code output to
100verify that it matches what the "``CHECK:``" lines specify.
101
102The syntax of the "``CHECK:``" lines is very simple: they are fixed strings that
103must occur in order.  FileCheck defaults to ignoring horizontal whitespace
104differences (e.g. a space is allowed to match a tab) but otherwise, the contents
105of the "``CHECK:``" line is required to match some thing in the test file exactly.
106
107One nice thing about FileCheck (compared to grep) is that it allows merging
108test cases together into logical groups.  For example, because the test above
109is checking for the "``sub1:``" and "``inc4:``" labels, it will not match
110unless there is a "``subl``" in between those labels.  If it existed somewhere
111else in the file, that would not count: "``grep subl``" matches if "``subl``"
112exists anywhere in the file.
113
114The FileCheck -check-prefix option
115~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
116
117The FileCheck :option:`-check-prefix` option allows multiple test
118configurations to be driven from one `.ll` file.  This is useful in many
119circumstances, for example, testing different architectural variants with
120:program:`llc`.  Here's a simple example:
121
122.. code-block:: llvm
123
124   ; RUN: llvm-as < %s | llc -mtriple=i686-apple-darwin9 -mattr=sse41 \
125   ; RUN:              | FileCheck %s -check-prefix=X32
126   ; RUN: llvm-as < %s | llc -mtriple=x86_64-apple-darwin9 -mattr=sse41 \
127   ; RUN:              | FileCheck %s -check-prefix=X64
128
129   define <4 x i32> @pinsrd_1(i32 %s, <4 x i32> %tmp) nounwind {
130           %tmp1 = insertelement <4 x i32>; %tmp, i32 %s, i32 1
131           ret <4 x i32> %tmp1
132   ; X32: pinsrd_1:
133   ; X32:    pinsrd $1, 4(%esp), %xmm0
134
135   ; X64: pinsrd_1:
136   ; X64:    pinsrd $1, %edi, %xmm0
137   }
138
139In this case, we're testing that we get the expected code generation with
140both 32-bit and 64-bit code generation.
141
142The "CHECK-NEXT:" directive
143~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
144
145Sometimes you want to match lines and would like to verify that matches
146happen on exactly consecutive lines with no other lines in between them.  In
147this case, you can use "``CHECK:``" and "``CHECK-NEXT:``" directives to specify
148this.  If you specified a custom check prefix, just use "``<PREFIX>-NEXT:``".
149For example, something like this works as you'd expect:
150
151.. code-block:: llvm
152
153   define void @t2(<2 x double>* %r, <2 x double>* %A, double %B) {
154 	%tmp3 = load <2 x double>* %A, align 16
155 	%tmp7 = insertelement <2 x double> undef, double %B, i32 0
156 	%tmp9 = shufflevector <2 x double> %tmp3,
157                               <2 x double> %tmp7,
158                               <2 x i32> < i32 0, i32 2 >
159 	store <2 x double> %tmp9, <2 x double>* %r, align 16
160 	ret void
161
162   ; CHECK:          t2:
163   ; CHECK: 	        movl	8(%esp), %eax
164   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movapd	(%eax), %xmm0
165   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movhpd	12(%esp), %xmm0
166   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movl	4(%esp), %eax
167   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	movapd	%xmm0, (%eax)
168   ; CHECK-NEXT: 	ret
169   }
170
171"``CHECK-NEXT:``" directives reject the input unless there is exactly one
172newline between it and the previous directive.  A "``CHECK-NEXT:``" cannot be
173the first directive in a file.
174
175The "CHECK-NOT:" directive
176~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
177
178The "``CHECK-NOT:``" directive is used to verify that a string doesn't occur
179between two matches (or before the first match, or after the last match).  For
180example, to verify that a load is removed by a transformation, a test like this
181can be used:
182
183.. code-block:: llvm
184
185   define i8 @coerce_offset0(i32 %V, i32* %P) {
186     store i32 %V, i32* %P
187
188     %P2 = bitcast i32* %P to i8*
189     %P3 = getelementptr i8* %P2, i32 2
190
191     %A = load i8* %P3
192     ret i8 %A
193   ; CHECK: @coerce_offset0
194   ; CHECK-NOT: load
195   ; CHECK: ret i8
196   }
197
198The "CHECK-DAG:" directive
199~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
200
201If it's necessary to match strings that don't occur in a strictly sequential
202order, "``CHECK-DAG:``" could be used to verify them between two matches (or
203before the first match, or after the last match). For example, clang emits
204vtable globals in reverse order. Using ``CHECK-DAG:``, we can keep the checks
205in the natural order:
206
207.. code-block:: c++
208
209    // RUN: %clang_cc1 %s -emit-llvm -o - | FileCheck %s
210
211    struct Foo { virtual void method(); };
212    Foo f;  // emit vtable
213    // CHECK-DAG: @_ZTV3Foo =
214
215    struct Bar { virtual void method(); };
216    Bar b;
217    // CHECK-DAG: @_ZTV3Bar =
218
219
220With captured variables, ``CHECK-DAG:`` is able to match valid topological
221orderings of a DAG with edges from the definition of a variable to its use.
222It's useful, e.g., when your test cases need to match different output
223sequences from the instruction scheduler. For example,
224
225.. code-block:: llvm
226
227   ; CHECK-DAG: add [[REG1:r[0-9]+]], r1, r2
228   ; CHECK-DAG: add [[REG2:r[0-9]+]], r3, r4
229   ; CHECK:     mul r5, [[REG1]], [[REG2]]
230
231In this case, any order of that two ``add`` instructions will be allowed.
232
233``CHECK-NOT:`` directives could be mixed with ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives to
234exclude strings between the surrounding ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives. As a result,
235the surrounding ``CHECK-DAG:`` directives cannot be reordered, i.e. all
236occurrences matching ``CHECK-DAG:`` before ``CHECK-NOT:`` must not fall behind
237occurrences matching ``CHECK-DAG:`` after ``CHECK-NOT:``. For example,
238
239.. code-block:: llvm
240
241   ; CHECK-DAG: BEFORE
242   ; CHECK-NOT: NOT
243   ; CHECK-DAG: AFTER
244
245This case will reject input strings where ``BEFORE`` occurs after ``AFTER``.
246
247The "CHECK-LABEL:" directive
248~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
249
250Sometimes in a file containing multiple tests divided into logical blocks, one
251or more ``CHECK:`` directives may inadvertently succeed by matching lines in a
252later block. While an error will usually eventually be generated, the check
253flagged as causing the error may not actually bear any relationship to the
254actual source of the problem.
255
256In order to produce better error messages in these cases, the "``CHECK-LABEL:``"
257directive can be used. It is treated identically to a normal ``CHECK``
258directive except that FileCheck makes an additional assumption that a line
259matched by the directive cannot also be matched by any other check present in
260``match-filename``; this is intended to be used for lines containing labels or
261other unique identifiers. Conceptually, the presence of ``CHECK-LABEL`` divides
262the input stream into separate blocks, each of which is processed independently,
263preventing a ``CHECK:`` directive in one block matching a line in another block.
264For example,
265
266.. code-block:: llvm
267
268  define %struct.C* @C_ctor_base(%struct.C* %this, i32 %x) {
269  entry:
270  ; CHECK-LABEL: C_ctor_base:
271  ; CHECK: mov [[SAVETHIS:r[0-9]+]], r0
272  ; CHECK: bl A_ctor_base
273  ; CHECK: mov r0, [[SAVETHIS]]
274    %0 = bitcast %struct.C* %this to %struct.A*
275    %call = tail call %struct.A* @A_ctor_base(%struct.A* %0)
276    %1 = bitcast %struct.C* %this to %struct.B*
277    %call2 = tail call %struct.B* @B_ctor_base(%struct.B* %1, i32 %x)
278    ret %struct.C* %this
279  }
280
281  define %struct.D* @D_ctor_base(%struct.D* %this, i32 %x) {
282  entry:
283  ; CHECK-LABEL: D_ctor_base:
284
285The use of ``CHECK-LABEL:`` directives in this case ensures that the three
286``CHECK:`` directives only accept lines corresponding to the body of the
287``@C_ctor_base`` function, even if the patterns match lines found later in
288the file. Furthermore, if one of these three ``CHECK:`` directives fail,
289FileCheck will recover by continuing to the next block, allowing multiple test
290failures to be detected in a single invocation.
291
292There is no requirement that ``CHECK-LABEL:`` directives contain strings that
293correspond to actual syntactic labels in a source or output language: they must
294simply uniquely match a single line in the file being verified.
295
296``CHECK-LABEL:`` directives cannot contain variable definitions or uses.
297
298FileCheck Pattern Matching Syntax
299~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
300
301The "``CHECK:``" and "``CHECK-NOT:``" directives both take a pattern to match.
302For most uses of FileCheck, fixed string matching is perfectly sufficient.  For
303some things, a more flexible form of matching is desired.  To support this,
304FileCheck allows you to specify regular expressions in matching strings,
305surrounded by double braces: ``{{yourregex}}``.  Because we want to use fixed
306string matching for a majority of what we do, FileCheck has been designed to
307support mixing and matching fixed string matching with regular expressions.
308This allows you to write things like this:
309
310.. code-block:: llvm
311
312   ; CHECK: movhpd	{{[0-9]+}}(%esp), {{%xmm[0-7]}}
313
314In this case, any offset from the ESP register will be allowed, and any xmm
315register will be allowed.
316
317Because regular expressions are enclosed with double braces, they are
318visually distinct, and you don't need to use escape characters within the double
319braces like you would in C.  In the rare case that you want to match double
320braces explicitly from the input, you can use something ugly like
321``{{[{][{]}}`` as your pattern.
322
323FileCheck Variables
324~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
325
326It is often useful to match a pattern and then verify that it occurs again
327later in the file.  For codegen tests, this can be useful to allow any register,
328but verify that that register is used consistently later.  To do this,
329:program:`FileCheck` allows named variables to be defined and substituted into
330patterns.  Here is a simple example:
331
332.. code-block:: llvm
333
334   ; CHECK: test5:
335   ; CHECK:    notw	[[REGISTER:%[a-z]+]]
336   ; CHECK:    andw	{{.*}}[[REGISTER]]
337
338The first check line matches a regex ``%[a-z]+`` and captures it into the
339variable ``REGISTER``.  The second line verifies that whatever is in
340``REGISTER`` occurs later in the file after an "``andw``".  :program:`FileCheck`
341variable references are always contained in ``[[ ]]`` pairs, and their names can
342be formed with the regex ``[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*``.  If a colon follows the name,
343then it is a definition of the variable; otherwise, it is a use.
344
345:program:`FileCheck` variables can be defined multiple times, and uses always
346get the latest value.  Variables can also be used later on the same line they
347were defined on. For example:
348
349.. code-block:: llvm
350
351    ; CHECK: op [[REG:r[0-9]+]], [[REG]]
352
353Can be useful if you want the operands of ``op`` to be the same register,
354and don't care exactly which register it is.
355
356FileCheck Expressions
357~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
358
359Sometimes there's a need to verify output which refers line numbers of the
360match file, e.g. when testing compiler diagnostics.  This introduces a certain
361fragility of the match file structure, as "``CHECK:``" lines contain absolute
362line numbers in the same file, which have to be updated whenever line numbers
363change due to text addition or deletion.
364
365To support this case, FileCheck allows using ``[[@LINE]]``,
366``[[@LINE+<offset>]]``, ``[[@LINE-<offset>]]`` expressions in patterns. These
367expressions expand to a number of the line where a pattern is located (with an
368optional integer offset).
369
370This way match patterns can be put near the relevant test lines and include
371relative line number references, for example:
372
373.. code-block:: c++
374
375   // CHECK: test.cpp:[[@LINE+4]]:6: error: expected ';' after top level declarator
376   // CHECK-NEXT: {{^int a}}
377   // CHECK-NEXT: {{^     \^}}
378   // CHECK-NEXT: {{^     ;}}
379   int a
380
381