man pages section 1: User Commands

vgrind(1)

Name

vgrind– grind nice program listings

Synopsis

vgrind [-2fntwx] [-d defs-file] [-h header] [-l language] 
     [-s n] [-o pagelist] [-P printer] [-T output-device] filename...

Description

The vgrind utility formats the program sources named by the filename arguments in a nice style using troff(1). Comments are placed in italics, keywords in bold face, and as each function is encountered its name is listed on the page margin.

vgrind runs in two basic modes, filter mode or regular mode. In filter mode, vgrind acts as a filter in a manner similar to tbl(1). The standard input is passed directly to the standard output except for lines bracketed by the troff-like macros:

.vS: starts processing
.vE: ends processing

These lines are formatted as described above. The output from this filter can be passed to troff for output. There need be no particular ordering with eqn(1) or tbl(1).

In regular mode, vgrind accepts input filenames, processes them, and passes them to troff for output. Use a hyphen (`-') to specify standard input; otherwise, vgrind will exit without attempting to read from the standard input. Filenames must be specified after all other option arguments.

In regular mode, if the -t or -P option is specified, the output is:

emitted (in troff format) to stdout if the -t option is specified.
printed (as PostScript) to the named printer if the -P option is specified.

Otherwise, the output is:

printed (as PostScript) on the system default printer, if one is defined, and the command's stdout is a tty.
emitted (as PostScript) to stdout if it is not a tty (that is, if stdout is a pipe or a redirect to a file).

In both modes, vgrind passes any lines beginning with a decimal point without conversion.

Options

The following options are supported:

-2: Produces two-column output. Specifying this option changes the default point size to 8 (as if the -s8 option were supplied). It also arranges for output to appear in landscape mode.
-f: Forces filter mode.
-n: Does not make keywords boldface.
-w: Considers TAB characters to be spaced four columns apart instead of the usual eight.
-x: Outputs the index file in a “pretty” format. The index file itself is produced whenever vgrind is run with a file called index that is present in the current directory. The index of function definitions can then be run off by giving vgrind the -x option and the file index as argument.
-d defs-file: Specifies an alternate language definitions file (default is /usr/lib/vgrindefs).
-h header: Specifies a header to appear in the center of every output page. Use quotes to specify headers with embedded spaces.
-l language: Specifies the language to use. Among the languages currently known are: Bourne shell (-lsh), C (-lc, the default), C++ (-lc++), C shell (-lcsh), emacs MLisp (-lml), FORTRAN (-lf), Icon (-lI), ISP (-i), LDL (-lLDL), Model (-lm), Pascal (-lp), and RATFOR (-lr).
-P printer: Sends output to the named printer.
-s n: Specifies a point size to use on output (exactly the same as the argument of a troff .ps point size request).

vgrind passes the following options to the formatter specified by the TROFF environment variable. See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.

-t: Similar to the same option in troff; that is, formatted text goes to the standard output.
-o pagelist: Prints only those pages whose page numbers appear in the comma-separated pagelist of numbers and ranges. A range N-M means pages N through M; an initial -N means from the beginning to page N; and a final N- means from N to the end.
-T output-device: Formats output for the specified output-device.

Operands

The following operand is supported:

filename: Name of the program source to be processed by vgrind. Use `-' to specify the standard input.

Environment Variables

In regular mode, vgrind feeds its intermediate output to the text formatter given by the value of the TROFF environment variable, or to /usr/bin/troff if this variable is not defined in the environment. This mechanism allows for local variations in troff's name.

Files

index: file where source for index is created
/usr/lib/vgrindefs: language descriptions
/usr/lib/vfontedpr: preprocessor
/usr/share/lib/tmac/tmac.vgrind: macro package

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Availability	SUNWdoc

Bugs

vgrind assumes that a certain programming style is followed:

C: Function names can be preceded on a line only by SPACE, TAB, or an asterisk (*). The parenthesized arguments must also be on the same line.
FORTRAN: Function names need to appear on the same line as the keywords function or subroutine.
MLisp: Function names should not appear on the same line as the preceding defun.
Model: Function names need to appear on the same line as the keywords is beginproc.
Pascal: Function names need to appear on the same line as the keywords function or procedure.

If these conventions are not followed, the indexing and marginal function name comment mechanisms will fail.

More generally, arbitrary formatting styles for programs usually give unsightly results. To prepare a program for vgrind output, use TAB rather than SPACE characters to align source code properly, since vgrind uses variable width fonts.

The mechanism of ctags(1) in recognizing functions should be used here.

The -w option is annoying, but there is no other way to achieve the desired effect.

The macros defined in tmac.vgrind do not coexist gracefully with those of other macro packages, making filter mode difficult to use effectively.

vgrind does not process certain special characters in csh(1) scripts correctly.

The tmac.vgrind formatting macros wire in the page height and width used in two-column mode, effectively making two column output useless for paper sizes other than the standard American size of 8.5 inches by 11 inches. For other paper sizes, it is necessary to edit the size values given in tmac.vgrind. A better solution would be to create a troff output device specification intended specifically for landscape output and record size information there.

SunOS 5.10 Last Revised 3 Mar 2000