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C++FILT(1)                   GNU Development Tools                  C++FILT(1)




NAME

       c++filt - Demangle C++ and Java symbols.


SYNOPSIS

       c++filt [-_|--strip-underscores]
               [-n|--no-strip-underscores]
               [-p|--no-params]
               [-t|--types]
               [-i|--no-verbose]
               [-s format|--format=format]
               [--help]  [--version]  [symbol...]


DESCRIPTION

       The  C++  and  Java languages provide function overloading, which means
       that you can write many functions with the same  name,  providing  that
       each function takes parameters of different types.  In order to be able
       to distinguish these similarly named functions C++ and Java encode them
       into  a low-level assembler name which uniquely identifies each differ-
       ent version.  This process is known as mangling. The c++filt  [1]  pro-
       gram  does  the inverse mapping: it decodes (demangles) low-level names
       into user-level names so that they can be read.

       Every alphanumeric word (consisting of  letters,  digits,  underscores,
       dollars, or periods) seen in the input is a potential mangled name.  If
       the name decodes into a C++ name, the C++ name replaces  the  low-level
       name in the output, otherwise the original word is output.  In this way
       you can pass an entire assembler source file, containing mangled names,
       through  c++filt  and  see  the  same  source file containing demangled
       names.

       You can also use c++filt to decipher individual symbols by passing them
       on the command line:

               c++filt <symbol>

       If  no  symbol arguments are given, c++filt reads symbol names from the
       standard input instead.  All the results are printed  on  the  standard
       output.   The  difference  between  reading names from the command line
       versus reading names from the standard input is that command line argu-
       ments  are  expected  to  be just mangled names and no checking is per-
       formed to separate them from surrounding text.  Thus for example:

               c++filt -n _Z1fv

       will work and demangle the name to "f()" whereas:

               c++filt -n _Z1fv,

       will not work.  (Note the extra comma at the end of  the  mangled  name
       which makes it invalid).  This command however will work:

               echo _Z1fv, | c++filt -n

       and  will  display  "f()," ie the demangled name followed by a trailing
       comma.  This behaviour is because when the  names  are  read  from  the
       standard  input  it is expected that they might be part of an assembler
       source file where there might be extra, extraneous characters  trailing
       after a mangled name.  eg:

                   .type   _Z1fv, @function


OPTIONS

       -_
       --strip-underscores
           On  some systems, both the C and C++ compilers put an underscore in
           front of every name.  For example, the C name "foo" gets  the  low-
           level  name  "_foo".   This  option removes the initial underscore.
           Whether c++filt removes the underscore by default is target  depen-
           dent.

       -j
       --java
           Prints  demangled  names  using Java syntax.  The default is to use
           C++ syntax.

       -n
       --no-strip-underscores
           Do not remove the initial underscore.

       -p
       --no-params
           When demangling the name of a function, do not display the types of
           the function's parameters.

       -t
       --types
           Attempt  to demangle types as well as function names.  This is dis-
           abled by default since mangled types are normally only used  inter-
           nally  in  the  compiler, and they can be confused with non-mangled
           names.  eg a function called "a" treated as  a  mangled  type  name
           would be demangled to "signed char".

       -i
       --no-verbose
           Do  not  include  implementation  details (if any) in the demangled
           output.

       -s format
       --format=format
           c++filt can decode various methods of mangling, used  by  different
           compilers.   The  argument  to  this option selects which method it
           uses:

           "auto"
               Automatic selection based on executable (the default method)

           "gnu"
               the one used by the GNU C++ compiler (g++)

           "lucid"
               the one used by the Lucid compiler (lcc)

           "arm"
               the one specified by the C++ Annotated Reference Manual

           "hp"
               the one used by the HP compiler (aCC)

           "edg"
               the one used by the EDG compiler

           "gnu-v3"
               the one used by the GNU C++ compiler (g++) with the V3 ABI.

           "java"
               the one used by the GNU Java compiler (gcj)

           "gnat"
               the one used by the GNU Ada compiler (GNAT).

       --help
           Print a summary of the options to c++filt and exit.

       --version
           Print the version number of c++filt and exit.

       @file
           Read command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted
           in  place of the original @file option.  If file does not exist, or
           cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and  not
           removed.

           Options  in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace charac-
           ter may be included in an option by surrounding the  entire  option
           in  either  single  or  double  quotes.  Any character (including a
           backslash) may  be  included  by  prefixing  the  character  to  be
           included  with a backslash.  The file may itself contain additional
           @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.


FOOTNOTES

       1.  MS-DOS does not allow "+" characters in file names,  so  on  MS-DOS
           this program is named CXXFILT.


SEE ALSO

       the Info entries for binutils.


COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  (c)  1991,  1992,  1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission  is  granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
       under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version  1.1  or
       any  later  version  published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
       Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with  no  Back-Cover
       Texts.   A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
       Free Documentation License".



binutils-070207                   2007-02-07                        C++FILT(1)

Mac OS X 10.6 - Generated Thu Sep 17 20:07:16 CDT 2009
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