xstr - Extracts strings from C programs to implement
shared strings
xstr [-c] [file | -]
The xstr command maintains a file called strings into
which strings in component parts of a large program are
hashed.
Extracts strings from the specified file.
The strings extracted by xstr are replaced with references
to this array. This serves to implement shared constant
strings, most useful if they are also read-only.
The following command extracts the strings from the C
source in file, replacing string references by expressions
of the form (&xstr[number]) for some number. xstr -c file
The xstr command uses file as input; the resulting C text
is placed in the file x.c to then be compiled. The strings
from this file are appended to the strings file if they
are not there already. Repeated strings and strings that
are suffixes of existing strings do not cause changes to
the file.
If a string is a suffix of another string in the file, but
the shorter string is seen first by xstr, both strings are
placed in the file strings.
After all components of a large program are compiled, a
file xs.c declaring the common xstr space can be created
by a command of the following form: xstr
Compile and load this xs.c file with the rest of the program.
Some C compilers may, by default, put strings in a
read-only text section.
The xstr command can also be used on a single file. The
following command creates files x.c and xs.c as before,
without using or affecting a strings file in the same
directory. xstr file
It may be useful to run xstr after the C preprocessor if
any macro definitions yield strings or if there is conditional
code that contains strings that may not be needed.
The xstr command reads from its standard input when the
argument - (dash) is given. An appropriate command
sequence for running xstr after the C preprocessor is as
follows: cc -E file.c | xstr -c - cc -c x.c mv x.o file.o
The xstr command does not touch the file strings unless
new items are added, thus make can avoid remaking xs.o
unless truly necessary.
To extract the strings from the C source in the file.c
parameter, replacing string references by expressions of
the form (&xstr[number]), enter: xstr -c file
An appropriate declaration of the xstr array is
prepended to file. The resulting C text is placed
in the file x.c, to then be compiled. To declare
the common xstr array space in the xs.c file,
enter: xstr
File that contains the extracted strings. Modified C
source. C source for definition of array xstr. Temporary
file when the xstr command does not touch strings.
Commands: mkstr(1)
xstr(1)
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