     START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
     * Binutils::                    The GNU binary utilities "ar", "ld", "objcopy",
     				"objdump", "nm", "size", "strings", "strip", and "ranlib".
     END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.

Introduction
************

This brief manual contains preliminary documentation for the GNU binary utilities (collectively version 2.2):

ar
**

     ar [-]P[MOD [RELPOS]] ARCHIVE [MEMBER...]
     ar -M [ <mri-script ]

The GNU ar program creates, modifies, and extracts from archives.  An archive is a single file holding a collection of other files in a structure that makes it possible to retrieve the original individual files (called members of the archive).

The original files' contents, mode (permissions), timestamp, owner, and group are preserved in the archive, and can be restored on extraction.

GNU ar can maintain archives whose members have names of any length; however, depending on how ar is configured on your system, a limit on member-name length may be imposed for compatibility with archive formats maintained with other tools.  If it exists, the limit is often 15 characters (typical of formats related to a.out) or 16 characters (typical of formats related to coff).

ar is considered a binary utility because archives of this sort are most often used as libraries holding commonly needed subroutines.

ar creates an index to the symbols defined in relocatable object modules in the archive when you specify the modifier s. Once created, this index is updated in the archive whenever ar makes a change to its contents (save for the q update operation). An archive with such an index speeds up linking to the library, and allows routines in the library to call each other without regard to their placement in the archive.

You may use nm -s or nm --print-armap to list this index table.  If an archive lacks the table, another form of ar called ranlib can be used to add just the table.

GNU ar is designed to be compatible with two different facilities.  You can control its activity using command-line options, like the different varieties of ar on Unix systems; or, if you specify the single command-line option -M, you can control it with a script supplied via standard input, like the MRI ``librarian'' program.

Controlling ar on the command line
==================================

     ar [-]P[MOD [RELPOS]] ARCHIVE [MEMBER...]

When you use ar in the Unix style, ar insists on at least two arguments to execute: one keyletter specifying the operation (optionally accompanied by other keyletters specifying modifiers), and the archive name to act on.

Most operations can also accept further MEMBER arguments, specifying particular files to operate on.

GNU ar allows you to mix the operation code P and modifier flags MOD in any order, within the first command-line argument.

If you wish, you may begin the first command-line argument with a dash.

The P keyletter specifies what operation to execute; it may be any of the following, but you must specify only one of them:

d
     Delete modules from the archive.  Specify the names of modules to be deleted as MEMBER...; the archive is untouched if you specify no files to delete.

     If you specify the v modifier, ar lists each module as it is deleted.

m
     Use this operation to move members in an archive.

     The ordering of members in an archive can make a difference in how programs are linked using the library, if a symbol is defined in more than one member.

     If no modifiers are used with m, any members you name in the MEMBER arguments are moved to the end of the archive; you can use the a, b, or i modifiers to move them to a specified place instead.

p
     Print the specified members of the archive, to the standard output file.  If the v modifier is specified, show the member name before copying its contents to standard output.

     If you specify no MEMBER arguments, all the files in the archive are printed.

q
     Quick append; add the files MEMBER... to the end of ARCHIVE, without checking for replacement.

     The modifiers a, b, and i do not affect this operation; new members are always placed at the end of the archive.

     The modifier v makes ar list each file as it is appended.

     Since the point of this operation is speed, the archive's symbol table index is not updated, even if it already existed; you can use ar s or ranlib explicitly to update the symbol table index.

r
     Insert the files MEMBER... into ARCHIVE (with replacement). This operation differs from q in that any previously existing members are deleted if their names match those being added.

     If one of the files named in MEMBER... does not exist, ar displays an error message, and leaves undisturbed any existing members of the archive matching that name.

     By default, new members are added at the end of the file; but you may use one of the modifiers a, b, or i to request placement relative to some existing member.

     The modifier v used with this operation elicits a line of output for each file inserted, along with one of the letters a or r to indicate whether the file was appended (no old member deleted) or replaced.

t
     Display a table listing the contents of ARCHIVE, or those of the files listed in MEMBER... that are present in the archive.  Normally only the member name is shown; if you also want to see the modes (permissions), timestamp, owner, group, and size, you can request that by also specifying the v modifier.

     If you do not specify a MEMBER, all files in the archive are listed.

     If there is more than one file with the same name (say, fie) in an archive (say b.a), ar t b.a fie lists only the first instance; to see them all, you must ask for a complete listing---in our example, ar t b.a.

x
     Extract members (named MEMBER) from the archive.  You can use the v modifier with this operation, to request that ar list each name as it extracts it.

     If you do not specify a MEMBER, all files in the archive are extracted.

A number of modifiers (MOD) may immediately follow the P keyletter, to specify variations on an operation's behavior:

a
     Add new files after an existing member of the archive.  If you use the modifier a, the name of an existing archive member must be present as the RELPOS argument, before the ARCHIVE specification.

b
     Add new files before an existing member of the archive.  If you use the modifier b, the name of an existing archive member must be present as the RELPOS argument, before the ARCHIVE specification.  (same as i).

c
     Create the archive.  The specified ARCHIVE is always created if it did not exist, when you request an update.  But a warning is issued unless you specify in advance that you expect to create it, by using this modifier.

i
     Insert new files before an existing member of the archive.  If you use the modifier i, the name of an existing archive member must be present as the RELPOS argument, before the ARCHIVE specification.  (same as b).

l
     This modifier is accepted but not used.

o
     Preserve the original dates of members when extracting them.  If you do not specify this modifier, files extracted from the archive are stamped with the time of extraction.

s
     Write an object-file index into the archive, or update an existing one, even if no other change is made to the archive.  You may use this modifier flag either with any operation, or alone.  Running ar s on an archive is equivalent to running ranlib on it.

u
     Normally, ar r... inserts all files listed into the archive.  If you would like to insert only those of the files you list that are newer than existing members of the same names, use this modifier.  The u modifier is allowed only for the operation r (replace).  In particular, the combination qu is not allowed, since checking the timestamps would lose any speed advantage from the operation q.

v
     This modifier requests the verbose version of an operation.  Many operations display additional information, such as filenames processed, when the modifier v is appended.

V
     This modifier shows the version number of ar.

Controlling ar with a script
============================

     ar -M [ <SCRIPT ]

If you use the single command-line option -M with ar, you can control its operation with a rudimentary command language.  This form of ar operates interactively if standard input is coming directly from a terminal.  During interactive use, ar prompts for input (the prompt is AR >), and continues executing even after errors.  If you redirect standard input to a script file, no prompts are issued, and ar abandons execution (with a nonzero exit code) on any error.

The ar command language is not designed to be equivalent to the command-line options; in fact, it provides somewhat less control over archives.  The only purpose of the command language is to ease the transition to GNU ar for developers who already have scripts written for the MRI ``librarian'' program.

The syntax for the ar command language is straightforward:

  * commands are recognized in upper or lower case; for example, LIST is the same as list.  In the following descriptions, commands are shown in upper case for clarity.

  * a single command may appear on each line; it is the first word on the line.

  * empty lines are allowed, and have no effect.

  * comments are allowed; text after either of the characters * or ; is ignored.

  * Whenever you use a list of names as part of the argument to an ar command, you can separate the individual names with either commas or blanks.  Commas are shown in the explanations below, for clarity.

  * + is used as a line continuation character; if + appears at the end of a line, the text on the following line is considered part of the current command.

Here are the commands you can use in ar scripts, or when using ar interactively.  Three of them have special significance:

OPEN or CREATE specify a current archive, which is a temporary file required for most of the other commands.

SAVE commits the changes so far specified by the script.  Prior to SAVE, commands affect only the temporary copy of the current archive.

ADDLIB ARCHIVE
ADDLIB ARCHIVE (MODULE, MODULE, ... MODULE)
     Add all the contents of ARCHIVE (or, if specified, each named MODULE from ARCHIVE) to the current archive.

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

ADDMOD MEMBER, MEMBER, ... MEMBER
     Add each named MEMBER as a module in the current archive.

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

CLEAR
     Discard the contents of the current archive, cancelling the effect of any operations since the last SAVE.  May be executed (with no effect) even if  no current archive is specified.

CREATE ARCHIVE
     Creates an archive, and makes it the current archive (required for many other commands).  The new archive is created with a temporary name; it is not actually saved as ARCHIVE until you use SAVE. You can overwrite existing archives; similarly, the contents of any existing file named ARCHIVE will not be destroyed until SAVE.

DELETE MODULE, MODULE, ... MODULE
     Delete each listed MODULE from the current archive; equivalent to ar -d ARCHIVE MODULE ... MODULE.

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

DIRECTORY ARCHIVE (MODULE, ... MODULE)
DIRECTORY ARCHIVE (MODULE, ... MODULE) OUTPUTFILE
     List each named MODULE present in ARCHIVE.  The separate command VERBOSE specifies the form of the output: when verbose output is off, output is like that of ar -t ARCHIVE MODULE....  When verbose output is on, the listing is like ar -tv ARCHIVE MODULE....

     Output normally goes to the standard output stream; however, if you specify OUTPUTFILE as a final argument, ar directs the output to that file.

END
     Exit from ar, with a 0 exit code to indicate successful completion.  This command does not save the output file; if you have changed the current archive since the last SAVE command, those changes are lost.

EXTRACT MODULE, MODULE, ... MODULE
     Extract each named MODULE from the current archive, writing them into the current directory as separate files.  Equivalent to ar -x ARCHIVE MODULE....

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

LIST
     Display full contents of the current archive, in ``verbose'' style regardless of the state of VERBOSE.  The effect is like ar tv ARCHIVE).  (This single command is a GNU ld enhancement, rather than present for MRI compatibility.)

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

OPEN ARCHIVE
     Opens an existing archive for use as the current archive (required for many other commands).  Any changes as the result of subsequent commands will not actually affect ARCHIVE until you next use SAVE.

REPLACE MODULE, MODULE, ... MODULE
     In the current archive, replace each existing MODULE (named in the REPLACE arguments) from files in the current working directory. To execute this command without errors, both the file, and the module in the current archive, must exist.

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

VERBOSE
     Toggle an internal flag governing the output from DIRECTORY. When the flag is on, DIRECTORY output matches output from ar -tv ....

SAVE
     Commit your changes to the current archive, and actually save it as a file with the name specified in the last CREATE or OPEN command.

     Requires prior use of OPEN or CREATE.

nm
**

     nm [ -a | --debug-syms ]  [ -g | --extern-only ]
        [ -B ]  [ -C | --demangle ]
        [ -s | --print-armap ]  [ -A | -o | --print-file-name ]
        [ -n | -v | --numeric-sort ]  [ -p | --no-sort ]
        [ -r | --reverse-sort ]  [ -u | --undefined-only ]
        [ -t RADIX | --radix=RADIX ] [ -P | --portability ]
        [ --target=BFDNAME ] [ -f FORMAT | --format=FORMAT ]
        [ -V | --version ]  [ --help ]  [ OBJFILE... ]

GNU nm lists the symbols from object files OBJFILE.... If no object files are listed as arguments, nm assumes a.out.

For each symbol, nm shows:

  * The symbol value, in the radix selected by options (see below), or hexadecimal by default.

  * The symbol type.  At least the following types are used; others are, as well, depending on the object file format.  If lowercase, the symbol is local; if uppercase, the symbol is global (external).

     A
          Absolute.

     B
          BSS (uninitialized data).

     C
          Common.

     D
          Initialized data.

     I
          Indirect reference.

     T
          Text (program code).

     U
          Undefined.

  * The symbol name.

The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are equivalent.

-A
-o
--print-file-name
     Precede each symbol by the name of the input file (or archive element) in which it was found, rather than identifying the input file once only, before all of its symbols.

-a
--debug-syms
     Display all symbols, even debugger-only symbols; normally these are not listed.

-B
     The same as --format=bsd (for compatibility with the MIPS nm).

-C
--demangle
     Decode (demangle) low-level symbol names into user-level names. Besides removing any initial underscore prepended by the system, this makes C++ function names readable.  See c++filt, for more information on demangling.

-f FORMAT
--format=FORMAT
     Use the output format FORMAT, which can be bsd, sysv, or posix.  The default is bsd. Only the first character of FORMAT is significant; it can be either upper or lower case.

-g
--extern-only
     Display only external symbols.

-n
-v
--numeric-sort
     Sort symbols numerically by their addresses, rather than alphabetically by their names.

-p
--no-sort
     Do not bother to sort the symbols in any order; print them in the order encountered.

-P
--portability
     Use the POSIX.2 standard output format instead of the default format. Equivalent to -f posix.

-s
--print-armap
     When listing symbols from archive members, include the index: a mapping (stored in the archive by ar or ranlib) of which modules contain definitions for which names.

-r
--reverse-sort
     Reverse the order of the sort (whether numeric or alphabetic); let the last come first.

-t RADIX
--radix=RADIX
     Use RADIX as the radix for printing the symbol values.  It must be d for decimal, o for octal, or x for hexadecimal.

--target=BFDNAME
     Specify an object code format other than your system's default format. See objdump, for information on listing available formats.

-u
--undefined-only
     Display only undefined symbols (those external to each object file).

-V
--version
     Show the version number of nm and exit.

--help
     Show a summary of the options to nm and exit.

objcopy
*******

     objcopy [ -F FORMAT | --format=FORMAT ]
             [ -I FORMAT | --input-format=FORMAT ]
             [ -O FORMAT | --output-format=FORMAT ]
             [ -S | --strip-all ]  [ -g | --strip-debug ]
             [ -x | --discard-all ]  [ -X | --discard-locals ]
             [ -v | --verbose ]  [ -V | --version ]  [ --help ]
             INFILE [OUTFILE]

The GNU objcopy utility copies the contents of an object file to another.  objcopy uses the GNU BFD Library to read and write the object files.  It can write the destination object file in a format different from that of the source object file.  The exact behavior of objcopy is controlled by command-line options.

objcopy creates temporary files to do its translations and deletes them afterward.  objcopy uses BFD to do all its translation work; it knows about all the formats BFD knows about, and thus is able to recognize most formats without being told explicitly. See BFD (Using LD).

INFILE
OUTFILE
     The source and output files respectively. If you do not specify OUTFILE, objcopy creates a temporary file and destructively renames the result with the name of the input file.

-I FORMAT
--input-format=FORMAT
     Consider the source file's object format to be FORMAT, rather than attempting to deduce it.

-O FORMAT
--output-format=FORMAT
     Write the output file using the object format FORMAT.

-F FORMAT
--format=FORMAT
     Use FORMAT as the object format for both the input and the output file; i.e. simply transfer data from source to destination with no translation.

-S
--strip-all
     Do not copy relocation and symbol information from the source file.

-g
--strip-debug
     Do not copy debugging symbols from the source file.

-x
--discard-all
     Do not copy non-global symbols from the source file.

-X
--discard-locals
     Do not copy compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with L or ..)

-V
--version
     Show the version number of objcopy.

-v
--verbose
     Verbose output: list all object files modified.  In the case of archives, objcopy -V lists all members of the archive.

--help
     Show a summary of the options to objcopy.

objdump
*******

     objdump [ -a ]  [ -b BFDNAME ]  [ -d ]  [ -f ]
             [ -h | --header ]  [ -i ]  [ -j SECTION ]  [ -l ]
             [ -m MACHINE ]  [ -r | --reloc ]  [ -s ]  [ --stabs ]
             [ -t | --syms ]  [ -x ]  [ --version ]  [ --help ]
             OBJFILE...

objdump displays information about one or more object files. The options control what particular information to display.  This information is mostly useful to programmers who are working on the compilation tools, as opposed to programmers who just want their program to compile and work.

OBJFILE... are the object files to be examined.  When you specify archives, objdump shows information on each of the member object files.

The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are equivalent.  At least one option besides -l must be given.

-a
     If any of the OBJFILE files are archives, display the archive header information (in a format similar to ls -l).  Besides the information you could list with ar tv, objdump -a shows the object file format of each archive member.

-b BFDNAME
     Specify that the object-code format for the object files is BFDNAME.  This option may not be necessary; OBJDUMP can automatically recognize many formats.

     For example,

          objdump -b oasys -m vax -h fu.o

     displays summary information from the section headers (-h) of fu.o, which is explicitly identified (-m) as a VAX object file in the format produced by Oasys compilers.  You can list the formats available with the -i option.

-d
     Disassemble.  Display the assembler mnemonics for the machine instructions from OBJFILE.

-f
     File header.  Display summary information from the overall header of each of the OBJFILE files.

-h
--header
     Header.  Display summary information from the section headers of the object file.

--help
     Print a summary of the options to objdump and exit.

-i
     Display a list showing all architectures and object formats available for specification with -b or -m.

-j NAME
     Display information only for section NAME.

-l
     Label the display (using debugging information) with the source filename and line numbers corresponding to the object code shown.

-m MACHINE
     Specify that the object files OBJFILE are for architecture MACHINE.  You can list available architectures using the -i option.

-r
--reloc
     Relocation.  Print the relocation entries of the file.

-s
     Display the full contents of any sections requested.

--stabs
     Display the full contents of any sections requested.  Display the contents of the .stab and .stab.index and .stab.excl sections from an ELF file.  This is only useful on systems (such as Solaris 2.0) in which .stab debugging symbol-table entries are carried in an ELF section.  In most other file formats, debugging symbol-table entries are interleaved with linkage symbols, and are visible in the --syms output.

-t
--syms
     Symbol Table.  Print the symbol table entries of the file. This is similar to the information provided by the nm program.

--version
     Print the version number of objdump and exit.

-x
     Display all available header information, including the symbol table and relocation entries.  Using -x is equivalent to specifying all of -a -f -h -r -t.

ranlib
******

     ranlib [-vV] ARCHIVE

ranlib generates an index to the contents of an archive and stores it in the archive.  The index lists each symbol defined by a member of an archive that is a relocatable object file.

You may use nm -s or nm --print-armap to list this index.

An archive with such an index speeds up linking to the library and allows routines in the library to call each other without regard to their placement in the archive.

The GNU ranlib program is another form of GNU ar; running ranlib is completely equivalent to executing ar -s. See ar.

-v
-V
     Show the version number of ranlib.

size
****

     size [ -A | -B | --format=COMPATIBILITY ]
          [ --help ]  [ -d | -o | -x | --radix=NUMBER ]
          [ --target=BFDNAME ]  [ -V | --version ]
          OBJFILE...

The GNU size utility lists the section sizes---and the total size---for each of the object or archive files OBJFILE in its argument list.  By default, one line of output is generated for each object file or each module in an archive.

OBJFILE... are the object files to be examined.

The command line options have the following meanings:

-A
-B
--format=COMPATIBILITY
     Using one of these options, you can choose whether the output from GNU size resembles output from System V size (using -A, or --format=sysv), or Berkeley size (using -B, or --format=berkeley).  The default is the one-line format similar to Berkeley's.

     Here is an example of the Berkeley (default) format of output from size:

          size --format Berkeley ranlib size
          text    data    bss     dec     hex     filename
          294880  81920   11592   388392  5ed28   ranlib
          294880  81920   11888   388688  5ee50   size

     This is the same data, but displayed closer to System V conventions:

          size --format SysV ranlib size
          ranlib  :
          section         size         addr
          .text         294880         8192
          .data          81920       303104
          .bss           11592       385024
          Total         388392

          size  :
          section         size         addr
          .text         294880         8192
          .data          81920       303104
          .bss           11888       385024
          Total         388688

--help
     Show a summary of acceptable arguments and options.

-d
-o
-x
--radix=NUMBER
     Using one of these options, you can control whether the size of each section is given in decimal (-d, or --radix=10); octal (-o, or --radix=8); or hexadecimal (-x, or --radix=16).  In --radix=NUMBER, only the three values (8, 10, 16) are supported.  The total size is always given in two radices; decimal and hexadecimal for -d or -x output, or octal and hexadecimal if you're using -o.

--target=BFDNAME
     Specify that the object-code format for OBJFILE is BFDNAME.  This option may not be necessary; size can automatically recognize many formats.  See objdump, for information on listing available formats.

-V
--version
     Display the version number of size.

strings
*******

     strings [-afov] [-MIN-LEN] [-n MIN-LEN] [-t RADIX] [-]
             [--all] [--print-file-name] [--bytes=MIN-LEN]
             [--radix=RADIX] [--help] [--version] FILE...

For each FILE given, GNU strings prints the printable character sequences that are at least 4 characters long (or the number given with the options below) and are followed by a NUL or newline character.  By default, it only prints the strings from the initialized data sections of object files; for other types of files, it prints the strings from the whole file.

strings is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text files.

-a
--all
-
     Do not scan only the initialized data section of object files; scan the whole files.

-f
--print-file-name
     Print the name of the file before each string.

--help
     Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and exit.

-MIN-LEN

-n MIN-LEN
--bytes=MIN-LEN
     Print sequences of characters that are at least MIN-LEN characters long, instead of the default 4.

-o
     Like -t o.  Some other versions of strings have -o act like -t d instead.  Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we simply chose one.

-t RADIX
--radix=RADIX
     Print the offset within the file before each string.  The single character argument specifies the radix of the offset---o for octal, x for hexadecimal, or d for decimal.

-v
--version
     Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.

strip
*****

     strip [ -F FORMAT | --format=FORMAT | --target=FORMAT ]
           [ -I FORMAT | --input-format=FORMAT ]
           [ -O FORMAT | --output-format=FORMAT ]
           [ -s | --strip-all ] [ -S | -g | --strip-debug ]
           [ -x | --discard-all ] [ -X | --discard-locals ]
           [ -v | --verbose ]  [ -V | --version ]  [ --help ]
           OBJFILE...

GNU strip discards all symbols from object files OBJFILE.  The list of object files may include archives. At least one object file must be given.

strip modifies the files named in its argument, rather than writing modified copies under different names.

-F FORMAT
--format=FORMAT
--target=FORMAT
     Treat the original OBJFILE as a file with the object code format FORMAT, and rewrite it in the same format.

--help
     Show a summary of the options to strip and exit.

-I FORMAT
--input-format=FORMAT
     Treat the original OBJFILE as a file with the object code format FORMAT.

-O FORMAT
--output-format=FORMAT
     Replace OBJFILE with a file in the output format FORMAT.

-s
--strip-all
     Remove all symbols.

-g
-S
--strip-debug
     Remove debugging symbols only.

-x
--discard-all
     Remove non-global symbols.

-X
--discard-locals
     Remove compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with L or ..)

-V
--version
     Show the version number for strip.

-v
--verbose
     Verbose output: list all object files modified.  In the case of archives, strip -v lists all members of the archive.

c++filt
*******

     c++filt [ -_ | --strip-underscores ]
             [ -s FORMAT | --format=FORMAT ]
             [ --help ]  [ --version ]  [ SYMBOL... ]

The C++ language provides function overloading, which means that you can write many functions with the same name (providing each takes parameters of different types).  All C++ function names are encoded into a low-level assembly label (this process is known as mangling). The c++filt program does the inverse mapping: it decodes (demangles) low-level names into user-level names so that the linker can keep these overloaded functions from clashing.

Every alphanumeric word (consisting of letters, digits, underscores, dollars, or periods) seen in the input is a potential label.  If the label decodes into a C++ name, the C++ name replaces the low-level name in the output.

You can use c++filt to decipher individual symbols:

     c++filt SYMBOL

If no SYMBOL arguments are given, c++filt reads symbol names from the standard input and writes the demangled names to the standard output.  All results are printed on the standard output.

-_

--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.

-s FORMAT
--format=FORMAT
     GNU nm can decode three different methods of mangling, used by different C++ compilers.  The argument to this option selects which method it uses:

     gnu
          the one used by the GNU compiler (the default method)

     lucid
          the one used by the Lucid compiler

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

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

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

     Warning: c++filt is a new utility, and the details of its user interface are subject to change in future releases.  In particular, a command-line option may be required in the the future to decode a name passed as an argument on the command line; in other words,

          c++filt SYMBOL

     may in a future release become

          c++filt OPTION SYMBOL