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From: jimf@SABER.COM
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: cpp, Using it to process shell scripts
Message-ID: <9007131518.AA26577@lance>
Date: 13 Jul 90 15:18:26 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 21

|When using cpp to process the source to a script file, cpp always
|puts a blank line in the output for everytime it encounters a
|#directive or a /*comment*/.  (This is SunOS 4.1)  Is this normal
|behavior?  If so, why?

Yes.  It makes it easier to keep the line counter in sync with
reality.

|It really makes the resulting shell script 
|messy with all those blank lines...

cpp | cat -s

|My manual suggests m4 as an alternative [...]
|If m4 is the correct choice, why didn't MIT choose to use it?

I wouldn't use it because it's not guaranteed to be on every platform.

jim frost
saber software
jimf@saber.com