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LUAC(1)                                                                LUAC(1)




NAME

       luac - Lua compiler


SYNOPSIS

       luac [ options ] [ filenames ]


DESCRIPTION

       luac  is  the  Lua compiler.  It translates programs written in the Lua
       programming language into binary files  containing  precompiled  chunks
       that can be later loaded and executed.

       The  main  advantages  of precompiling chunks are: faster loading, pro-
       tecting source code from accidental user changes, and  off-line  syntax
       checking.   Precompiling does not imply faster execution because in Lua
       chunks are always compiled into bytecodes before being executed.   luac
       simply  allows  those  bytecodes to be saved in a file for later execu-
       tion.  Precompiled chunks are not necessarily smaller than  the  corre-
       sponding source.  The main goal in precompiling is faster loading.

       In  the  command line, you can mix text files containing Lua source and
       binary files containing precompiled chunks.   luac  produces  a  single
       output  file  containing  the  combined  bytecodes for all files given.
       Executing the combined file is equivalent to executing the given files.
       By  default, the output file is named luac.out, but you can change this
       with the -o option.

       Precompiled chunks are not  portable  across  different  architectures.
       Moreover, the internal format of precompiled chunks is likely to change
       when a new version of Lua is released.  Make sure you save  the  source
       files of all Lua programs that you precompile.



OPTIONS

       -l     produce  a  listing  of  the compiled bytecode for Lua's virtual
              machine.  Listing bytecodes is useful to learn about Lua's  vir-
              tual  machine.   If no files are given, then luac loads luac.out
              and lists its contents.  Use -l -l for a full listing.

       -o file
              output to file, instead of the default luac.out.  (You  can  use
              '-' for standard output, but not on platforms that open standard
              output in text mode.)  The output file may be one of  the  given
              files  because  all  files  are loaded before the output file is
              written.  Be careful not to overwrite precious files.

       -p     load files but do not generate any output file.  Used mainly for
              syntax  checking  and  for testing precompiled chunks: corrupted
              files will probably generate errors when loaded.   If  no  files
              are  given, then luac loads luac.out and tests its contents.  No
              messages are displayed if the file loads without errors.

       -s     strip debug information before writing the  output  file.   This
              saves  some space in very large chunks, but if errors occur when
              running a stripped chunk, then the error messages may  not  con-
              tain  the full information they usually do.  In particular, line
              numbers and names of local variables are lost.

       -v     show version information.

       --     stop handling options.

       -      stop handling options and process standard input.


SEE ALSO

       lua(1)
       The documentation at lua.org.


DIAGNOSTICS

       Error messages should be self explanatory.


AUTHORS

       R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes



                          Date: 2011/11/16 13:53:40                    LUAC(1)