http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/clang.1.html
NAME
clang - the Clang C, C++, and Objective-C compiler
SYNOPSIS
clang [-c|-S|-E] -std=standard -g
[-O0|-O1|-O2|-Os|-O3|-O4]
-Wwarnings... -pedantic
-Idir... -Ldir...
-Dmacro[=defn]
-ffeature-option...
-mmachine-option...
-o output-file
-stdlib=library
input-filenames
DESCRIPTION
clang is a C, C++, and Objective-C compiler which encompasses preprocessing, parsing, optimization,
code generation, assembly, and linking. Depending on which high-level mode setting is passed, Clang
will stop before doing a full link. While Clang is highly integrated, it is important to understand
the stages of compilation, to understand how to invoke it. These stages are:
Driver
The clang executable is actually a small driver which controls the overall execution of other
tools such as the compiler, assembler and linker. Typically you do not need to interact with the
driver, but you transparently use it to run the other tools.
Preprocessing
This stage handles tokenization of the input source file, macro expansion, #include expansion and
handling of other preprocessor directives. The output of this stage is typically called a ".i"
(for C), ".ii" (for C++), ".mi" (for Objective-C) , or ".mii" (for Objective-C++) file.
Parsing and Semantic Analysis
This stage parses the input file, translating preprocessor tokens into a parse tree. Once in the
form of a parser tree, it applies semantic analysis to compute types for expressions as well and
determine whether the code is well formed. This stage is responsible for generating most of the
compiler warnings as well as parse errors. The output of this stage is an "Abstract Syntax Tree"
(AST).
Code Generation and Optimization
This stage translates an AST into low-level intermediate code (known as "LLVM IR") and ultimately
to machine code. This phase is responsible for optimizing the generated code and handling
target-specfic code generation. The output of this stage is typically called a ".s" file or
"assembly" file.
Clang also supports the use of an integrated assembler, in which the code generator produces
object files directly. This avoids the overhead of generating the ".s" file and of calling the
target assembler.
Assembler
This stage runs the target assembler to translate the output of the compiler into a target object
file. The output of this stage is typically called a ".o" file or "object" file.
Linker
This stage runs the target linker to merge multiple object files into an executable or dynamic
library. The output of this stage is typically called an "a.out", ".dylib" or ".so" file.
The Clang compiler supports a large number of options to control each of these stages. In addition
to compilation of code, Clang also supports other tools:
Clang Static Analyzer
The Clang Static Analyzer is a tool that scans source code to try to find bugs through code analysis.
This tool uses many parts of Clang and is built into the same driver.
OPTIONS
Stage Selection Options
-E Run the preprocessor stage.
-fsyntax-only
Run the preprocessor, parser and type checking stages.
-S Run the previous stages as well as LLVM generation and optimization stages and target-specific
code generation, producing an assembly file.
-c Run all of the above, plus the assembler, generating a target ".o" object file.
no stage selection option
If no stage selection option is specified, all stages above are run, and the linker is run to
combine the results into an executable or shared library.
--analyze
Run the Clang Static Analyzer.
Language Selection and Mode Options
-x language
Treat subsequent input files as having type language.
-std=language
Specify the language standard to compile for.
-stdlib=language
Specify the C++ standard library to use; supported options are libstdc++ and libc++.
-ansi
Same as -std=c89.
-ObjC++
Treat source input files as Objective-C++ inputs.
-ObjC
Treat source input files as Objective-C inputs.
-trigraphs
Enable trigraphs.
-ffreestanding
Indicate that the file should be compiled for a freestanding, not a hosted, environment.
-fno-builtin
Disable special handling and optimizations of builtin functions like strlen and malloc.
-fmath-errno
Indicate that math functions should be treated as updating errno.
-fpascal-strings
Enable support for Pascal-style strings with "/pfoo".
-fms-extensions
Enable support for Microsoft extensions.
-fmsc-version=
Set _MSC_VER. Defaults to 1300 on Windows. Not set otherwise.
-fborland-extensions
Enable support for Borland extensions.
-fwritable-strings
Make all string literals default to writable. This disables uniquing of strings and other
optimizations.
-flax-vector-conversions
Allow loose type checking rules for implicit vector conversions.
-fblocks
Enable the "Blocks" language feature.
-fobjc-gc-only
Indicate that Objective-C code should be compiled in GC-only mode, which only works when
Objective-C Garbage Collection is enabled.
-fobjc-gc
Indicate that Objective-C code should be compiled in hybrid-GC mode, which works with both GC and
non-GC mode.
-fobjc-abi-version=version
Select the Objective-C ABI version to use. Available versions are 1 (legacy "fragile" ABI), 2
(non-fragile ABI 1), and 3 (non-fragile ABI 2).
-fobjc-nonfragile-abi-version=version
Select the Objective-C non-fragile ABI version to use by default. This will only be used as the
Objective-C ABI when the non-fragile ABI is enabled (either via -fobjc-nonfragile-abi, or because
it is the platform default).
-fobjc-nonfragile-abi
Enable use of the Objective-C non-fragile ABI. On platforms for which this is the default ABI, it
can be disabled with -fno-objc-nonfragile-abi.
Target Selection Options
Clang fully supports cross compilation as an inherent part of its design. Depending on how your
version of Clang is configured, it may have support for a number of cross compilers, or may only
support a native target.
-arch architecture
Specify the architecture to build for.
-mmacosx-version-min=version
When building for Mac OS/X, specify the minimum version supported by your application.
-miphoneos-version-min
When building for iPhone OS, specify the minimum version supported by your application.
-march=cpu
Specify that Clang should generate code for a specific processor family member and later. For
example, if you specify -march=i486, the compiler is allowed to generate instructions that are
valid on i486 and later processors, but which may not exist on earlier ones.
Code Generation Options
-O0 -O1 -O2 -Os -O3 -O4
Specify which optimization level to use. -O0 means "no optimization": this level compiles the
fastest and generates the most debuggable code. -O2 is a moderate level of optimization which
enables most optimizations. -Os is like -O2 with extra optimizations to reduce code size. -O3
is like -O2, except that it enables optimizations that take longer to perform or that may
generate larger code (in an attempt to make the program run faster). On supported platforms, -O4
enables link-time optimization; object files are stored in the LLVM bitcode file format and whole
program optimization is done at link time. -O1 is somewhere between -O0 and -O2.
-g Generate debug information. Note that Clang debug information works best at -O0. At higher
optimization levels, only line number information is currently available.
-fexceptions
Enable generation of unwind information, this allows exceptions to be thrown through Clang
compiled stack frames. This is on by default in x86-64.
-ftrapv
Generate code to catch integer overflow errors. Signed integer overflow is undefined in C, with
this flag, extra code is generated to detect this and abort when it happens.
-fvisibility
This flag sets the default visibility level.
-fcommon
This flag specifies that variables without initializers get common linkage. It can be disabled
with -fno-common.
-flto -emit-llvm
Generate output files in LLVM formats, suitable for link time optimization. When used with -S
this generates LLVM intermediate language assembly files, otherwise this generates LLVM bitcode
format object files (which may be passed to the linker depending on the stage selection options).
Driver Options
-###
Print the commands to run for this compilation.
--help
Display available options.
-Qunused-arguments
Don't emit warning for unused driver arguments.
-Wa,args
Pass the comma separated arguments in args to the assembler.
-Wl,args
Pass the comma separated arguments in args to the linker.
-Wp,args
Pass the comma separated arguments in args to the preprocessor.
-Xanalyzer arg
Pass arg to the static analyzer.
-Xassembler arg
Pass arg to the assembler.
-Xclang arg
Pass arg to the clang compiler frontend.
-Xlinker arg
Pass arg to the linker.
-mllvm arg
Pass arg to the LLVM backend.
-Xpreprocessor arg
Pass arg to the preprocessor.
-o file
Write output to file.
-print-file-name=file
Print the full library path of file.
-print-libgcc-file-name
Print the library path for "libgcc.a".
-print-prog-name=name
Print the full program path of name.
-print-search-dirs
Print the paths used for finding libraries and programs.
-save-temps
Save intermediate compilation results.
-integrated-as -no-integrated-as
Used to enable and disable, respectively, the use of the integrated assembler. Whether the
integrated assembler is on by default is target dependent.
-time
Time individual commands.
-ftime-report
Print timing summary of each stage of compilation.
-v Show commands to run and use verbose output.
Diagnostics Options
-fshow-column -fshow-source-location -fcaret-diagnostics -fdiagnostics-fixit-info
-fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits -fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info -fprint-source-range-info
-fdiagnostics-show-option -fmessage-length
These options control how Clang prints out information about diagnostics (errors and warnings).
Please see the Clang User's Manual for more information.
Preprocessor Options
-Dmacroname=value
Adds an implicit #define into the predefines buffer which is read before the source file is
preprocessed.
-Umacroname
Adds an implicit #undef into the predefines buffer which is read before the source file is
preprocessed.
-include filename
Adds an implicit #include into the predefines buffer which is read before the source file is
preprocessed.
-Idirectory
Add the specified directory to the search path for include files.
-Fdirectory
Add the specified directory to the search path for framework include files.
-nostdinc
Do not search the standard system directories for include files.
-nobuiltininc
Do not search clang's builtin directory for include files.
ENVIRONMENT
TMPDIR, TEMP, TMP
These environment variables are checked, in order, for the location to write temporary files used
during the compilation process.
CPATH
If this environment variable is present, it is treated as a delimited list of paths to be added
to the default system include path list. The delimiter is the platform dependent delimitor, as
used in the PATH environment variable.
Empty components in the environment variable are ignored.
C_INCLUDE_PATH, OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH, CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH, OBJCPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH
These environment variables specify additional paths, as for CPATH, which are only used when
processing the appropriate language.
MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET
If -mmacosx-version-min is unspecified, the default deployment target is read from this
environment variable. This option only affects darwin targets.
BUGS
To report bugs, please visit <http://llvm.org/bugs/>. Most bug reports should include preprocessed
source files (use the -E option) and the full output of the compiler, along with information to
reproduce.
SEE ALSO
as(1), ld(1)
AUTHOR
Maintained by the Clang / LLVM Team (<http://clang.llvm.org>).