Command-line options

A preprocessor is written as though it were always called without the compiler by a command line. In particular, every preprocessor must accept at least the following command-line options:

-e file causes error messages to be written to the specified file. This option must be followed by the name of the error file.
-help do not preprocess; show command-line help on standard output device
-Pofile       causes preprocessor output to be written to the specified file. This option must be followed by the name of the output file.
-Sa indicates that the input file is ANSI format COBOL
-Sd instructs the preprocessor to include lines marked as debugging lines ("D") in the indicator area
-Si instructs the preprocessor to include lines based on pattern. The next separate argument is the pattern to match.
-St indicates that the input file is terminal format COBOL
-Sx instructs the preprocessor to exclude lines based on patter. The next separate argument is the pattern to match.
-v do not preprocess; show preprocessor version information on standard output device

A preprocessor should accept these options in any order. A preprocessor must honor the -e, -placePo, -help and -v options. Other options need not be honored but must be scanned if they appear on the command line.

Note: A preprocessor honors an option if it does what the option requires. A preprocessor accepts an option if it tolerates its presence on its command line but does not necessarily honor it. An option that is not honored or accepted causes a preprocessor to generate an error message.

Another command-line option is highly recommended:

-n      indicates to the preprocessor that no preprocessor directives should be included in output. A standard preprocessor output includes directives, which may make the output very difficult to read. If you want to examine the output of a preprocessor, this option lets you suppress the directives and receive clean output. See Line and File Directives for more information on directives.

The preprocessor should abort with an appropriate error message if a required option is missing.