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 that can be
       later loaded and executed.

       The main advantages of precompiling chunks are: faster loading, protecting source code from accidental user changes,  and
       off-line syntax checking.

       Pre-compiling  does not imply faster execution because in Lua chunks are always compiled into bytecodes before being exe-
       cuted.  luac simply allows those bytecodes to be saved in a file for later execution.

       Pre-compiled chunks are not necessarily smaller than the corresponding source.  The main goal in pre-compiling is  faster
       loading.

       The binary files created by luac are portable only among architectures with the same word size and byte order.

       luac  produces  a single output file containing the bytecodes for all source files given.  By default, the output file is
       named luac.out, but you can change this with the -o option.

       In the command line, you can mix text files containing Lua source and binary files containing precompiled  chunks.   This
       is  useful  to  combine several precompiled chunks, even from different (but compatible) platforms, into a single precom-
       piled chunk.

       You can use '-' to indicate the standard input as a source file and '--' to signal the  end  of  options  (that  is,  all
       remaining arguments will be treated as files even if they start with '-').

       The  internal format of the binary files produced by luac is likely to change when a new version of Lua is released.  So,
       save the source files of all Lua programs that you precompile.

OPTIONS
       Options must be separate.

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

       -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 a source file 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.  Lua always performs a thorough integrity  test
              on precompiled chunks.  Bytecode that passes this test is completely safe, in the sense that it will not break the
              interpreter.  However, there is no guarantee that such code does anything sensible.  (None can be  given,  because
              the  halting  problem is unsolvable.)  If no files are given, then luac loads luac.out and tests its contents.  No
              messages are displayed if the file passes the integrity test.

       -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 contain the full information they usually do.
              For instance, line numbers and names of local variables are lost.

       -v     show version information.

FILES
       luac.out       default output file

SEE ALSO
       lua(1)
       http://www.lua.org/

DIAGNOSTICS
       Error messages should be self explanatory.

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



                                                  $Date: 2006/01/06 16:03:34 $                                           LUAC(1)