Getting Help

To show short descriptions of a tool's options, type this command at the command line:

tool -help

Where tool is the name of the CodeWarrior build tool.

To show only a few lines of help information at a time, pipe the tool's output to a pager program. For example,

tool -help | more

Will use the more pager program to display the help information.

Enter the following command in a Command Prompt window to see a list of specifications that describe how options are formatted:

tool -help usage

Where tool is the name of the CodeWarrior build tool.

Parameter Formats

Parameters in an option are formatted as follows:

  • A parameter included in brackets " []" is optional.
  • Use of the ellipsis " ..." character indicates that the previous type of parameter may be repeated as a list.

Option Formats

Options are formatted as follows:

  • For most options, the option and the parameters are separated by a space as in " -xxx param".

    When the option's name is " -xxx+", however, the parameter must directly follow the option, without the " +" character (as in " -xxx45") and with no space separator.

  • An option given as " -[no]xxx" may be issued as " -xxx" or " -noxxx".

    The use of " -noxxx" reverses the meaning of the option.

  • When an option is specified as " -xxx | yy[y] | zzz", then either " -xxx", " -yy", " -yyy", or " -zzz" matches the option.
  • The symbols " ," and " =" separate options and parameters unconditionally; to include one of these symbols in a parameter or filename, escape it (e.g., as " \," in mwcc file.c\,v).

Common Terms

These common terms appear in many option descriptions:

  • A "cased" option is considered case-sensitive. By default, no options are case-sensitive.
  • "compatibility" indicates that the option is borrowed from another vendor's tool and its behavior may only approximate its counterpart.
  • A "global" option has an effect over the entire command line and is parsed before any other options. When several global options are specified, they are interpreted in order.
  • A "deprecated" option will be eliminated in the future and should no longer be used. An alternative form is supplied.
  • An "ignored" option is accepted by the tool but has no effect.
  • A "meaningless" option is accepted by the tool but probably has no meaning for the target operating system.
  • An "obsolete" option indicates a deprecated option that is no longer available.
  • A "substituted" option has the same effect as another option. This points out a preferred form and prevents confusion when similar options appear in the help.
  • Use of "default" in the help text indicates that the given value or variation of an option is used unless otherwise overridden.

This tool calls the linker (unless a compiler option such as -c prevents it) and understands linker options - use " -help tool=other" to see them. Options marked "passed to linker" are used by the compiler and the linker; options marked "for linker" are used only by the linker. When using the compiler and linker separately, you must pass the common options to both.