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(autoconf.info)Quotation Rule Of Thumb

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Quotation Rule Of Thumb
-----------------------

   To conclude, the quotation rule of thumb is:

             _One pair of quotes per pair of parentheses._
 Never over-quote, never
under-quote, in particular in the definition of macros.  In the few
places where the macros need to use brackets (usually in C program text
or regular expressions), properly quote _the arguments_!

   It is common to read Autoconf programs with snippets like:

     AC_TRY_LINK(
     changequote(<<, >>)dnl
     <<#include <time.h>
     #ifndef tzname /* For SGI.  */
     extern char *tzname[]; /* RS6000 and others reject char **tzname.  */
     #endif>>,
     changequote([, ])dnl
     [atoi (*tzname);], ac_cv_var_tzname=yes, ac_cv_var_tzname=no)

which is incredibly useless since `AC_TRY_LINK' is _already_ double
quoting, so you just need:

     AC_TRY_LINK(
     [#include <time.h>
     #ifndef tzname /* For SGI.  */
     extern char *tzname[]; /* RS6000 and others reject char **tzname.  */
     #endif],
                 [atoi (*tzname);],
                 [ac_cv_var_tzname=yes],
                 [ac_cv_var_tzname=no])

The M4-fluent reader will note that these two examples are rigorously
equivalent, since `m4' swallows both the `changequote(<<, >>)' and `<<'
`>>' when it "collects" the arguments: these quotes are not part of the
arguments!

   Simplified, the example above is just doing this:

     changequote(<<, >>)dnl
     <<[]>>
     changequote([, ])dnl

instead of simply:

     [[]]

   With macros that do not double quote their arguments (which is the
rule), double-quote the (risky) literals:

     AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM(
     [[#include <time.h>
     #ifndef tzname /* For SGI.  */
     extern char *tzname[]; /* RS6000 and others reject char **tzname.  */
     #endif]],
                                     [atoi (*tzname);])],
                    [ac_cv_var_tzname=yes],
                    [ac_cv_var_tzname=no])

   See Note: Quadrigraphs, for what to do if you run into a hopeless
case where quoting does not suffice.

   When you create a `configure' script using newly written macros,
examine it carefully to check whether you need to add more quotes in
your macros.  If one or more words have disappeared in the `m4' output,
you need more quotes.  When in doubt, quote.

   However, it's also possible to put on too many layers of quotes.  If
this happens, the resulting `configure' script will contain unexpanded
macros.  The `autoconf' program checks for this problem by doing `grep
AC_ configure'.