Ant4C Help

Before choose this way, make sure you have CMake tool and C compiler.
Optional, if you have previous version of Ant4C, you can use build script file to build new one directly, otherwise addition work in command prompt will be required.

Alternative make tool or meson can be used to build from source.

If no file specific, all files with .build extension from current directory will be evaluated.

To specific the script file type -buildfile option.

Several targets can be set. If no targets set, default target of the project will be executed.
If project do not contain default target, only global tasks will be executed.
If description of project and/or exists it can be view by specific project -projecthelp argument.

To set properties outside of script file specific next option -D:property=value.
Property will be read only at the script file.

Property set from outside of the script will be read only. To set read only property at the script set readonly argument to the true value.

That kind of the properties interpreter their value not at the moment when it was set, but at the access moment.
To define dynamic property set dynamic parameter to the true value.

The output of interpreting of this script will be:

And the output:

At the example above time will be displayed of the moment of the accessing. In some sense this similar to the stored procedures from the SQL database world.

More complex example is calculating determinate and roots of quadratic polynomial: three properties (D, X1 and X2) can be dynamic and input values (a, b, c) can be static.

Using call task with cascade attribute equal to the false will not run clone target, depend of build target.
So output will be next:

There are two elements - <when> and <otherwise>.

Based on value stored at the compile property different when element will be processed.
If user run this script and define some compiler name not equals to the MinGW or GCC otherwise element will be processed.

Internally program evaluate all string as encoded in UTF-8, except some of system calls on Windows platform where converting to UTF-16LE used.

This element also have sub element named <variable>
that represent the variable that should be using at by program to execute.
If no environment set, program got same environment that ant4c have.
Otherwise only variable(s) at the this element will be used.

Processing order of if and unless parameters same like at other tasks.

This element do not have own parameters, only common task parameters available to set. The only reason to use this element is ability to group tasks by some condition: for example for one value of loop item do some group for another different. And common item, outside of do elements, do something other.

Enumerate file from the folder and store it file names at the result property.

Enumerate lines from the file, calculate hash of each one by crc32 algorithm and store at the result property. Each loop iteration present to us trimmed lines - without space, tabs and other white spaces at the begin and end of the line.

Enumerate drive letter, delimiter with zero symbol ('\0'), and concatenation it at the result property.

Enumerate string delimiter with space symbol and concatenation it at the result property.

Different developer environment may have different output name for module by default.
In the example above for Windows platform used names that used at the MSVC and MinGW linkers.

Inside this element addition properties can be defined for the interpreter.
If parameter inheritall set to the false only this property will be set to the interpreter.
Defined as regular property from property task.

Interpret file.

Interpret file with addition property.

Target specific at the depends parameter will be evaluate in written order. If some of target have addition depend on already specific target, than target with no depend will be executed and later all previously called targets.

When target Message_exchange was call first of one Say_Hello call than Ask-how_are_you? and only finally Say_about_how_your_day.

All target at the line will be execute only once, to made processing target several times, call task can be used.

Target with name * called wild and will be executed if specify to execute not exists at the project target.

Comparing to other tasks if and unless parameter will processed at the time when executing of target will required.

There are three elements - <try>, <catch> and <finally>.

string datetime::format-to-string(datetime input, string format)

First parameter is datetime that planned to format at the returned string.
Second one is the requested format. All possibilities of formats can be found at the documentation of C compiler with what ant4c was made.
In general recent versions of compilers support formats described at the next references:

See sample using with some of that formats.

datetime datetime::from-input(string)

Returned value can be used in other functions of the unit with datetime input.

int datetime::get-day(datetime)

Get day of date time from input.

int datetime::get-day-of-week(datetime)

Get day of the week of date time from input.

int datetime::get-day-of-year(datetime)

Get day of year of date time from input.

int datetime::get-days-in-month(int year, int month)

Get count of days in month from year and month input.

int datetime::get-hour(datetime)

Get hour of date time from input.

int datetime::get-minute(datetime)

Get minute of date time from input.

int datetime::get-month(datetime)

Get month of date time from input.

int datetime::get-second(datetime)

Get second of date time from input.

int datetime::get-year(datetime)

Get year of date time from input.

bool datetime::is-leap-year(int)

Find out is year from input is leap.

datetime datetime::now()

Get current time according to the current time zone.

datetime datetime::now-utc()

Get current time according to the UTC.

string datetime::parse(string)

Get string with date time value from string. If more data located in the string, they will be skip.
String should be in format DD.MM.YYYY HH.MM.SS.

datetime datetime::ticks()

Get count of clock ticks.

string datetime::to-string(string)

Get string with date time value from string. If more data located in the string, they will be skip.
String should be in format DD.MM.YYYY HH.MM.SS.

timespan timespan::from-days(double)

Create time span from days.

timespan timespan::from-hours(double)

Create time span from hours.

timespan timespan::from-milliseconds(double)

Create time span from milliseconds.

timespan timespan::from-minutes(double)

Create time span from minutes.

timespan timespan::from-seconds(double)

Create time span from seconds.

timespan timespan::from-ticks(int64_t)

Create time span from clock ticks.

int timespan::get-days(timespan)

Get days from the time span.

int timespan::get-hours(timespan)

Get hours from the time span.

int timespan::get-minutes(timespan)

Get minutes from the time span.

int64_t timespan::get-seconds(timespan)

Get seconds from the time span.

int64_t timespan::get-ticks(timespan)

Get clock ticks from the time span.

double timespan::get-total-days(timespan)

Get total days from the time span.

double timespan::get-total-hours(timespan)

Get total hours from the time span.

int64_t timespan::get-total-milliseconds(timespan)

Get total milliseconds from the time span.

double timespan::get-total-minutes(timespan)

Get total minutes from the time span.

int64_t timespan::get-total-seconds(timespan)

Get total second from the time span.

timespan timespan::parse(string)

Convert string to the time span. If input contain more data than time span, that data will be skip.

string timespan::to-string(timespan)

Convert time span representation to the string.

string environment::get-folder-path(special folder)

string environment::get-machine-name()

Get name of machine name.

string environment::get-operating-system()

Get name of operating system.

string environment::get-user-name()

Get name of user.

string environment::get-variable(string)

Get value of environment variable.

bool environment::is64bit-operating-system()

Return true if operation systems run on 64-bit computer architecture.

bool environment::is64bit-process()

Return true if process run on 64-bit computer architecture.

string environment::newline()

Return new line string.

int environment::processor-count()

Return count of processor cores.

bool environment::variable-exists(string)

Return true if environment variable exists.

string directory::enumerate-file-system-entries(directory directory, entry type_of_entry)
string directory::enumerate-file-system-entries(directory directory, entry type_of_entry, bool recurse)

Enumerate file system entries at the specific directory.

If recurse mode set to true function also enter to the sub directories and enumerate they entries.
Return from function version with two argument equal to the return from version with three arguments where third argument set to the false.

Returned entries delimited with zero chars (\0).

bool directory::exists(directory)

If path point to the exists directory true will be returned.

datetime directory::get-creation-time(directory)

Return creation time of the directory according to the time zone.

datetime directory::get-creation-time-utc(directory)

Return creation time of the directory according to the UTC.

directory directory::get-current-directory()

Get current directory.

directory directory::get-directory-root(directory)

Get root of the given directory.

datetime directory::get-last-access-time(directory)

Return access time of the directory according to the time zone.

datetime directory::get-last-access-time-utc(directory)

Return access time of the directory according to the UTC.

datetime directory::get-last-write-time(directory)

Return write time of the directory according to the time zone.

datetime directory::get-last-write-time-utc(directory)

Return write time of the directory according to the UTC.

string directory::get-logical-drives()

Return list of logical drive, delimited with zero char (\0).

directory directory::get-parent-directory(directory)

Return parent of directory.

bool file::exists(file)

If path point to the exists file true will be returned.

string file::get-checksum(file file, algorithm algorithm)
string file::get-checksum(file file, algorithm algorithm, string algorithm_parameter)

Calculate hash sum of file according to algorithm.

Value of algorithm parameter depend of algorithm. For crc32 it can be decreasing or increasing. For blake2b - 160, 256, 384 or 512. For blake3 - 256, 384 or 512. For keccak and sha3 - 224, 256, 384 or 512. Return from first version of function equal to the return of second if increasing or 256 was used as argument parameter.

datetime file::get-creation-time(file)

Return creation time of the file according to the time zone.

datetime file::get-creation-time-utc(file)

Return creation time of the file according to the UTC.

datetime file::get-last-access-time(file)

Return access time of the file according to the time zone.

datetime file::get-last-access-time-utc(file)

Return access time of the file according to the UTC.

datetime file::get-last-write-time(file)

Return write time of the file according to the time zone.

datetime file::get-last-write-time-utc(file)

Return write time of the file according to the UTC.

uint64_t file::get-length(file)

Get length of file in bytes.

bool file::replace(file file, string to_be_replaced, string by_replacement)

Replace data at the file.

bool file::up-to-date(string source_file, string target_file)

Compare write time of source file with target file.
If source file have more recent write time than target - false will be returned.

byte array hash::blake2(string input)
byte array hash::blake2(string input, int length)

Calculate hash with BLAKE2b algorithm.

Return from first version of function equal to the return of second if 256 was used as length.

byte array hash::blake3(string input)
byte array hash::blake3(string input, int length)

Calculate hash with BLAKE3 algorithm. Possible length values same as for BLAKE2b. Return from first version of function equal to the return of second if 256 was used as length.

string hash::bytes-to-string(byte array)

Convert byte array into the string.

byte array hash::crc32(string input)
byte array hash::crc32(string input, order byte_order)

Calculate check of cyclic redundancy for specific value according to CRC-32/zlib algorithm.

Return from function version with one argument equal to the return from version with two arguments where second set to the increasing.

byte array hash::keccak(string input)
byte array hash::keccak(string input, int length)

Calculate hash with Keccak algorithm.

Return from first version of function equal to the return of second if 256 was used as length.

byte array hash::sha3(string input)
byte array hash::sha3(string input, int length)

Calculate hash with Keccak/SHA3 algorithm. Possible length values same as for Keccak. Return from first version of function equal to the return of second if 256 was used as length.

double math::abs(double)

Get absolute of the value.

double math::acos(double)

Get arccosine of the value.

double math::addition(double a, double b)

Made addition of the values.

double math::asin(double)

Get arcsine of the value.

double math::atan(double)

Get arctangent.

double math::atan2(double x, double y)

Get arctangent.

double math::ceiling(double)

Get round to near great integer value.

double math::cos(double)

Get cosines of the value.

double math::cosh(double)

Get hyperbolic cosines of the value.

double math::cot(double)

Get cotangent of the value.

double math::coth(double)

Get hyperbolic cotangent of the value.

double math::degrees(double)

Get degrees from the radian value.

double math::division(double a, double b)

Make division of the values - a / b.

double math::double_epsilon()

Get value of the DBL_EPSILON macros.

double math::E()

Get Euler’s number.

double math::exp(double)

Calculate value of exponential function.

double math::floor(double)

Get round to near less integer value.

bool math::greater(double value1, double value2)

Is value greater than other: value1 > value2.

bool math::less(double value1, double value2)

Is value less than other: value1 < value2.

double math::log(double)

Get logarithm of the value.

double math::log10(double)

Get common or decimal logarithm of the value.

double math::max(double value1, double value2)

Get maximum from the values.

double math::min(double value1, double value2)

Get minimum from the values.

double math::multiplication(double x, double y)

Make multiplication of the values.

bool math::double-near(double x, double y)
bool math::double-near(double x, double y, double epsilon)

At the epsilon can be set maximum absolute delta between x and y value when last ones are considered near.
If used version with two arguments than 2 * DBL_EPSILON used as epsilon.

Return true if values near to each other.

double math::PI()

Get Pi number.

double math::pow(double base_value, double exponent_value)

Get the power of the values.

double math::radians(double)

Get radian from the degree value.

double math::round(double)

Get round of the value.

int math::sign(double)

If value less than zero return -1, otherwise +1.

double math::sin(double)

Get sine of the value.

double math::sinh(double)

Get hyperbolic sine of the value.

double math::sqrt(double)

Get square root of the value.

double math::subtraction(double x, double y)

Make subtraction of the values: x - y.

double math::tan(double)

Get tangent of the value.

double math::tanh(double)

Get hyperbolic tangent of the value.

int64_t math::truncate(double)

Get integer part from double digital value.

platform ID operating-system::get-platform(operating system)

Return ID of platform.

version operating-system::get-version(operating system)

Get version of operating system.

string operating-system::to-string(operating system)

Get string representation of operating system.

bool operating-system::is-windows-server(operating system)

Return true if specified operation system from Windows Server family.

string platform::get-name()

Get name of the platform.

bool platform::is-macos()

Return true if current platform is macOS.

bool platform::is-unix()

Return true if current platform is UNIX like.

bool platform::is-windows()

Return true if current platform is from Windows family.

bool platform::is-windows-server()

Return true if current platform is from Windows Server family.

string path::change-extension(string)

Change extension of the path. In other words - all after the last point symbol.

path path::combine(string path_a, string path_b)

Combine two part of path into the system specific path. Can be used as path normalizer.

string path::get-directory-name(string)

Get directory name of the path.

string path::get-extension(string)

Get extension of the path. In other words - all after the last point symbol.

string path::get-file-name-without-extension(string)

Get file name without extension.

string path::get-file-name(string)

Get file name.

path path::get-full-path(string)

Get full path. Relative path will be transformed into absolute.

string path::get-path-root(string)

Get root of the path.

file path::get-temp-file-name()

Get unique file name point to the file in the temporary directory. File with zero length will be created.

directory path::get-temp-path()

Get path to the temporary directory.

bool path::glob(string input, string wild_card)

Return true if input path match by wild card argument.

bool path::has-extension(string)

Indicate is path have extension.

bool path::is-path-rooted(string)

Indicate is path rooted.

path cygpath::get-dos-path(string)

Get DOS compatibility path. Only at Win32 platform.

path cygpath::get-unix-path(string)

Get UNIX like path.

path cygpath::get-windows-path(string)

Get Windows like path.

directory project::get-base-directory()

Get base directory of the script file. That path can be set at script file at the project task in basedir.

file project::get-buildfile-path()

Get path of script file.

uri project::get-buildfile-uri()

Get URI of the script file.

string project::get-default-target()

Get default target or empty string if it was not set.

string project::get-name()

Get project name.

directory program::current-directory()

Get current directory of the path.
Comparing to the project::get-base-directory and directory::get-current-directory this path can not be set at the script file.
That path set by environment when program start.

version program::version()

Get version of the program.
See history to view list of available return values, without v prefix.

bool property::exists(string)

Return true if property exists.

string property::get-value(string)

Get value of property. Fail if property not exists.

bool property::is-dynamic(string)

Return true if value of property is dynamic. Fail if property not exists.

bool property::is-readonly(string)

Return true if value of property for read only access. Fail if property not exists.

bool string::contains(string string, string value)

If value contains at the string - true will be returned.

bool 'string::empty(string)

If string is empty - true will be returned.

bool string::ends-with(string string, string value)

If value located at the end of string - true will be returned.

bool string::equal(string string_a, string string_b)

If string_a equal to the string_b - true will be returned.

int string::get-length(string)

Return of string length in characters.

int string::index-of(string string, char value)

Return index of value at the string.
If value not found at the string then -1 was returned.

int string::index-of-any(string string, char[] value)

Return index of one of value char at the string.
If no one chars of value not found at the string then -1 returned.

int string::last-index-of(string string, char value)

Return last index of value at the string.
If value not found at the string then -1 was returned.

int string::last-index-of-any(string string, char[] value)

Return last index of one of value char at the string.
If no one chars of value not found at the string then -1 returned.

string string::pad-left(string string, int count, char char)

Add char to the begin of string until string length not equal to the count in chars.

Add char to the end of string until string length not equal to the count in chars.

string string::quote(string)

Add quote symbols at the begin and end of the string.

string string::replace(string string, string to_be_replaced, string by_replacement)

Provide replace of content in the string.
By replacement can be empty. In this case function just remove to be replacing string from string content.

bool string::starts-with(string string, string value)

If value located at the start of string - true will be returned.

string string::substring(string string, int position)
string string::substring(string string, int position, int length)

Return sub string of the string from position with length.
If used version with out length attribute - sub string will be from the position until to the end of string.

string string::to-lower(string)

Get lower case representation of the string.

string string::to-upper(string)

Get upper case representation of the string.

string string::trim(string)

Remove white space symbols from start and end of string.

string string::trim-end(string)

Remove white space symbols from end of string.

string string::trim-start(string)

Remove white space symbols from start of string.

string string::un-quote(string)

Remove quote symbols at the begin and end of the string.

bool target::exists(string)

Return true if target exists in the project.

string target::get-current-target()

Return of current target.
Run outside of the target fail the evaluation of the script.

bool target::has-executed(string)

Return true if target already evaluated.

bool task::exists(string)

Return true if task exists.

int version::get-build(version)

Return build part of the version.

int version::get-major(version)

Return major part of the version.

int version::get-minor(version)

Return minor part of the version.

int version::get-revision(version)

Return revision part of the version.

bool version::greater(version version_a, version version_b)

Return true if version_a greater than version_b.

bool version::less(version version_a, version version_b)

Return true if version_a less than version_b.

version version::parse(string)

Parse string representation of version into version in the string.

string version::to-string(version)

Convert version in the string into string.