guards(1) — Linux manual page

NAME \| SYNOPSIS \| DESCRIPTION \| AUTHOR \| COLOPHON

GUARDS(1)          User Contributed Perl Documentation          GUARDS(1)

NAME top

       guards - select from a list of files guarded by conditions

SYNOPSIS top

       guards [--prefix=dir] [--path=dir1:dir2:...] [--default=<0|1>]
       [--check|--list] [--invert-match] [--with-guards]
       [--config=<file>] symbol ...

DESCRIPTION top

       The script reads a configuration file that may contain so-called
       guards, file names, and comments, and writes those file names that
       satisfy all guards to standard output. The script takes a list of
       symbols as its arguments. Each line in the configuration file is
       processed separately. Lines may start with a number of guards. The
       following guards are defined:

           +xxx Include the file(s) on this line if the symbol xxx is
           defined.

           -xxx Exclude the file(s) on this line if the symbol xxx is
           defined.

           +!xxx Include the file(s) on this line if the symbol xxx is
           not defined.

           -!xxx Exclude the file(s) on this line if the symbol xxx is
           not defined.

           - Exclude this file. Used to avoid spurious --check messages.

       The guards are processed left to right. The last guard that
       matches determines if the file is included. If no guard is
       specified, the --default setting determines if the file is
       included.

       If no configuration file is specified, the script reads from
       standard input.

       The --check option is used to compare the specification file
       against the file system. If files are referenced in the
       specification that do not exist, or if files are not enlisted in
       the specification file warnings are printed. The --path option can
       be used to specify which directory or directories to scan.
       Multiple directories are separated by a colon (":") character. The
       --prefix option specifies the location of the files.
       Alternatively, the --path=@<file> syntax can be used to specify a
       file from which the file names will be read.

       Use --list to list all files independent of any rules. Use
       --invert-match to list only the excluded patches. Use
       --with-guards to also include all inclusion and exclusion rules.

AUTHOR top

       Andreas Gruenbacher <agruen@suse.de>, SUSE Labs

COLOPHON top

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perl v5.40.3                    2025-08-11                      GUARDS(1)

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