DBX(5)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   DBX(5)


NAME
     dbx - dbx symbol table information

DESCRIPTION
     The compiler symbol information generated for dbx(1) uses
     the same structure as described in stab(5), with additional
     type and scope information appended to a symbol's name.  The
     assembler directive used to describe symbol information has
     the following format:

	     stabs ``string'',kind,0,size,value

     String contains the name, source language type, and scope of
     the symbol, kind specifies the memory class (e.g., external,
     static, parameter, local, register), and size specifies the
     byte size of the object, if relevant.  The third field (0
     above) is unused.	For a global variable or a type, value is
     unused; for a local variable or parameter, it is the offset
     from the frame pointer, for a register variable, it is the
     associated register number.

     The different kinds of stab entries are interpreted by dbx
     as follows:

     N_GSYM    The symbol is a global variable (e.g., .comm vari-
	       able).  The variable's address can be found from
	       the corresponding ld(1) symbol entry, thus the
	       value field for N_GSYM symbols is ignored.  For
	       example, a global variable ``x'' will have both an
	       N_GSYM entry and an ld(1) entry (e.g., N_BSS +
	       N_EXT).	See a.out(5) for details about these
	       other entries.  of

     N_FUN     The symbol is a procedure or function.  The size
	       field contains the line number of the entry point.
	       The value field contains the address of the entry
	       point (in the text segment).

     N_STSYM   The symbol is a statically allocated variable for
	       which an initial value has been specified.  The
	       value field contains the address of the variable
	       (in the data segment).

     N_LCSYM   The symbol is statically allocated, but not ini-
	       tialized.

     N_RSYM    The symbol is a register variable whose value is
	       kept in the register denoted by the value field.

     N_PSYM    The symbol is a parameter whose value is pushed on
	       the stack before the call.  The value field con-
	       tains the offset from the argument base pointer


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DBX(5)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   DBX(5)


	       (on the VAX, the ap register).

     N_LSYM    The symbol is a local variable whose value is
	       stored in the most recently defined procedure's
	       stack frame.  The value is the (often negative)
	       offset from the frame pointer (on the VAX, the fp
	       register).

     N_PC, N_MOD2
	       The symbol defines separate compilation informa-
	       tion for pre-linking checking for Berkeley Pascal
	       and DEC Modula-2 programs respectively.	For Pas-
	       cal, the value field contains the line number that
	       the symbol is defined on.  The value field is not
	       used for Modula-2.

     Most of the source level information about a symbol is
     stored in the string field of the stab entry.  Since strings
     are kept in a separate string table in the a.out file, they
     can be arbitrarily long.  Thus there are no restrictions on
     the kind or length of information in the string field, and
     it was not necessary to modify the assembler or loader when
     extending or modifying the format of this information.


     Below is a grammar describing the syntax of the symbol
     string.  Except in the case of a constant whose value is a
     string, there are no blanks in a symbol string.

     NAME:     [a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z_0-9]*
     INTEGER:  [-][0-9][0-9]*
     REAL:     [+-][0-9]*(.[0-9][0-9]*|)([eE]([+-]|)[0-9][0-9]*|)
     STRING:   ``.*''
     BSTRING:  .*

     String:
	 NAME `:' Class
	 `:' Class

     Class:
	 `c' `=' Constant `;'
	 Variable
	 Procedure
	 Parameter
	 NamedType
	 `X' ExportInfo  -- export or import information (for N_MOD2 only)

     Constant:
	 `i' INTEGER
	 `r' REAL
	 `c' OrdValue
	 `b' OrdValue


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DBX(5)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   DBX(5)


	 `s' STRING
	 `e' TypeId `,' OrdValue
	 `S' TypeId `,' NumElements `,' NumBits `,' BSTRING

     OrdValue:
	 INTEGER

     NumElements:
	 INTEGER

     NumBits:
	 INTEGER

     Variable:
	 TypeId          -- local variable of type TypeId
	 `r' TypeId	 -- register variable of type TypeId
	 `S' TypeId	 -- module variable of type TypeId (static global in C)
	 `V' TypeId	 -- own variable of type TypeId (static local in C)
	 `G' TypeId	 -- global variable of type TypeId

     Procedure:
	 Proc		 -- top level procedure
	 Proc `,' NAME `,' NAME    -- local to first NAME,
			 -- second NAME is corresponding ld symbol

     Proc:
	 `P'   -- global procedure
	 `Q'   -- local procedure (static in C)
	 `I'   -- internal procedure (different calling sequence)
	 `F' TypeId	 -- function returning type TypeId
	 `f' TypeId	 -- local function
	 `J' TypeId	 -- internal function

     Parameter:
	 `p' TypeId	 -- value parameter of type TypeId
	 `v' TypeId	 -- reference parameter of type TypeId

     NamedType:
	 `t' TypeId	 -- type name for type TypeId
	 `T' TypeId	 -- C structure tag name for struct TypeId

     TypeId:
	 INTEGER		   -- Unique (per compilation) number of type
	 INTEGER `=' TypeDef	   -- Definition of type number
	 INTEGER `=' TypeAttrs TypeDef

     --
     -- Type attributes are extra information associated with a type,
     -- such as alignment constraints or pointer checking semantics.
     -- Dbx interprets some of these, but will ignore rather than complain
     -- about any it does not recognize.  Therefore this is a way to add
     -- extra information for pre-linking checking.


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DBX(5)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   DBX(5)


     --
     TypeAttrs:
	 `@' TypeAttrList `;'

     TypeAttrList:
	 TypeAttrList `,' TypeAttr
	 TypeAttr

     TypeAttr:
	 `a' INTEGER	 -- align boundary
	 `s' INTEGER	 -- size in bits
	 `p' INTEGER	 -- pointer class (e.g., checking)
	 BSTRING		   -- something else

     TypeDef:
	 INTEGER
	 Subrange
	 Array
	 Record
	 `e' EnumList `;'	   -- enumeration
	 `*' TypeId		   -- pointer to TypeId
	 `S' TypeId		   -- set of TypeId
	 `d' TypeId		   -- file of TypeId
	 ProcedureType
	 `i' NAME `:' NAME `;'	   -- imported type ModuleName:Name
	 `o' NAME `;'		   -- opaque type
	 `i' NAME `:' NAME `,' TypeId `;'
	 `o' NAME `,' TypeId `;'

     Subrange:
	 `r' TypeId `;' INTEGER `;' INTEGER

     Array:
	 `a' TypeId `;' TypeId	   -- array [TypeId] of TypeId
	 `A' TypeId		   -- open array of TypeId
	 `D' INTEGER `,' TypeId    -- N-dim. dynamic array
	 `E' INTEGER `,' TypeId    -- N-dim. subarray

     ProcedureType:
	 `f' TypeId `;'            -- C function type
	 `f' TypeId `,' NumParams `;' TParamList `;'
	 `p' NumParams `;' TParamList `;'

     NumParams:
	 INTEGER

     Record:
	 `s' ByteSize FieldList `;'	     -- structure/record
	 `u' ByteSize FieldList `;'	     -- C union

     ByteSize:
	 INTEGER


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DBX(5)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   DBX(5)


     FieldList :
	 Field
	 FieldList Field

     Field:
	 NAME `:' TypeId `,' BitOffset `,' BitSize `;'

     BitSize:
	 INTEGER

     BitOffset:
	 INTEGER

     EnumList:
	 Enum
	 EnumList Enum

     Enum:
	 NAME `:' OrdValue `,'

     ParamList:
	 Param
	 ParamList Param

     Param:
	 NAME `:' TypeId `,' PassBy `;'

     PassBy:
	 INTEGER

     TParam:
	 TypeId `,' PassBy `;'

     TParamList :
	 TParam
	 TParamList TParam

     Export:
	 INTEGER ExportInfo

     ExportInfo:
	 `t' TypeId
	 `f' TypeId `,' NumParams `;' ParamList `;'
	 `p' NumParams `;' ParamList `;'
	 `v' TypeId
	 `c' `=' Constant


     A `?' indicates that the symbol information is continued in
     the next stab entry.  This directive can only occur where a
     `;' would otherwise separate the fields of a record or con-
     stants in an enumeration.	It is useful when the number of


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DBX(5)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   DBX(5)


     elements in one of these lists is large.

SEE ALSO
     dbx(1), stab(5), a.out(5)


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