fpdoc(1)

💖 fpdoc(1) — NAME 💖

okay so this is fpdoc from the Free Pascal manual, and it's literally the FPC Pascal unit documentation generator. that's the whole vibe. it takes your units and makes docs. periodt. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

fpdoc --input=inputcommand [--output=output] [--format=fmt]
[--descr=descriptionfile] [--package=packagename] [options]

🌸 Description 🌸

bestie. listen. fpdoc scans a Free Pascal unit source file and generates documentation for it, no cap. 💅

the docs can come out in various formats (currently HTML and LaTeX), and it can read various description files which contain the description for the various symbols found in the unit file. it's giving "your code, but with lore". 🫶

🎀 Usage 🎀

you can invoke fpdoc with, as the only required arguments, the input and package arguments. it should at least contain:

• the name of the unit file for which documentation should be generated, and
• the name of the package to which the unit belongs.

that's it. that's the minimum. iconic. 👑

👑 Options 👑

fpdoc has several options, most of them optional — defaults will be used in most cases, so don't stress. 🌈

• --content — this tells fpdoc to generate a content file. a content file contains a list of all the possible anchors (labels) in the generated documentation file, and it can be used to create cross-links in documentation for different units, using the --import option. 🔗
• --cputarget=value — tells fpdoc which CPU to generate documentation for. it simply defines the appropriate CPU macros. that's all, no drama. 💻
• --descr=descfile — specifies the name of a description file descfile that contains the actual documentation for the unit. and yes, you can give this option several times, for several description files. 📚
• --descr-dir=dir — specifies the name of a directory with XML description files, named dir. this option can be given several times, for several description directories. it's equivalent to specifying all files in the directory with the --descr option. it's the "select all" of description files, honestly. 🗂️
• --dont-trim — tells fpdoc not to trim whitespace in the XML files. by default, whitespace is trimmed from the input, which can have undesirable side-effects in for instance PRE tags. so if your formatting looks weird, this is the girl. 🙈
• --dry-run — tells fpdoc not to generate any output, but just parse all input. this can be used with the verbose option to check what errors remain in the documentation, or what is still missing. it's the "just checking in" option. 👀
• --format=fmt — specifies the format fmt in which the documentation will be generated. currently, the following formats are known:
  • chm — CHM with 8.3 conforming filenames, for windows mostly.
  • dxml — Delphi compatible XML output.
  • htm — HTML with 8.3 conforming filenames.
  • html — HTML with long filenames.
  • ipf — IPF output (OS/2 format, can be used with docview from fpGUI).
  • xhtml — XHTML with long filesnames.
  • latex — LaTex, which uses the fpc.sty style used by the Free Pascal documentation.
  • man — man page output (unix manual pages, one page per identifier).
  • rtf — RTF output.
  • txt — Plain text output.
  • xml-struct — Structured XML.
• --help — show a command-line option summary. the classic. 💅
• --hide-protected — by default, the documentation will include descriptions and listings of protected fields and methods in classes or objects. this option changes this behaviour; if it is specified, no documentation will be generated for these methods. > heads up bestie: public methods or properties that refer to these protected methods will then have a dangling (i.e. unavailable) link. so like, broken link era. 😭
• --html-search=link — adds an entry for an HTML search page at location link in the headers of the generated HTML pages. there is no search page provided — this should be made and provided by the user. you gotta bring your own. 🫡
• --import=impfile — imports a content file impfile from another documentation set. this can be used to resolve references to elements within this other documentation file; 🔗
• --input=cmd — tells fpdoc what input file should be used. the argument cmd can be just a filename, but can also be a complete compiler command-line with options that concern the scanning of the pascal source: defines, include files, syntax options, as they would be specified to the free pascal compiler when compiling the file. if a complete command is used, then it should be enclosed in single or double quotes, so the shell will not break them in parts. and you can specify multiple input commands — they will be treated one by one, and documentation will be generated for each of them. multitasking queen. 👑
• --input-dir=dir — tells fpdoc to add all .pas and .pp files in the directory named cmd as input files to the documenter. this is equivalent to specifying all files in the directory with the --input command. 📁
• --lang=language — sets the language for the output file. this will mainly set the strings used for the headers in various parts of the documentation files (by default they're in english). currently, valid options are:
  • de — German.
  • fr — French.
  • nl — Dutch.
• --latex-extension=ext — sets the extension to use for the LaTeX file to ext. the default is .tex (with . (dot) included). don't forget the dot, babe. 🎀
• --latex-highlight — switches on an internal latex syntax highlighter. > this is not yet implemented. by default, syntax highlighting is provided by the syntax package that comes with fpc. so it's giving "coming soon" energy. 🚧
• --mo-dir=dir — tells fpdoc where to look for the translation files that can be used to internationalize fpdoc's output. 🌍
• --ostarget=value — tells fpdoc which operating system to generate documentation for. it simply defines the appropriate operating system macros. 🖥️
• --output=name — tells fpdoc where the output file should be generated. how this option is interpreted depends on the format that is used:
  • for latex, name is interpreted as the filename for the tex file.
  • for all other formats, name is interpreted as the directory where all documentation files will be written. the directory will be created if it does not yet exist. standard this equals the package name. ✨
• --package=packagename — specifies the package name. all units will be documented as part of packagename, which is also the default output filename or directory. only documentation nodes inside a package node with this name will be considered when documenting. very main character of it. 👑
• --parse-impl — (Experimental) try to parse the implementation of a unit too. this can be used for syntax checking. 🧪
• --project=file — tells fpdoc to read all options from a project file. this is an XML file — please see the documentation for more information about the format for this file. 📄
• --show-private — by default, no documentation is generated for private methods or fields. this option causes fpdoc to generate documentation for these methods as well. privacy? gone. 💀
• --verbose — by default, fpdoc is sparse with output. this tells fpdoc to generate some more information about what it is doing. yapper mode: activated. 🗣️
• --warn-no-node — if this option is specified, fpdoc will emit a warning if it does not find a description node for an identifier it is documenting. it's the friend who tells you when something's missing. 🫶
• --write-project=file — if this option is specified, fpdoc will write a fpdoc project file (to the specified file name) that corresponds to the command-line options given. save your settings, bestie. 💾

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• ppc386(1)
• latex(1)
• makeskel(1)

and that's the whole page, babe 🎀 this one shipped with the Free Pascal crew and is dated 9 march 2002 — old but iconic, fr fr. go document something. 💖✨🦋