man /usr/bin/c++filt
C++FILT(1) GNU Development Tools C++FILT(1)
NAME
c++filt - Demangle C++ and Java symbols.
SYNOPSIS
c++filt [-_|--strip-underscore]
[-n|--no-strip-underscore]
[-p|--no-params]
[-t|--types]
[-i|--no-verbose]
[-s format|--format=format]
[--help] [--version] [symbol...]
DESCRIPTION
The C++ and Java languages provide function overloading, which means that you can write many functions with the same name,
providing that each function takes parameters of different types. In order to be able to distinguish these similarly named
functions C++ and Java encode them into a low-level assembler name which uniquely identifies each different version. This process
is known as mangling. The c++filt [1] program does the inverse mapping: it decodes (demangles) low-level names into user-level
names so that they can be read.
Every alphanumeric word (consisting of letters, digits, underscores, dollars, or periods) seen in the input is a potential mangled
name. If the name decodes into a C++ name, the C++ name replaces the low-level name in the output, otherwise the original word is
output. In this way you can pass an entire assembler source file, containing mangled names, through c++filt and see the same
source file containing demangled names.
You can also use c++filt to decipher individual symbols by passing them on the command line:
c++filt <symbol>
If no symbol arguments are given, c++filt reads symbol names from the standard input instead. All the results are printed on the
standard output. The difference between reading names from the command line versus reading names from the standard input is that
command line arguments are expected to be just mangled names and no checking is performed to separate them from surrounding text.
Thus for example:
c++filt -n _Z1fv
will work and demangle the name to "f()" whereas:
c++filt -n _Z1fv,
will not work. (Note the extra comma at the end of the mangled name which makes it invalid). This command however will work:
echo _Z1fv, | c++filt -n
and will display "f(),", i.e., the demangled name followed by a trailing comma. This behaviour is because when the names are read
from the standard input it is expected that they might be part of an assembler source file where there might be extra, extraneous
characters trailing after a mangled name. For example:
.type _Z1fv, @function
OPTIONS
-_
--strip-underscore
On some systems, both the C and C++ compilers put an underscore in front of every name. For example, the C name "foo" gets
the low-level name "_foo". This option removes the initial underscore. Whether c++filt removes the underscore by default is
target dependent.
-n
--no-strip-underscore
Do not remove the initial underscore.
-p
--no-params
When demangling the name of a function, do not display the types of the function's parameters.
-t
--types
Attempt to demangle types as well as function names. This is disabled by default since mangled types are normally only used
internally in the compiler, and they can be confused with non-mangled names. For example, a function called "a" treated as a
mangled type name would be demangled to "signed char".
-i
--no-verbose
Do not include implementation details (if any) in the demangled output.
-s format
--format=format
c++filt can decode various methods of mangling, used by different compilers. The argument to this option selects which method
it uses:
"auto"
Automatic selection based on executable (the default method)
"gnu"
the one used by the GNU C++ compiler (g++)
"lucid"
the one used by the Lucid compiler (lcc)
"arm"
the one specified by the C++ Annotated Reference Manual
"hp"
the one used by the HP compiler (aCC)
"edg"
the one used by the EDG compiler
"gnu-v3"
the one used by the GNU C++ compiler (g++) with the V3 ABI.
"java"
the one used by the GNU Java compiler (gcj)
"gnat"
the one used by the GNU Ada compiler (GNAT).
--help
Print a summary of the options to c++filt and exit.
--version
Print the version number of c++filt and exit.
@file
Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted in place of the original @file option. If file does not
exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed.
Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to
be included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed
recursively.
FOOTNOTES
1. MS-DOS does not allow "+" characters in file names, so on MS-DOS this program is named CXXFILT.
SEE ALSO
the Info entries for binutils.
