File: autoconf.info,  Node: Quoting and Parameters,  Next: Quotation and Nested Macros,  Prev: One Macro Call,  Up: M4 Quotation

8.1.3 Quoting and Parameters
----------------------------

When M4 encounters ‘$’ within a macro definition, followed immediately
by a character it recognizes (‘0’...‘9’, ‘#’, ‘@’, or ‘*’), it will
perform M4 parameter expansion.  This happens regardless of how many
layers of quotes the parameter expansion is nested within, or even if it
occurs in text that will be rescanned as a comment.

     define([none], [$1])
     ⇒
     define([one], [[$1]])
     ⇒
     define([two], [[[$1]]])
     ⇒
     define([comment], [# $1])
     ⇒
     define([active], [ACTIVE])
     ⇒
     none([active])
     ⇒ACTIVE
     one([active])
     ⇒active
     two([active])
     ⇒[active]
     comment([active])
     ⇒# active

   On the other hand, since autoconf generates shell code, you often
want to output shell variable expansion, rather than performing M4
parameter expansion.  To do this, you must use M4 quoting to separate
the ‘$’ from the next character in the definition of your macro.  If the
macro definition occurs in single-quoted text, then insert another level
of quoting; if the usage is already inside a double-quoted string, then
split it into concatenated strings.

     define([foo], [a single-quoted $[]1 definition])
     ⇒
     define([bar], [[a double-quoted $][1 definition]])
     ⇒
     foo
     ⇒a single-quoted $1 definition
     bar
     ⇒a double-quoted $1 definition

   Posix states that M4 implementations are free to provide
implementation extensions when ‘${’ is encountered in a macro
definition.  Autoconf reserves the longer sequence ‘${{’ for use with
planned extensions that will be available in the future GNU M4 2.0, but
guarantees that all other instances of ‘${’ will be output literally.
Therefore, this idiom can also be used to output shell code parameter
references:

     define([first], [${1}])first
     ⇒${1}

   Posix also states that ‘$11’ should expand to the first parameter
concatenated with a literal ‘1’, although some versions of GNU M4 expand
the eleventh parameter instead.  For portability, you should only use
single-digit M4 parameter expansion.

   With this in mind, we can explore the cases where macros invoke
macros...