NAME

       luac - Lua compiler

SYNOPSIS

       luac [ options ] [ filenames ]

DESCRIPTION

       luac  is  the  Lua  compiler.  It translates programs written in the Lua programming language into binary
       files containing precompiled chunks that can be later loaded and executed.

       The main advantages of precompiling chunks are: faster loading, protecting source  code  from  accidental
       user  changes, and off-line syntax checking.  Precompiling does not imply faster execution because in Lua
       chunks are always compiled into bytecodes before being executed.  luac simply allows those  bytecodes  to
       be  saved  in  a  file  for  later  execution.   Precompiled  chunks are not necessarily smaller than the
       corresponding source.  The main goal in precompiling is faster loading.

       In the command line, you can mix text files containing Lua source and binary files containing precompiled
       chunks.  luac produces a single output file containing  the  combined  bytecodes  for  all  files  given.
       Executing  the  combined file is equivalent to executing the given files.  By default, the output file is
       named luac.out, but you can change this with the -o option.

       Precompiled chunks are not portable across different architectures.  Moreover,  the  internal  format  of
       precompiled  chunks  is  likely  to change when a new version of Lua is released.  Make sure you save the
       source files of all Lua programs that you precompile.

OPTIONS

       -l     produce a listing of the compiled bytecode for Lua's virtual machine.  Listing bytecodes is useful
              to learn about Lua's virtual machine.  If no files are given, then luac loads luac.out  and  lists
              its contents.  Use -l -l for a full listing.

       -o file
              output to file, instead of the default luac.out.  (You can use '-' for standard output, but not on
              platforms  that open standard output in text mode.)  The output file may be one of the given files
              because all files are loaded before the output file is  written.   Be  careful  not  to  overwrite
              precious files.

       -p     load  files  but do not generate any output file.  Used mainly for syntax checking and for testing
              precompiled chunks: corrupted files will probably generate errors when loaded.  If  no  files  are
              given,  then  luac  loads  luac.out and tests its contents.  No messages are displayed if the file
              loads without errors.

       -s     strip debug information before writing the output file.  This  saves  some  space  in  very  large
              chunks, but if errors occur when running a stripped chunk, then the error messages may not contain
              the  full  information  they usually do.  In particular, line numbers and names of local variables
              are lost.

       -v     show version information.

       --     stop handling options.

       -      stop handling options and process standard input.

SEE ALSO

       lua(1)
       The documentation at lua.org.

DIAGNOSTICS

       Error messages should be self explanatory.

AUTHORS

       R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes

                                          $Date: 2011/11/16 13:53:40 $                                LUAC5.2(1)