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)