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 $                                LUAC5.3(1)