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
