Via file syntax rules

A via file is a text file containing a sequence of words. Each word in the text file is converted into an argument string and passed to the tool.

Words are separated by whitespace, or the end of a line, except in delimited strings, for example:

--bigend --reduce_paths (two words)

--bigend--reduce_paths (one word)

The end of a line is treated as whitespace, for example:

--bigend 
--reduce_paths

This is equivalent to:

--bigend --reduce_paths

Strings enclosed in quotation marks ("), or apostrophes (') are treated as a single word. Within a quoted word, an apostrophe is treated as an ordinary character. Within an apostrophe delimited word, a quotation mark is treated as an ordinary character.

Use quotation marks to delimit filenames or path names that contain spaces, for example:

--errors C:\My Project\errors.txt (three words)

--errors "C:\My Project\errors.txt" (two words)

Use apostrophes to delimit words that contain quotes, for example:

-DNAME='"ARM Compiler"' (one word)

Characters enclosed in parentheses are treated as a single word, for example:

--option(x, y, z) (one word)

--option (x, y, z) (two words)

Within quoted or apostrophe delimited strings, you can use a backslash (\) character to escape the quote, apostrophe, and backslash characters.

A word that occurs immediately next to a delimited word is treated as a single word, for example:

--errors"C:\Project\errors.txt"

This is treated as the single word:

--errorsC:\Project\errors.txt

Lines beginning with a semicolon (;) or a hash (#) character as the first nonwhitespace character are comment lines. A semicolon or hash character that appears anywhere else in a line is not treated as the start of a comment, for example:

-o objectname.axf      ;this is not a comment

A comment ends at the end of a line, or at the end of the file. There are no multi-line comments, and there are no part-line comments.