blob: 328d521c189ee40f1a11baed754e345cb732c14f [file] [log] [blame]
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Hooks - Debugging with GDB</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
<meta name="description" content="Debugging with GDB">
<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13">
<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
<link rel="up" href="Sequences.html#Sequences" title="Sequences">
<link rel="prev" href="Define.html#Define" title="Define">
<link rel="next" href="Command-Files.html#Command-Files" title="Command Files">
<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
<!--
Copyright (C) 1988-2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being ``Free Software'' and ``Free Software Needs
Free Documentation'', with the Front-Cover Texts being ``A GNU Manual,''
and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.
(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You are free to copy and modify
this GNU Manual. Buying copies from GNU Press supports the FSF in
developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
-->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css"><!--
pre.display { font-family:inherit }
pre.format { font-family:inherit }
pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller }
pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller }
span.sc { font-variant:small-caps }
span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; }
span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; }
--></style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="node">
<a name="Hooks"></a>
<p>
Next:&nbsp;<a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Command-Files.html#Command-Files">Command Files</a>,
Previous:&nbsp;<a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Define.html#Define">Define</a>,
Up:&nbsp;<a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Sequences.html#Sequences">Sequences</a>
<hr>
</div>
<h4 class="subsection">23.1.2 User-defined Command Hooks</h4>
<p><a name="index-command-hooks-1810"></a><a name="index-hooks_002c-for-commands-1811"></a><a name="index-hooks_002c-pre_002dcommand-1812"></a>
<a name="index-hook-1813"></a>You may define <dfn>hooks</dfn>, which are a special kind of user-defined
command. Whenever you run the command &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">foo</span></samp>&rsquo;, if the user-defined
command &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">hook-foo</span></samp>&rsquo; exists, it is executed (with no arguments)
before that command.
<p><a name="index-hooks_002c-post_002dcommand-1814"></a><a name="index-hookpost-1815"></a>A hook may also be defined which is run after the command you executed.
Whenever you run the command &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">foo</span></samp>&rsquo;, if the user-defined command
&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">hookpost-foo</span></samp>&rsquo; exists, it is executed (with no arguments) after
that command. Post-execution hooks may exist simultaneously with
pre-execution hooks, for the same command.
<p>It is valid for a hook to call the command which it hooks. If this
occurs, the hook is not re-executed, thereby avoiding infinite recursion.
<!-- It would be nice if hookpost could be passed a parameter indicating -->
<!-- if the command it hooks executed properly or not. FIXME! -->
<p><a name="index-stop_0040r_007b_002c-a-pseudo_002dcommand_007d-1816"></a>In addition, a pseudo-command, &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">stop</span></samp>&rsquo; exists. Defining
(&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">hook-stop</span></samp>&rsquo;) makes the associated commands execute every time
execution stops in your program: before breakpoint commands are run,
displays are printed, or the stack frame is printed.
<p>For example, to ignore <code>SIGALRM</code> signals while
single-stepping, but treat them normally during normal execution,
you could define:
<pre class="smallexample"> define hook-stop
handle SIGALRM nopass
end
define hook-run
handle SIGALRM pass
end
define hook-continue
handle SIGALRM pass
end
</pre>
<p>As a further example, to hook at the beginning and end of the <code>echo</code>
command, and to add extra text to the beginning and end of the message,
you could define:
<pre class="smallexample"> define hook-echo
echo &lt;&lt;&lt;---
end
define hookpost-echo
echo ---&gt;&gt;&gt;\n
end
(gdb) echo Hello World
&lt;&lt;&lt;---Hello World---&gt;&gt;&gt;
(gdb)
</pre>
<p>You can define a hook for any single-word command in <span class="sc">gdb</span>, but
not for command aliases; you should define a hook for the basic command
name, e.g. <code>backtrace</code> rather than <code>bt</code>.
<!-- FIXME! So how does Joe User discover whether a command is an alias -->
<!-- or not? -->
You can hook a multi-word command by adding <code>hook-</code> or
<code>hookpost-</code> to the last word of the command, e.g.
&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">define target hook-remote</span></samp>&rsquo; to add a hook to &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">target remote</span></samp>&rsquo;.
<p>If an error occurs during the execution of your hook, execution of
<span class="sc">gdb</span> commands stops and <span class="sc">gdb</span> issues a prompt
(before the command that you actually typed had a chance to run).
<p>If you try to define a hook which does not match any known command, you
get a warning from the <code>define</code> command.
</body></html>