newfile 1.0.13

newfile is a program for creating starter files, or trees of files, by processing templates with a C-preprocessor-like syntax.

newfile generates "starting-out" files using a full featured template preprocessor. It can also generate trees of files, for example, a FreeBSD port or a project using automake and autoconf.

A user can add their own template files and directories to those supplied with the package. It includes templates for making "empty" files for Ruby, make, shell, C, C++, C & C++ headers, and more.

Variables

Builtins

Some variables are built into the system, and should always be defined. Some will get default values if not defined.

TEMPLATE

The name of the template used to construct the current project or file(s).

NAME

The name of the input file, minus any directory prefix.

NAMEID

An identifier based on NAME.

PROJECT

If a project template is being expanded, this is the name of the template.

PROJECTID

An identifier based on PROJ.

LICENSE

Defined by the command line option -l/--license. Licenses are a special case of project templates, and their files are mixed in with a project template's file. In the case of a single file, the value of LICENSE determines which directory to search for a file called ``license'' that is included in the generated file.

AUTHOR

Defined by the command line option -a/--author. The name of the author of the code or document. If not given, taken from the user's full name in the /etc/passwd file.

EMAIL

Defined by the command line option -e/--email. If not given, constructed from the user's login name and the hostname.

ORGANIZATION

The organization to which the author belongs, in the context of the code or document being created. If not given, defaults to the value of AUTHOR.

OWNER

Defined by the command line option -o/--owner. The owner of the copyright. May be an arbitrary string, or one of the special strings ``org'', ``organization'', or ``author''. If not given, defaults to ``author''.

BODY

If defined, indicates to many templates to include extra boilerplate text to define a skeleton body for the file. See the individual templates for details. The shell and ruby templates are especially good examples, since these are the languages I've been using most and these templates have received the most attention to detail.

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