
                             The finder Command

   Usage

   finder [options] [<ACEfile.ace>] <Class>

   The finder command tells you which file is loaded when searching for
   an Eiffel <Class>.
   When an Eiffel file is found, finder prints the full path name on
   standard output.
   The exit status is set GENERAL.exit_success_code only when an existing
   file is found (thus allowing usage of command finder in shell
   scripts).

   As for other commands, when the ACE file mode is used, only the
   content of the <ACEfile.ace> file is used to search the source file.

   To see the loading path used by SmartEiffel, you can for example type
   the finder command using a bad (inexistant) class name.

   In ACE file mode, the loading path can be updated by modifiying the
   ACE file iteself. In traditional mode (i.e. no ACE file), the default
   loading path may also be updated (see also how to use the special
   [1]"loadpath.se" file).

   Options

   -help:
          Display a brief summary of the command-line syntax and a
          complete list of finder options.
   -version:
          Show the number of the version of SmartEiffel you're using.
   -verbose:
          Print system information during the compilation (full path of
          loaded files, type inference score, removed files, etc.).

   Where Does finder Search?

   The algorithm used by SmartEiffel to look for an Eiffel source file is
   the following:

   1. Lower case filenames - SmartEiffel looks all along the loading path
   using <class> name in lower case as tail. If needed, the Eiffel suffix
   (".e") is added automatically. SmartEiffel only looks for suffixed
   files on the disk. Only the first file encountered according to the
   order of the path is taken in account. File is always supposed to have
   the same name as the inside class definition.

   2. Renamed files - When the above search has failed to find a file,
   SmartEiffel tries to search for files "rename.se" in all directories
   of the path.
   A file "rename.se" allows the user to put in file "foo" the class
   "bar" for example.
   Such renaming facilities has been added especially for DOS (file names
   are limited to 8 characters).
   Each line of a "rename.se" file is a renaming directive containing two
   names, first the full name and then the short name to use in the
   directory where the "rename.se" file is. File
   "SmartEiffel/misc/rename.se" is an example of such a file.

   Thus, knowing the algorithm of SmartEiffel to find a class file, it is
   better not to use the renaming facilities to speed up class loading.

   3. Upper case filenames - Finally, when both previous steps did not
   find the required Eiffel class file, SmartEiffel looks along the
   loading path for a file bearing the class name upper in upper case
   letters. If needed, the Eiffel suffix ".e" is added automatically.
   One must note that the overhead to find an upper case file name is not
   negligeable at all and that a lower case file name may hide some upper
   case name.

                                   [Line]
             Copyright © Dominique COLNET and Suzanne COLLIN -
                         [2]<SmartEiffel@loria.fr>
               Last modified: Fri Sep 6 11:50:47 MET DST 2002
                                      

References

   1. file://localhost/home/colnet/man/system.html#loadpath
   2. mailto:SmartEiffel@loria.fr
