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17<title>Debugging with GDB: Annotations Overview</title>
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64<a name="Annotations-Overview"></a>
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66<p>
67Next: <a href="Server-Prefix.html#Server-Prefix" accesskey="n" rel="next">Server Prefix</a>, Up: <a href="Annotations.html#Annotations" accesskey="u" rel="up">Annotations</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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69<hr>
70<a name="What-Is-an-Annotation_003f"></a>
71<h3 class="section">28.1 What Is an Annotation?</h3>
72<a name="index-annotations"></a>
73
74<p>Annotations start with a newline character, two &lsquo;<samp>control-z</samp>&rsquo;
75characters, and the name of the annotation.  If there is no additional
76information associated with this annotation, the name of the annotation
77is followed immediately by a newline.  If there is additional
78information, the name of the annotation is followed by a space, the
79additional information, and a newline.  The additional information
80cannot contain newline characters.
81</p>
82<p>Any output not beginning with a newline and two &lsquo;<samp>control-z</samp>&rsquo;
83characters denotes literal output from <small>GDB</small>.  Currently there is
84no need for <small>GDB</small> to output a newline followed by two
85&lsquo;<samp>control-z</samp>&rsquo; characters, but if there was such a need, the
86annotations could be extended with an &lsquo;<samp>escape</samp>&rsquo; annotation which
87means those three characters as output.
88</p>
89<p>The annotation <var>level</var>, which is specified using the
90<samp>--annotate</samp> command line option (see <a href="Mode-Options.html#Mode-Options">Mode Options</a>), controls
91how much information <small>GDB</small> prints together with its prompt,
92values of expressions, source lines, and other types of output.  Level 0
93is for no annotations, level 1 is for use when <small>GDB</small> is run as a
94subprocess of <small>GNU</small> Emacs, level 3 is the maximum annotation suitable
95for programs that control <small>GDB</small>, and level 2 annotations have
96been made obsolete (see <a href="../annotate/Limitations.html#Limitations">Limitations of the Annotation
97Interface</a> in <cite>GDB&rsquo;s Obsolete Annotations</cite>).
98</p>
99<dl compact="compact">
100<dd><a name="index-set-annotate"></a>
101</dd>
102<dt><code>set annotate <var>level</var></code></dt>
103<dd><p>The <small>GDB</small> command <code>set annotate</code> sets the level of
104annotations to the specified <var>level</var>.
105</p>
106</dd>
107<dt><code>show annotate</code></dt>
108<dd><a name="index-show-annotate"></a>
109<p>Show the current annotation level.
110</p></dd>
111</dl>
112
113<p>This chapter describes level 3 annotations.
114</p>
115<p>A simple example of starting up <small>GDB</small> with annotations is:
116</p>
117<div class="smallexample">
118<pre class="smallexample">$ <kbd>gdb --annotate=3</kbd>
119GNU gdb 6.0
120Copyright 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
121GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License,
122and you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it
123under certain conditions.
124Type &quot;show copying&quot; to see the conditions.
125There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type &quot;show warranty&quot;
126for details.
127This GDB was configured as &quot;i386-pc-linux-gnu&quot;
128
129^Z^Zpre-prompt
130(gdb)
131^Z^Zprompt
132<kbd>quit</kbd>
133
134^Z^Zpost-prompt
135$
136</pre></div>
137
138<p>Here &lsquo;<samp>quit</samp>&rsquo; is input to <small>GDB</small>; the rest is output from
139<small>GDB</small>.  The three lines beginning &lsquo;<samp>^Z^Z</samp>&rsquo; (where &lsquo;<samp>^Z</samp>&rsquo;
140denotes a &lsquo;<samp>control-z</samp>&rsquo; character) are annotations; the rest is
141output from <small>GDB</small>.
142</p>
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145<p>
146Next: <a href="Server-Prefix.html#Server-Prefix" accesskey="n" rel="next">Server Prefix</a>, Up: <a href="Annotations.html#Annotations" accesskey="u" rel="up">Annotations</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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