Examining the Symbol Table
**************************

   The commands described in this section allow you to inquire about the
symbols (names of variables, functions and types) defined in your
program.  This information is inherent in the text of your program and
does not change as your program executes.  GDB finds it in your
program's symbol table, in the file indicated when you started GDB
(see Choosing files: File Options.), or by one of the file-management
commands (see Commands to specify files: Files.).

   Occasionally, you may need to refer to symbols that contain unusual
characters, which GDB ordinarily treats as word delimiters.  The most
frequent case is in referring to static variables in other source files
(see Program variables: Variables.).  File names are recorded in
object files as debugging symbols, but GDB would ordinarily parse a
typical file name, like `foo.c', as the three words `foo' `.' `c'.  To
allow GDB to recognize `foo.c' as a single symbol, enclose it in single
quotes; for example,

     p 'foo.c'::x

looks up the value of `x' in the scope of the file `foo.c'.

`info address SYMBOL'
     Describe where the data for SYMBOL is stored.  For a register
     variable, this says which register it is kept in.  For a
     non-register local variable, this prints the stack-frame offset at
     which the variable is always stored.

     Note the contrast with `print &SYMBOL', which does not work at all
     for a register variable, and for a stack local variable prints the
     exact address of the current instantiation of the variable.

`whatis EXP'
     Print the data type of expression EXP.  EXP is not actually
     evaluated, and any side-effecting operations (such as assignments
     or function calls) inside it do not take place.  
See Expressions: Expressions.

`whatis'
     Print the data type of `$', the last value in the value history.

`ptype TYPENAME'
     Print a description of data type TYPENAME.  TYPENAME may be the
     name of a type, or for C code it may have the form `class
     CLASS-NAME', `struct STRUCT-TAG', `union UNION-TAG' or `enum
     ENUM-TAG'.

`ptype EXP'
`ptype'
     Print a description of the type of expression EXP.  `ptype'
     differs from `whatis' by printing a detailed description, instead
     of just the name of the type.

     For example, for this variable declaration:

          struct complex {double real; double imag;} v;

     the two commands give this output:

          (gdb) whatis v
          type = struct complex
          (gdb) ptype v
          type = struct complex {
              double real;
              double imag;
          }

     As with `whatis', using `ptype' without an argument refers to the
     type of `$', the last value in the value history.

`info types REGEXP'
`info types'
     Print a brief description of all types whose name matches REGEXP
     (or all types in your program, if you supply no argument).  Each
     complete typename is matched as though it were a complete line;
     thus, `i type value' gives information on all types in your
     program whose name includes the string `value', but `i type
     ^value$' gives information only on types whose complete name is
     `value'.

     This command differs from `ptype' in two ways: first, like
     `whatis', it does not print a detailed description; second, it
     lists all source files where a type is defined.

`info source'
     Show the name of the current source file--that is, the source file
     for the function containing the current point of execution--and
     the language it was written in.

`info sources'
     Print the names of all source files in your program for which
     there is debugging information, organized into two lists: files
     whose symbols have already been read, and files whose symbols will
     be read when needed.

`info functions'
     Print the names and data types of all defined functions.

`info functions REGEXP'
     Print the names and data types of all defined functions whose
     names contain a match for regular expression REGEXP.  Thus, `info
     fun step' finds all functions whose names include `step'; `info
     fun ^step' finds those whose names start with `step'.

`info variables'
     Print the names and data types of all variables that are declared
     outside of functions (i.e., excluding local variables).

`info variables REGEXP'
     Print the names and data types of all variables (except for local
     variables) whose names contain a match for regular expression
     REGEXP.

     Some systems allow individual object files that make up your
     program to be replaced without stopping and restarting your
     program.  For example, in VxWorks you can simply recompile a
     defective object file and keep on running.  If you are running on
     one of these systems, you can allow GDB to reload the symbols for
     automatically relinked modules:

    `set symbol-reloading on'
          Replace symbol definitions for the corresponding source file
          when an object file with a particular name is seen again.

    `set symbol-reloading off'
          Do not replace symbol definitions when re-encountering object
          files of the same name.  This is the default state; if you
          are not running on a system that permits automatically
          relinking modules, you should leave `symbol-reloading' off,
          since otherwise GDB may discard symbols when linking large
          programs, that may contain several modules (from different
          directories or libraries) with the same name.

    `show symbol-reloading'
          Show the current `on' or `off' setting.

`maint print symbols FILENAME'
`maint print psymbols FILENAME'
`maint print msymbols FILENAME'
     Write a dump of debugging symbol data into the file FILENAME.
     These commands are used to debug the GDB symbol-reading code.  Only
     symbols with debugging data are included.  If you use `maint print
     symbols', GDB includes all the symbols for which it has already
     collected full details: that is, FILENAME reflects symbols for
     only those files whose symbols GDB has read.  You can use the
     command `info sources' to find out which files these are.  If you
     use `maint print psymbols' instead, the dump shows information
     about symbols that GDB only knows partially--that is, symbols
     defined in files that GDB has skimmed, but not yet read
     completely.  Finally, `maint print msymbols' dumps just the
     minimal symbol information required for each object file from
     which GDB has read some symbols.  See Commands to specify files: Files, for a discussion of how GDB reads symbols (in the
     description of `symbol-file').