.TH tabletom4 "" "" "/rdb Command"
.PC "Convert a table to m4 define-file format"
\fBtabletom4 < \fItable \fB> \fIdefinefile\fR
.PP
.II "table^convert to m4"
.II m4
The command
.B tabletom4
converts a two-column table into a file of
define statements that can be input to the COHERENT macro processor
.BR m4 .
Define macros are in the form
.I define(old,new).
.PP
.B m4
can do many things, including word-for-word substitution.
It can be used for language translation (in a stiff, inflexible way)
and for other conversions of data bases.
.PP
The
.I definefile
that
.B tabletom4
produces is required by the
.B /rdb
command
.BR translate .
Only words that have a corresponding translation in the second
column will be put into
.IR definefile .
In this way, you can
use the file before you have all of the translations entered.
.SH Example
Consider the simple translation table
.BR ed.t :
.DM
English Deutch
------- -------
I       Ich
love    liebe
you     dich
widgit  
.DE
.PP
The following command converts
.B ed.t
to m4 format and writes its output into file
.BR ed :
.DM
	tabletom4 < ed.t > ed
.DE
.PP
.B ed
now contains the following:
.DM
define(I,Ich)
define(love,liebe)
define(you,dich)
.DE
.PP
Note that
.B widgit
was not converted because it did not have
a translation string in the second column of the table.
.B ed
can now be used by
.B m4
or
.BR translate .
For example, if file
.B text
contains the following:
.DM
	I love you.
.DE
.PP
The command
.DM
	m4 ed text
.DE
.PP
writes
.DM
	Ich liebe dich.
.DE
.PP
onto the standard output.
.SH "See Also"
.B
translate
.R
.br
COHERENT Tutorials:
.B
Introduction to the m4 Macro Processor
.R
.br
COHERENT Lexicon:
.B
m4
.R