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GNU macro processor

3.4 Quoting macro arguments

Each argument has leading unquoted whitespace removed. Within each argument, all unquoted parentheses must match. For example, if foo is a macro,

foo(() (`(') `(')

is a macro call, with one argument, whose value is `() (() ('.

It is common practice to quote all arguments to macros, unless you are sure you want the arguments expanded. Thus, in the above example with the parentheses, the `right' way to do it is like this:

foo(`() (() (')

It is, however, in certain cases necessary to leave out quotes for some arguments, and there is nothing wrong in doing it. It just makes life a bit harder, if you are not careful.