path: root/docs/command-line-slangc-reference.md

# Slang Command Line Options

*Usage:*
```
slangc [options...] [--] <input files>

# For help
slangc -h

# To generate this file
slangc -help-style markdown -h
```
## Quick Links

* [General](#General)
* [Target](#Target)
* [Downstream](#Downstream)
* [Debugging](#Debugging)
* [Experimental](#Experimental)
* [Internal](#Internal)
* [Depreciated](#Depreciated)
* [compiler](#compiler)
* [language](#language)
* [archive-type](#archive-type)
* [line-directive-mode](#line-directive-mode)
* [debug-info-format](#debug-info-format)
* [fp-mode](#fp-mode)
* [help-style](#help-style)
* [optimization-level](#optimization-level)
* [debug-level](#debug-level)
* [file-system-type](#file-system-type)
* [source-embed-style](#source-embed-style)
* [target](#target)
* [stage](#stage)
* [vulkan-shift](#vulkan-shift)
* [capability](#capability)
* [file-extension](#file-extension)

<a id="General"></a>
# General

General options 

<a id="D"></a>
## -D

**-D&lt;name&gt;\[=&lt;value&gt;\], -D &lt;name&gt;\[=&lt;value&gt;\]**

Insert a preprocessor macro. 

The space between - D and &lt;name&gt; is optional. If no &lt;value&gt; is specified, Slang will define the macro with an empty value. 


<a id="depfile"></a>
## -depfile

**-depfile &lt;path&gt;**

Save the source file dependency list in a file. 


<a id="entry"></a>
## -entry

**-entry &lt;name&gt;**

Specify the name of an entry-point function. 

When compiling from a single file, this defaults to main if you specify a stage using [-stage](#stage-1). 

Multiple [-entry](#entry) options may be used in a single invocation. When they do, the file associated with the entry point will be the first one found when searching to the left in the command line. 

If no [-entry](#entry) options are given, compiler will use \[shader(...)\] attributes to detect entry points. 


<a id="emit-ir"></a>
## -emit-ir
Emit IR typically as a '.slang-module' when outputting to a container. 


<a id="h"></a>
## -h, -help, --help

**-h or -h &lt;help-category&gt;**

Print this message, or help in specified category. 


<a id="help-style-1"></a>
## -help-style

**-help-style &lt;[help-style](#help-style)&gt;**

Help formatting style 


<a id="I"></a>
## -I

**-I&lt;path&gt;, -I &lt;path&gt;**

Add a path to be used in resolving '#include' and 'import' operations. 


<a id="lang"></a>
## -lang

**-lang &lt;[language](#language)&gt;**

Set the language for the following input files. 


<a id="matrix-layout-column-major"></a>
## -matrix-layout-column-major
Set the default matrix layout to column-major. 


<a id="matrix-layout-row-major"></a>
## -matrix-layout-row-major
Set the default matrix layout to row-major. 


<a id="module-name"></a>
## -module-name

**-module-name &lt;name&gt;**

Set the module name to use when compiling multiple .slang source files into a single module. 


<a id="o"></a>
## -o

**-o &lt;path&gt;**

Specify a path where generated output should be written. 

If no [-target](#target-1) or [-stage](#stage-1) is specified, one may be inferred from file extension (see [&lt;file-extension&gt;](#file-extension)). If multiple [-target](#target-1) options and a single [-entry](#entry) are present, each [-o](#o) associates with the first [-target](#target-1) to its left. Otherwise, if multiple [-entry](#entry) options are present, each [-o](#o) associates with the first [-entry](#entry) to its left, and with the [-target](#target-1) that matches the one inferred from &lt;path&gt;. 


<a id="profile"></a>
## -profile

**-profile &lt;profile&gt;\[+&lt;[capability](#capability)&gt;...\]**

Specify the shader profile for code generation. 

Accepted profiles are: 

* sm_{4_0,4_1,5_0,5_1,6_0,6_1,6_2,6_3,6_4,6_5,6_6} 

* glsl_{110,120,130,140,150,330,400,410,420,430,440,450,460} 

Additional profiles that include [-stage](#stage-1) information: 

* {vs,hs,ds,gs,ps}_&lt;version&gt; 

See [-capability](#capability-1) for information on [&lt;capability&gt;](#capability) 

When multiple [-target](#target-1) options are present, each [-profile](#profile) associates with the first [-target](#target-1) to its left. 


<a id="stage-1"></a>
## -stage

**-stage &lt;[stage](#stage)&gt;**

Specify the stage of an entry-point function. 

When multiple [-entry](#entry) options are present, each [-stage](#stage-1) associated with the first [-entry](#entry) to its left. 

May be omitted if entry-point function has a \[shader(...)\] attribute; otherwise required for each [-entry](#entry) option. 


<a id="target-1"></a>
## -target

**-target &lt;[target](#target)&gt;**

Specifies the format in which code should be generated. 


<a id="v"></a>
## -v, -version
Display the build version. This is the contents of git describe --tags. 

It is typically only set from automated builds(such as distros available on github).A user build will by default be 'unknown'. 


<a id="warnings-as-errors"></a>
## -warnings-as-errors

**-warnings-as-errors all or -warnings-as-errors &lt;id&gt;\[,&lt;id&gt;...\]**

all - Treat all warnings as errors. 

&lt;id&gt;\[,&lt;id&gt;...\]: Treat specific warning ids as errors. 




<a id="warnings-disable"></a>
## -warnings-disable

**-warnings-disable &lt;id&gt;\[,&lt;id&gt;...\]**

Disable specific warning ids. 


<a id="W"></a>
## -W

**-W&lt;id&gt;**

Enable a warning with the specified id. 


<a id="Wno"></a>
## -Wno-

**-Wno-&lt;id&gt;**

Disable warning with &lt;id&gt; 


<a id="dump-warning-diagnostics"></a>
## -dump-warning-diagnostics
Dump to output list of warning diagnostic numeric and name ids. 


<a id="id"></a>
## --
Treat the rest of the command line as input files. 


<a id="report-downstream-time"></a>
## -report-downstream-time
Reports the time spent in the downstream compiler. 


<a id="report-perf-benchmark"></a>
## -report-perf-benchmark
Reports compiler performance benchmark results. 


<a id="source-embed-style-1"></a>
## -source-embed-style

**-source-embed-style &lt;[source-embed-style](#source-embed-style)&gt;**

If source embedding is enabled, defines the style used. When enabled (with any style other than `none`), will write compile results into embeddable source for the target language. If no output file is specified, the output is written to stdout. If an output file is specified it is written either to that file directly (if it is appropriate for the target language), or it will be output to the filename with an appropriate extension. 



Note for C/C++ with u16/u32/u64 types it is necessary to have "#include &lt;stdint.h&gt;" before the generated file. 




<a id="source-embed-name"></a>
## -source-embed-name

**-source-embed-name &lt;name&gt;**

The name used as the basis for variables output for source embedding. 


<a id="source-embed-language"></a>
## -source-embed-language

**-source-embed-language &lt;[language](#language)&gt;**

The language to be used for source embedding. Defaults to C/C++. Currently only C/C++ are supported 



<a id="Target"></a>
# Target

Target code generation options 

<a id="capability-1"></a>
## -capability

**-capability &lt;[capability](#capability)&gt;\[+&lt;[capability](#capability)&gt;...\]**

Add optional capabilities to a code generation target. See Capabilities below. 


<a id="default-image-format-unknown"></a>
## -default-image-format-unknown
Set the format of R/W images with unspecified format to 'unknown'. Otherwise try to guess the format. 


<a id="disable-dynamic-dispatch"></a>
## -disable-dynamic-dispatch
Disables generating dynamic dispatch code. 


<a id="disable-specialization"></a>
## -disable-specialization
Disables generics and specialization pass. 


<a id="fp-mode-1"></a>
## -fp-mode, -floating-point-mode

**-fp-mode &lt;[fp-mode](#fp-mode)&gt;, -floating-point-mode &lt;[fp-mode](#fp-mode)&gt;**

Control floating point optimizations 


<a id="g"></a>
## -g

**-g, -g&lt;[debug-info-format](#debug-info-format)&gt;, -g&lt;[debug-level](#debug-level)&gt;**

Include debug information in the generated code, where possible. 

[&lt;debug-level&gt;](#debug-level) is the amount of information, 0..3, unspecified means 2 

[&lt;debug-info-format&gt;](#debug-info-format) specifies a debugging info format 

It is valid to have multiple [-g](#g) options, such as a [&lt;debug-level&gt;](#debug-level) and a [&lt;debug-info-format&gt;](#debug-info-format) 


<a id="line-directive-mode-1"></a>
## -line-directive-mode

**-line-directive-mode &lt;[line-directive-mode](#line-directive-mode)&gt;**

Sets how the `#line` directives should be produced. Available options are: 

If not specified, default behavior is to use C-style `#line` directives for HLSL and C/C++ output, and traditional GLSL-style `#line` directives for GLSL output. 


<a id="O"></a>
## -O

**-O&lt;[optimization-level](#optimization-level)&gt;**

Set the optimization level. 


<a id="obfuscate"></a>
## -obfuscate
Remove all source file information from outputs. 


<a id="force-glsl-scalar-layout"></a>
## -force-glsl-scalar-layout
Force using scalar block layout for uniform and shader storage buffers in GLSL output. 


<a id="fvk-b-shift"></a>
## -fvk-b-shift, -fvk-s-shift, -fvk-t-shift, -fvk-u-shift

**-fvk-&lt;[vulkan-shift](#vulkan-shift)&gt;-shift &lt;N&gt; &lt;space&gt;**

For example '-fvk-b-shift &lt;N&gt; &lt;space&gt;' shifts by N the inferred binding numbers for all resources in 'b' registers of space &lt;space&gt;. For a resource attached with :register(bX, &lt;space&gt;) but not \[vk::binding(...)\], sets its Vulkan descriptor set to &lt;space&gt; and binding number to X + N. If you need to shift the inferred binding numbers for more than one space, provide more than one such option. If more than one such option is provided for the same space, the last one takes effect. If you need to shift the inferred binding numbers for all sets, use 'all' as &lt;space&gt;. 

* \[DXC description\](https://github.com/Microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler/blob/main/docs/SPIR-V.rst#implicit-binding-number-assignment) 

* \[GLSL wiki\](https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glslang/wiki/HLSL-FAQ#auto-mapped-binding-numbers) 




<a id="fvk-bind-globals"></a>
## -fvk-bind-globals

**-fvk-bind-globals &lt;N&gt; &lt;descriptor-set&gt;**

Places the $Globals cbuffer at descriptor set &lt;descriptor-set&gt; and binding &lt;N&gt;. 


<a id="fvk-invert-y"></a>
## -fvk-invert-y
Negates (additively inverts) SV_Position.y before writing to stage output. 


<a id="enable-effect-annotations"></a>
## -enable-effect-annotations
Enables support for legacy effect annotation syntax. 



<a id="Downstream"></a>
# Downstream

Downstream compiler options 

<a id="none-path"></a>
## -none-path, -fxc-path, -dxc-path, -glslang-path, -visualstudio-path, -clang-path, -gcc-path, -genericcpp-path, -nvrtc-path, -llvm-path

**-&lt;[compiler](#compiler)&gt;-path &lt;path&gt;**

Specify path to a downstream [&lt;compiler&gt;](#compiler) executable or library. 




<a id="default-downstream-compiler"></a>
## -default-downstream-compiler

**-default-downstream-compiler &lt;[language](#language)&gt; &lt;[compiler](#compiler)&gt;**

Set a default compiler for the given language. See [-lang](#lang) for the list of languages. 


<a id="X"></a>
## -X

**-X&lt;[compiler](#compiler)&gt; &lt;option&gt; -X&lt;[compiler](#compiler)&gt;... &lt;options&gt; -X.**

Pass arguments to downstream [&lt;compiler&gt;](#compiler). Just [-X&lt;compiler&gt;](#X) passes just the next argument to the downstream compiler. [-X&lt;compiler&gt;](#X)... options [-X](#X). will pass *all* of the options inbetween the opening [-X](#X) and [-X](#X). to the downstream compiler. 


<a id="pass-through"></a>
## -pass-through

**-pass-through &lt;[compiler](#compiler)&gt;**

Pass the input through mostly unmodified to the existing compiler [&lt;compiler&gt;](#compiler). 

These are intended for debugging/testing purposes, when you want to be able to see what these existing compilers do with the "same" input and options 



<a id="Debugging"></a>
# Debugging

Compiler debugging/instrumentation options 

<a id="dump-ast"></a>
## -dump-ast
Dump the AST to a .slang-ast file next to the input. 


<a id="dump-intermediate-prefix"></a>
## -dump-intermediate-prefix

**-dump-intermediate-prefix &lt;prefix&gt;**

File name prefix for [-dump-intermediates](#dump-intermediates) outputs, default is 'slang-dump-' 


<a id="dump-intermediates"></a>
## -dump-intermediates
Dump intermediate outputs for debugging. 


<a id="dump-ir"></a>
## -dump-ir
Dump the IR for debugging. 


<a id="dump-ir-ids"></a>
## -dump-ir-ids
Dump the IDs with [-dump-ir](#dump-ir) (debug builds only) 


<a id="dump-repro"></a>
## -dump-repro
Dump a `.slang-repro` file that can be used to reproduce a compilation on another machine. 




<a id="dump-repro-on-error"></a>
## -dump-repro-on-error
Dump `.slang-repro` file on any compilation error. 


<a id="E"></a>
## -E, -output-preprocessor
Output the preprocessing result and exit. 


<a id="extract-repro"></a>
## -extract-repro

**-extract-repro &lt;name&gt;**

Extract the repro files into a folder. 


<a id="load-repro-directory"></a>
## -load-repro-directory

**-load-repro-directory &lt;path&gt;**

Use repro along specified path 


<a id="load-repro"></a>
## -load-repro

**-load-repro &lt;name&gt;**

Load repro 


<a id="no-codegen"></a>
## -no-codegen
Skip the code generation step, just check the code and generate layout. 


<a id="output-includes"></a>
## -output-includes
Print the hierarchy of the processed source files. 


<a id="repro-file-system"></a>
## -repro-file-system

**-repro-file-system &lt;name&gt;**

Use a repro as a file system 


<a id="serial-ir"></a>
## -serial-ir
Serialize the IR between front-end and back-end. 


<a id="skip-codegen"></a>
## -skip-codegen
Skip the code generation phase. 


<a id="validate-ir"></a>
## -validate-ir
Validate the IR between the phases. 


<a id="verbose-paths"></a>
## -verbose-paths
When displaying diagnostic output aim to display more detailed path information. In practice this is typically the complete 'canonical' path to the source file used. 


<a id="verify-debug-serial-ir"></a>
## -verify-debug-serial-ir
Verify IR in the front-end. 



<a id="Experimental"></a>
# Experimental

Experimental options (use at your own risk) 

<a id="emit-spirv-via-glsl"></a>
## -emit-spirv-via-glsl
Generate SPIR-V output by generating and compiling GLSL using glslang


<a id="file-system"></a>
## -file-system

**-file-system &lt;[file-system-type](#file-system-type)&gt;**

Set the filesystem hook to use for a compile request. 


<a id="heterogeneous"></a>
## -heterogeneous
Output heterogeneity-related code. 


<a id="no-mangle"></a>
## -no-mangle
Do as little mangling of names as possible. 



<a id="Internal"></a>
# Internal

Internal-use options (use at your own risk) 

<a id="archive-type-1"></a>
## -archive-type

**-archive-type &lt;[archive-type](#archive-type)&gt;**

Set the archive type for [-save-stdlib](#save-stdlib). Default is zip. 


<a id="compile-stdlib"></a>
## -compile-stdlib
Compile the StdLib from embedded sources. Will return a failure if there is already a StdLib available. 


<a id="doc"></a>
## -doc
Write documentation for [-compile-stdlib](#compile-stdlib) 


<a id="ir-compression"></a>
## -ir-compression

**-ir-compression &lt;type&gt;**

Set compression for IR and AST outputs. 

Accepted compression types: none, lite 


<a id="load-stdlib"></a>
## -load-stdlib

**-load-stdlib &lt;filename&gt;**

Load the StdLib from file. 


<a id="r"></a>
## -r

**-r &lt;name&gt;**

reference module &lt;name&gt; 


<a id="save-stdlib"></a>
## -save-stdlib

**-save-stdlib &lt;filename&gt;**

Save the StdLib modules to an archive file. 


<a id="save-stdlib-bin-source"></a>
## -save-stdlib-bin-source

**-save-stdlib-bin-source &lt;filename&gt;**

Same as [-save-stdlib](#save-stdlib) but output the data as a C array. 




<a id="track-liveness"></a>
## -track-liveness
Enable liveness tracking. Places SLANG_LIVE_START, and SLANG_LIVE_END in output source to indicate value liveness. 



<a id="Depreciated"></a>
# Depreciated

Deprecated options (allowed but ignored; may be removed in future) 

<a id="parameter-blocks-use-register-spaces"></a>
## -parameter-blocks-use-register-spaces
Parameter blocks will use register spaces 



<a id="compiler"></a>
# compiler

Downstream Compilers (aka Pass through) 

* `none` : Unknown 
* `fxc` : FXC HLSL compiler 
* `dxc` : DXC HLSL compiler 
* `glslang` : GLSLANG GLSL compiler 
* `visualstudio`, `vs` : Visual Studio C/C++ compiler 
* `clang` : Clang C/C++ compiler 
* `gcc` : GCC C/C++ compiler 
* `genericcpp`, `c`, `cpp` : A generic C++ compiler (can be any one of visual studio, clang or gcc depending on system and availability) 
* `nvrtc` : NVRTC CUDA compiler 
* `llvm` : LLVM/Clang `slang-llvm` 

<a id="language"></a>
# language

Language 

* `c`, `C` : C language 
* `cpp`, `c++`, `C++`, `cxx` : C++ language 
* `slang` : Slang language 
* `glsl` : GLSL language 
* `hlsl` : HLSL language 
* `cu`, `cuda` : CUDA 

<a id="archive-type"></a>
# archive-type

Archive Type 

* `riff-deflate` : Slang RIFF using deflate compression 
* `riff-lz4` : Slang RIFF using LZ4 compression 
* `zip` : Zip file 
* `riff` : Slang RIFF without compression 

<a id="line-directive-mode"></a>
# line-directive-mode

Line Directive Mode 

* `none` : Don't emit `#line` directives at all 
* `source-map` : Use source map to track line associations (doen't emit #line) 
* `default` : Default behavior 
* `standard` : Emit standard C-style `#line` directives. 
* `glsl` : Emit GLSL-style directives with file *number* instead of name. 

<a id="debug-info-format"></a>
# debug-info-format

Debug Info Format 

* `default-format` : Use the default debugging format for the target 
* `c7` : CodeView C7 format (typically means debugging infomation is embedded in the binary) 
* `pdb` : Program database 
* `stabs` : STABS debug format 
* `coff` : COFF debug format 
* `dwarf` : DWARF debug format 

<a id="fp-mode"></a>
# fp-mode

Floating Point Mode 

* `precise` : Disable optimization that could change the output of floating-point computations, including around infinities, NaNs, denormalized values, and negative zero. Prefer the most precise versions of special functions supported by the target. 
* `fast` : Allow optimizations that may change results of floating-point computations. Prefer the fastest version of special functions supported by the target. 
* `default` : Default floating point mode 

<a id="help-style"></a>
# help-style

Help Style 

* `text` : Text suitable for output to a terminal 
* `markdown` : Markdown 
* `no-link-markdown` : Markdown without links 

<a id="optimization-level"></a>
# optimization-level

Optimization Level 

* `0`, `none` : Disable all optimizations 
* `1`, `default` : Enable a default level of optimization.This is the default if no [-o](#o) options are used. 
* `2`, `high` : Enable aggressive optimizations for speed. 
* `3`, `maximal` : Enable further optimizations, which might have a significant impact on compile time, or involve unwanted tradeoffs in terms of code size. 

<a id="debug-level"></a>
# debug-level

Debug Level 

* `0`, `none` : Don't emit debug information at all. 
* `1`, `minimal` : Emit as little debug information as possible, while still supporting stack traces. 
* `2`, `standard` : Emit whatever is the standard level of debug information for each target. 
* `3`, `maximal` : Emit as much debug information as possible for each target. 

<a id="file-system-type"></a>
# file-system-type

File System Type 

* `default` : Default fike system. 
* `load-file` : Just implements loadFile interface, so will be wrapped with CacheFileSystem internally. 
* `os` : Use the OS based file system directly (without file system caching) 

<a id="source-embed-style"></a>
# source-embed-style

Source Embed Style 

* `none` : No source level embedding 
* `default` : The default embedding for the type to be embedded 
* `text` : Embed as text. May change line endings. If output isn't text will use 'default'. Size will *not* contain terminating 0. 
* `binary-text` : Embed as text assuming contents is binary. 
* `u8` : Embed as unsigned bytes. 
* `u16` : Embed as uint16_t. 
* `u32` : Embed as uint32_t. 
* `u64` : Embed as uint64_t. 

<a id="target"></a>
# target

Target 

* `unknown` 
* `none` 
* `hlsl` : HLSL source code 
* `dxbc` : DirectX shader bytecode binary 
* `dxbc-asm`, `dxbc-assembly` : DirectX shader bytecode assembly 
* `dxil` : DirectX Intermediate Language binary 
* `dxil-asm`, `dxil-assembly` : DirectX Intermediate Language assembly 
* `glsl` : GLSL source code 
* `glsl-vulkan` : GLSL Vulkan source code 
* `glsl-vulkan-one-desc` : GLSL Vulkan source code 
* `spirv` : SPIR-V binary 
* `spirv-asm`, `spirv-assembly` : SPIR-V assembly 
* `c` : C source code 
* `cpp`, `c++`, `cxx` : C++ source code 
* `torch`, `torch-binding`, `torch-cpp`, `torch-cpp-binding` : C++ for pytorch binding 
* `host-cpp`, `host-c++`, `host-cxx` : C++ source for host execution 
* `exe`, `executable` : Executable binary 
* `sharedlib`, `sharedlibrary`, `dll` : Shared library/Dll 
* `cuda`, `cu` : CUDA source code 
* `ptx` : PTX assembly 
* `cuobj`, `cubin` : CUDA binary 
* `host-callable`, `callable` : Host callable 
* `object-code` : Object code 
* `host-host-callable` : Host callable for host execution 

<a id="stage"></a>
# stage

Stage 

* `vertex` 
* `hull` 
* `domain` 
* `geometry` 
* `pixel`, `fragment` 
* `compute` 
* `raygeneration` 
* `intersection` 
* `anyhit` 
* `closesthit` 
* `miss` 
* `callable` 
* `mesh` 
* `amplification` 

<a id="vulkan-shift"></a>
# vulkan-shift

Vulkan Shift 

* `b` : Constant buffer view 
* `s` : Sampler 
* `t` : Shader resource view 
* `u` : Unorderd access view 

<a id="capability"></a>
# capability

A capability describes an optional feature that a target may or may not support. When a [-capability](#capability-1) is specified, the compiler may assume that the target supports that capability, and generate code accordingly. 

* `spirv_1_{ 0`, `1`, `2`, `3`, `4`, `5 }` : minimum supported SPIR - V version 
* `invalid` 
* `hlsl` 
* `glsl` 
* `c` 
* `cpp` 
* `cuda` 
* `spirv`
* `GL_NV_ray_tracing` : enables the GL_NV_ray_tracing extension 
* `GL_EXT_ray_tracing` : enables the GL_EXT_ray_tracing extension 
* `GL_NV_fragment_shader_barycentric` : enables the GL_NV_fragment_shader_barycentric extension 
* `GL_EXT_fragment_shader_barycentric` : enables the GL_EXT_fragment_shader_barycentric extension 

<a id="file-extension"></a>
# file-extension

A [&lt;language&gt;](#language), &lt;format&gt;, and/or [&lt;stage&gt;](#stage) may be inferred from the extension of an input or [-o](#o) path 

* `hlsl`, `fx` : hlsl 
* `dxbc` 
* `dxbc-asm` : dxbc-assembly 
* `dxil` 
* `dxil-asm` : dxil-assembly 
* `glsl` 
* `vert` : glsl (vertex) 
* `frag` : glsl (fragment) 
* `geom` : glsl (geoemtry) 
* `tesc` : glsl (hull) 
* `tese` : glsl (domain) 
* `comp` : glsl (compute) 
* `slang` 
* `spv` : SPIR-V 
* `spv-asm` : SPIR-V assembly 
* `c` 
* `cpp`, `c++`, `cxx` : C++ 
* `exe` : executable 
* `dll`, `so` : sharedlibrary/dll 
* `cu` : CUDA 
* `ptx` : PTX 
* `obj`, `o` : object-code 
* `zip` : container 
* `slang-module`, `slang-library` : Slang Module/Library 
* `dir` : Container as a directory