Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Command-Line Syntax

GDB is invoked as follows:

    gdb [options] [executable [corefile-or-PID]]
    gdb [options] --args executable [program args ...]

The gdbtui command is equivalent to gdb --tui; it invokes GDB with the Text User Interface. The TUI is described in the later section "The GDB Text User Interface.”

GDB has both traditional short options and GNU-style long options. Long options may start with either one or two hyphens. The command-line options are as follows.

--args

Pass on arguments after executable to the program being debugged.

--async, --noasync

Enable/disable the asynchronous version of the command-line interface.

-bbaudrate, --baudbaudrate

Set the serial port baud rate used for remote debugging.

--batch

Process options and then exit.

--cd dir

Change current directory to dir.

-cfile, --corefile

Analyze the core dump file.

-ddir, --directorydir

Search for source files in dir.

-efile, --execfile

Use file as the executable.

-f, --fullname

Output information used by the Emacs-GDB interface.

--help

Print a usage and option summary and then exit.

--interpreter interp

Select a specific interpreter/user interface. The command-line interface is the default, although there are other interfaces for use by frontend programs.

-n, --nx

Do not read the .gdbinit file.

-nw, --nowindows

Force the use of the command-line interface, even if a windows interface is available.

-ppidnum, -cpidnum, --pidpidnum

Attach to running process pidnum.

-q, --quiet, --silent

Do not print the version number on startup.

-r, ...