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<div id="preamble"><h1>Apache Module mod_macro</h1>
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<table class="module"><tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Provides macros within apache httpd runtime configuration files</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Base</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#ModuleIdentifier">Module&nbsp;Identifier:</a></th><td>macro_module</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#SourceFile">Source&nbsp;File:</a></th><td>mod_macro.c</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Compatibility">Compatibility:</a></th><td>Available in httpd 2.4.5 and later</td></tr></table>
<h3>Summary</h3>


    <p>Provides macros within Apache httpd runtime configuration files,
    to ease the process of creating numerous similar configuration
    blocks. When the server starts up, the macros are expanded using the
    provided parameters, and the result is processed as along with the
    rest of the configuration file.</p>

</div>
<div id="quickview"><h3>Topics</h3>
<ul id="topics">
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#usage">Usage</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#tips">Tips</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#examples">Examples</a></li>
</ul><h3 class="directives">Directives</h3>
<ul id="toc">
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#macro">&lt;Macro&gt;</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#undefmacro">UndefMacro</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#use">Use</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Bugfix checklist</h3><ul class="seealso"><li><a href="https://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/CHANGES_2.4">httpd changelog</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/buglist.cgi?bug_status=__open__&amp;list_id=144532&amp;product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;query_format=specific&amp;order=changeddate%20DESC%2Cpriority%2Cbug_severity&amp;component=mod_macro">Known issues</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;component=mod_macro">Report a bug</a></li></ul></div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="usage">Usage <a title="Permanent link" href="#usage" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

<p>Macros are defined using <code class="directive"><a href="#macro">&lt;Macro&gt;</a></code> blocks, which contain the portion of
your configuration that needs to be repeated, complete with variables
for those parts that will need to be substituted.</p>

<p>For example, you might use a macro to define a <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#virtualhost">&lt;VirtualHost&gt;</a></code> block, in order to define
multiple similar virtual hosts:</p>

<pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;Macro VHost $name $domain&gt;
&lt;VirtualHost *:80&gt;
    ServerName $domain
    ServerAlias www.$domain

    DocumentRoot "/var/www/vhosts/$name"
    ErrorLog "/var/log/httpd/$name.error_log"
    CustomLog "/var/log/httpd/$name.access_log" combined
&lt;/VirtualHost&gt;
&lt;/Macro&gt;</pre>


<p>Macro names are case-insensitive, like httpd configuration
directives. However, variable names are case sensitive.</p>

<p>You would then invoke this macro several times to create virtual
hosts:</p>

<pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Use VHost example example.com
Use VHost myhost hostname.org
Use VHost apache apache.org

UndefMacro VHost</pre>


<p>At server startup time, each of these <code class="directive"><a href="#use">Use</a></code>
invocations would be expanded into a full virtualhost, as
described by the <code class="directive"><a href="#macro">&lt;Macro&gt;</a></code>
definition.</p>

<p>The <code class="directive"><a href="#undefmacro">UndefMacro</a></code> directive is
used so that later macros using the same variable names don't result in
conflicting definitions.</p>

<p>A more elaborate version of this example may be seen below in the
Examples section.</p>

</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="tips">Tips <a title="Permanent link" href="#tips" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

<p>Parameter names should begin with a sigil such as <code>$</code>,
<code>%</code>, or <code>@</code>, so that they are clearly
identifiable, and also in order to help deal with interactions with
other directives, such as the core <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#define">Define</a></code> directive. Failure to do so will
result in a warning. Nevertheless, you are encouraged to have a good
knowledge of your entire server configuration in order to avoid reusing
the same variables in different scopes, which can cause confusion.</p>

<p>Parameters prefixed with either <code>$</code> or <code>%</code> are
not escaped. Parameters prefixes with <code>@</code> are escaped in
quotes.</p>

<p>Avoid using a parameter which contains another parameter as a prefix,
(For example, <code>$win</code> and <code>$winter</code>) as this may
cause confusion at expression evaluation time. In the event of such
confusion, the longest possible parameter name is used.</p>

<p>If you want to use a value within another string, it is useful to
surround the parameter in parentheses, to avoid confusion. The
<code>$(...)</code> syntax should be used rather than
<code>${...}</code>, as the latter conflicts with the
<code class="directive"><a href="../mod/core.html#define">Define</a></code> variable syntax:</p>

<pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;Macro DocRoot $(docroot)&gt;
    DocumentRoot "/var/www/$(docroot)/htdocs"
&lt;/Macro&gt;</pre>


</div><div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="examples">Examples <a title="Permanent link" href="#examples" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>


<h3>Virtual Host Definition</h3>


<p>A common usage of <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_macro.html">mod_macro</a></code> is for the creation of
dynamically-generated virtual hosts.</p>

<pre class="prettyprint lang-config">## Define a VHost Macro for repetitive configurations

&lt;Macro VHost $host $port $dir&gt;
  Listen $port
  &lt;VirtualHost *:$port&gt;

    ServerName $host
    DocumentRoot "$dir"

    # Public document root
    &lt;Directory "$dir"&gt;
        Require all granted
    &lt;/Directory&gt;

    # limit access to intranet subdir.
    &lt;Directory "$dir/intranet"&gt;
      Require ip 10.0.0.0/8
    &lt;/Directory&gt;
  &lt;/VirtualHost&gt;
&lt;/Macro&gt;

## Use of VHost with different arguments.

Use VHost www.apache.org 80 /vhosts/apache/htdocs
Use VHost example.org 8080 /vhosts/example/htdocs
Use VHost www.example.fr 1234 /vhosts/example.fr/htdocs</pre>

 

<h3>Removal of a macro definition</h3>


<p>It's recommended that you undefine a macro once you've used it. This
avoids confusion in a complex configuration file where there may be
conflicts in variable names.</p>

<pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;Macro DirGroup $dir $group&gt;
  &lt;Directory "$dir"&gt;
    Require group $group
  &lt;/Directory&gt;
&lt;/Macro&gt;

Use DirGroup /www/apache/private private
Use DirGroup /www/apache/server  admin

UndefMacro DirGroup</pre>


 

</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="macro"><span id="Macro">&lt;Macro&gt;</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#macro" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Define a configuration file macro</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>
&lt;Macro <var>name</var> [<var>par1</var> .. <var>parN</var>]&gt;
... &lt;/Macro&gt;</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Base</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_macro</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">&lt;Macro&gt;</code> directive controls the
    definition of a macro within the server runtime configuration files.
    The first argument is the name of the macro.
    Other arguments are parameters to the macro. It is good practice to prefix
    parameter names with any of '<code>$%@</code>', and not macro names
    with such characters.
    </p>

    <pre class="prettyprint lang-config">&lt;Macro LocalAccessPolicy&gt;
    Require ip 10.2.16.0/24
&lt;/Macro&gt;

&lt;Macro RestrictedAccessPolicy $ipnumbers&gt;
    Require ip $ipnumbers
&lt;/Macro&gt;</pre>


</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="undefmacro"><span id="UndefMacro">UndefMacro</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#undefmacro" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Undefine a macro</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>UndefMacro <var>name</var></code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Base</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_macro</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">UndefMacro</code> directive undefines a macro
    which has been defined before hand.</p>

    <pre class="prettyprint lang-config">UndefMacro LocalAccessPolicy
UndefMacro RestrictedAccessPolicy</pre>


</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="use"><span id="Use">Use</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#use" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Use a macro</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>Use <var>name</var> [<var>value1</var> ... <var>valueN</var>]
</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Base</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_macro</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">Use</code> directive controls the use of a macro.
    The specified macro is expanded. It must be given the same number of
    arguments as in the  macro definition. The provided values are
    associated to their corresponding initial parameters and are substituted
    before processing.</p>

    <pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Use LocalAccessPolicy
...
Use RestrictedAccessPolicy "192.54.172.0/24 192.54.148.0/24"</pre>


    <p>is equivalent, with the macros defined above, to:</p>

    <pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Require ip 10.2.16.0/24
...
Require ip 192.54.172.0/24 192.54.148.0/24</pre>


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