YKYH Picks
☰ Menu
Home›Command-Line Tools›m4
CLI Open source 297 installs/mo

m4 for Mac

Macro processing language

Quick answer: m4 is a command-line tool for macOS. Install it with brew install m4. It is distributed under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence. It has 297 Homebrew installs in the last 30 days.

What m4 is

m4 is a command-line tool for macOS: macro processing language.

It is distributed as a Homebrew formula, which builds or pours a binary and puts it on your PATH. It is distributed under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence.

How to install m4

  1. Open Terminal (press ⌘ + Space and type “Terminal”).
  2. If Homebrew is not installed yet, run the installer below once.
  3. Run brew install m4.

Homebrew installer, if you need it:

Prefer a graphical installer? Download it from the official site. MacPicks never hosts or mirrors binaries — the Homebrew command always pulls from the vendor's own release.

Similar apps in Command-Line Tools

Closest apps in the same category, ordered by description similarity and install base. These are related tools, not confirmed substitutes; the comparison pages cover hand-picked head-to-head matchups.

libconfigConfiguration file processing libraryCLIOpen source310/mosolargraphRuby language serverCLIOpen source312/mocythonCompiler for writing C extensions for the Python languageCLIOpen source308/mogmicFull-Featured Open-Source Framework for Image ProcessingCLIOpen source280/moprotoPluggable multi-language version managerCLIOpen source265/mopython-freethreadingInterpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming languageCLIOpen source341/mo

Frequently asked questions

How do I install m4 on Mac?

Run brew install m4 in Terminal. This requires Homebrew; if you do not have it, install it first with the command below.

Is m4 open source?

Yes — Homebrew distributes it under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence.

Does m4 run on Apple silicon?

Homebrew publishes this formula for macOS. If upstream does not ship an Apple silicon build, Rosetta 2 handles the Intel binary.

How popular is m4?

It was installed 297 times in the last 30 days according to Homebrew analytics, ranking #2042 in this catalogue.

What version of m4 is current?

The latest packaged version is 1.4.21.