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  18. <a href="https://luajit.org"><span>Lua<span id="logo">JIT</span></span></a>
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  21. <h1><tt>ffi.*</tt> API Functions</h1>
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  57. <div id="main">
  58. <p>
  59. This page describes the API functions provided by the FFI library in
  60. detail. It's recommended to read through the
  61. <a href="ext_ffi.html">introduction</a> and the
  62. <a href="ext_ffi_tutorial.html">FFI tutorial</a> first.
  63. </p>
  64. <h2 id="glossary">Glossary</h2>
  65. <ul>
  66. <li><b>cdecl</b> &mdash; An abstract C&nbsp;type declaration (a Lua
  67. string).</li>
  68. <li><b>ctype</b> &mdash; A C&nbsp;type object. This is a special kind of
  69. <b>cdata</b> returned by <tt>ffi.typeof()</tt>. It serves as a
  70. <b>cdata</b> <a href="#ffi_new">constructor</a> when called.</li>
  71. <li><b>cdata</b> &mdash; A C&nbsp;data object. It holds a value of the
  72. corresponding <b>ctype</b>.</li>
  73. <li><b>ct</b> &mdash; A C&nbsp;type specification which can be used for
  74. most of the API functions. Either a <b>cdecl</b>, a <b>ctype</b> or a
  75. <b>cdata</b> serving as a template type.</li>
  76. <li><b>cb</b> &mdash; A callback object. This is a C&nbsp;data object
  77. holding a special function pointer. Calling this function from
  78. C&nbsp;code runs an associated Lua function.</li>
  79. <li><b>VLA</b> &mdash; A variable-length array is declared with a
  80. <tt>?</tt> instead of the number of elements, e.g. <tt>"int[?]"</tt>.
  81. The number of elements (<tt>nelem</tt>) must be given when it's
  82. <a href="#ffi_new">created</a>.</li>
  83. <li><b>VLS</b> &mdash; A variable-length struct is a <tt>struct</tt> C
  84. type where the last element is a <b>VLA</b>. The same rules for
  85. declaration and creation apply.</li>
  86. </ul>
  87. <h2 id="decl">Declaring and Accessing External Symbols</h2>
  88. <p>
  89. External symbols must be declared first and can then be accessed by
  90. indexing a <a href="ext_ffi_semantics.html#clib">C&nbsp;library
  91. namespace</a>, which automatically binds the symbol to a specific
  92. library.
  93. </p>
  94. <h3 id="ffi_cdef"><tt>ffi.cdef(def)</tt></h3>
  95. <p>
  96. Adds multiple C&nbsp;declarations for types or external symbols (named
  97. variables or functions). <tt>def</tt> must be a Lua string. It's
  98. recommended to use the syntactic sugar for string arguments as
  99. follows:
  100. </p>
  101. <pre class="code">
  102. ffi.cdef[[
  103. <span style="color:#00a000;">typedef struct foo { int a, b; } foo_t; // Declare a struct and typedef.
  104. int dofoo(foo_t *f, int n); /* Declare an external C function. */</span>
  105. ]]
  106. </pre>
  107. <p>
  108. The contents of the string (the part in green above) must be a
  109. sequence of
  110. <a href="ext_ffi_semantics.html#clang">C&nbsp;declarations</a>,
  111. separated by semicolons. The trailing semicolon for a single
  112. declaration may be omitted.
  113. </p>
  114. <p>
  115. Please note, that external symbols are only <em>declared</em>, but they
  116. are <em>not bound</em> to any specific address, yet. Binding is
  117. achieved with C&nbsp;library namespaces (see below).
  118. </p>
  119. <p style="color: #c00000;">
  120. C&nbsp;declarations are not passed through a C&nbsp;pre-processor,
  121. yet. No pre-processor tokens are allowed, except for
  122. <tt>#pragma&nbsp;pack</tt>. Replace <tt>#define</tt> in existing
  123. C&nbsp;header files with <tt>enum</tt>, <tt>static&nbsp;const</tt>
  124. or <tt>typedef</tt> and/or pass the files through an external
  125. C&nbsp;pre-processor (once). Be careful not to include unneeded or
  126. redundant declarations from unrelated header files.
  127. </p>
  128. <h3 id="ffi_C"><tt>ffi.C</tt></h3>
  129. <p>
  130. This is the default C&nbsp;library namespace &mdash; note the
  131. uppercase <tt>'C'</tt>. It binds to the default set of symbols or
  132. libraries on the target system. These are more or less the same as a
  133. C&nbsp;compiler would offer by default, without specifying extra link
  134. libraries.
  135. </p>
  136. <p>
  137. On POSIX systems, this binds to symbols in the default or global
  138. namespace. This includes all exported symbols from the executable and
  139. any libraries loaded into the global namespace. This includes at least
  140. <tt>libc</tt>, <tt>libm</tt>, <tt>libdl</tt> (on Linux),
  141. <tt>libgcc</tt> (if compiled with GCC), as well as any exported
  142. symbols from the Lua/C&nbsp;API provided by LuaJIT itself.
  143. </p>
  144. <p>
  145. On Windows systems, this binds to symbols exported from the
  146. <tt>*.exe</tt>, the <tt>lua51.dll</tt> (i.e. the Lua/C&nbsp;API
  147. provided by LuaJIT itself), the C&nbsp;runtime library LuaJIT was linked
  148. with (<tt>msvcrt*.dll</tt>), <tt>kernel32.dll</tt>,
  149. <tt>user32.dll</tt> and <tt>gdi32.dll</tt>.
  150. </p>
  151. <h3 id="ffi_load"><tt>clib = ffi.load(name [,global])</tt></h3>
  152. <p>
  153. This loads the dynamic library given by <tt>name</tt> and returns
  154. a new C&nbsp;library namespace which binds to its symbols. On POSIX
  155. systems, if <tt>global</tt> is <tt>true</tt>, the library symbols are
  156. loaded into the global namespace, too.
  157. </p>
  158. <p>
  159. If <tt>name</tt> is a path, the library is loaded from this path.
  160. Otherwise <tt>name</tt> is canonicalized in a system-dependent way and
  161. searched in the default search path for dynamic libraries:
  162. </p>
  163. <p>
  164. On POSIX systems, if the name contains no dot, the extension
  165. <tt>.so</tt> is appended. Also, the <tt>lib</tt> prefix is prepended
  166. if necessary. So <tt>ffi.load("z")</tt> looks for <tt>"libz.so"</tt>
  167. in the default shared library search path.
  168. </p>
  169. <p>
  170. On Windows systems, if the name contains no dot, the extension
  171. <tt>.dll</tt> is appended. So <tt>ffi.load("ws2_32")</tt> looks for
  172. <tt>"ws2_32.dll"</tt> in the default DLL search path.
  173. </p>
  174. <h2 id="create">Creating cdata Objects</h2>
  175. <p>
  176. The following API functions create cdata objects (<tt>type()</tt>
  177. returns <tt>"cdata"</tt>). All created cdata objects are
  178. <a href="ext_ffi_semantics.html#gc">garbage collected</a>.
  179. </p>
  180. <h3 id="ffi_new"><tt>cdata = ffi.new(ct [,nelem] [,init...])<br>
  181. cdata = <em>ctype</em>([nelem,] [init...])</tt></h3>
  182. <p>
  183. Creates a cdata object for the given <tt>ct</tt>. VLA/VLS types
  184. require the <tt>nelem</tt> argument. The second syntax uses a ctype as
  185. a constructor and is otherwise fully equivalent.
  186. </p>
  187. <p>
  188. The cdata object is initialized according to the
  189. <a href="ext_ffi_semantics.html#init">rules for initializers</a>,
  190. using the optional <tt>init</tt> arguments. Excess initializers cause
  191. an error.
  192. </p>
  193. <p>
  194. Performance notice: if you want to create many objects of one kind,
  195. parse the cdecl only once and get its ctype with
  196. <tt>ffi.typeof()</tt>. Then use the ctype as a constructor repeatedly.
  197. </p>
  198. <p style="font-size: 8pt;">
  199. Please note, that an anonymous <tt>struct</tt> declaration implicitly
  200. creates a new and distinguished ctype every time you use it for
  201. <tt>ffi.new()</tt>. This is probably <b>not</b> what you want,
  202. especially if you create more than one cdata object. Different anonymous
  203. <tt>structs</tt> are not considered assignment-compatible by the
  204. C&nbsp;standard, even though they may have the same fields! Also, they
  205. are considered different types by the JIT-compiler, which may cause an
  206. excessive number of traces. It's strongly suggested to either declare
  207. a named <tt>struct</tt> or <tt>typedef</tt> with <tt>ffi.cdef()</tt>
  208. or to create a single ctype object for an anonymous <tt>struct</tt>
  209. with <tt>ffi.typeof()</tt>.
  210. </p>
  211. <h3 id="ffi_typeof"><tt>ctype = ffi.typeof(ct)</tt></h3>
  212. <p>
  213. Creates a ctype object for the given <tt>ct</tt>.
  214. </p>
  215. <p>
  216. This function is especially useful to parse a cdecl only once and then
  217. use the resulting ctype object as a <a href="#ffi_new">constructor</a>.
  218. </p>
  219. <h3 id="ffi_cast"><tt>cdata = ffi.cast(ct, init)</tt></h3>
  220. <p>
  221. Creates a scalar cdata object for the given <tt>ct</tt>. The cdata
  222. object is initialized with <tt>init</tt> using the "cast" variant of
  223. the <a href="ext_ffi_semantics.html#convert">C&nbsp;type conversion
  224. rules</a>.
  225. </p>
  226. <p>
  227. This functions is mainly useful to override the pointer compatibility
  228. checks or to convert pointers to addresses or vice versa.
  229. </p>
  230. <h3 id="ffi_metatype"><tt>ctype = ffi.metatype(ct, metatable)</tt></h3>
  231. <p>
  232. Creates a ctype object for the given <tt>ct</tt> and associates it with
  233. a metatable. Only <tt>struct</tt>/<tt>union</tt> types, complex numbers
  234. and vectors are allowed. Other types may be wrapped in a
  235. <tt>struct</tt>, if needed.
  236. </p>
  237. <p>
  238. The association with a metatable is permanent and cannot be changed
  239. afterwards. Neither the contents of the <tt>metatable</tt> nor the
  240. contents of an <tt>__index</tt> table (if any) may be modified
  241. afterwards. The associated metatable automatically applies to all uses
  242. of this type, no matter how the objects are created or where they
  243. originate from. Note that predefined operations on types have
  244. precedence (e.g. declared field names cannot be overridden).
  245. </p>
  246. <p>
  247. All standard Lua metamethods are implemented. These are called directly,
  248. without shortcuts, and on any mix of types. For binary operations, the
  249. left operand is checked first for a valid ctype metamethod. The
  250. <tt>__gc</tt> metamethod only applies to <tt>struct</tt>/<tt>union</tt>
  251. types and performs an implicit <a href="#ffi_gc"><tt>ffi.gc()</tt></a>
  252. call during creation of an instance.
  253. </p>
  254. <h3 id="ffi_gc"><tt>cdata = ffi.gc(cdata, finalizer)</tt></h3>
  255. <p>
  256. Associates a finalizer with a pointer or aggregate cdata object. The
  257. cdata object is returned unchanged.
  258. </p>
  259. <p>
  260. This function allows safe integration of unmanaged resources into the
  261. automatic memory management of the LuaJIT garbage collector. Typical
  262. usage:
  263. </p>
  264. <pre class="code">
  265. local p = ffi.gc(ffi.C.malloc(n), ffi.C.free)
  266. ...
  267. p = nil -- Last reference to p is gone.
  268. -- GC will eventually run finalizer: ffi.C.free(p)
  269. </pre>
  270. <p>
  271. A cdata finalizer works like the <tt>__gc</tt> metamethod for userdata
  272. objects: when the last reference to a cdata object is gone, the
  273. associated finalizer is called with the cdata object as an argument. The
  274. finalizer can be a Lua function or a cdata function or cdata function
  275. pointer. An existing finalizer can be removed by setting a <tt>nil</tt>
  276. finalizer, e.g. right before explicitly deleting a resource:
  277. </p>
  278. <pre class="code">
  279. ffi.C.free(ffi.gc(p, nil)) -- Manually free the memory.
  280. </pre>
  281. <h2 id="info">C&nbsp;Type Information</h2>
  282. <p>
  283. The following API functions return information about C&nbsp;types.
  284. They are most useful for inspecting cdata objects.
  285. </p>
  286. <h3 id="ffi_sizeof"><tt>size = ffi.sizeof(ct [,nelem])</tt></h3>
  287. <p>
  288. Returns the size of <tt>ct</tt> in bytes. Returns <tt>nil</tt> if
  289. the size is not known (e.g. for <tt>"void"</tt> or function types).
  290. Requires <tt>nelem</tt> for VLA/VLS types, except for cdata objects.
  291. </p>
  292. <h3 id="ffi_alignof"><tt>align = ffi.alignof(ct)</tt></h3>
  293. <p>
  294. Returns the minimum required alignment for <tt>ct</tt> in bytes.
  295. </p>
  296. <h3 id="ffi_offsetof"><tt>ofs [,bpos,bsize] = ffi.offsetof(ct, field)</tt></h3>
  297. <p>
  298. Returns the offset (in bytes) of <tt>field</tt> relative to the start
  299. of <tt>ct</tt>, which must be a <tt>struct</tt>. Additionally returns
  300. the position and the field size (in bits) for bit fields.
  301. </p>
  302. <h3 id="ffi_istype"><tt>status = ffi.istype(ct, obj)</tt></h3>
  303. <p>
  304. Returns <tt>true</tt> if <tt>obj</tt> has the C&nbsp;type given by
  305. <tt>ct</tt>. Returns <tt>false</tt> otherwise.
  306. </p>
  307. <p>
  308. C&nbsp;type qualifiers (<tt>const</tt> etc.) are ignored. Pointers are
  309. checked with the standard pointer compatibility rules, but without any
  310. special treatment for <tt>void&nbsp;*</tt>. If <tt>ct</tt> specifies a
  311. <tt>struct</tt>/<tt>union</tt>, then a pointer to this type is accepted,
  312. too. Otherwise the types must match exactly.
  313. </p>
  314. <p>
  315. Note: this function accepts all kinds of Lua objects for the
  316. <tt>obj</tt> argument, but always returns <tt>false</tt> for non-cdata
  317. objects.
  318. </p>
  319. <h2 id="util">Utility Functions</h2>
  320. <h3 id="ffi_errno"><tt>err = ffi.errno([newerr])</tt></h3>
  321. <p>
  322. Returns the error number set by the last C&nbsp;function call which
  323. indicated an error condition. If the optional <tt>newerr</tt> argument
  324. is present, the error number is set to the new value and the previous
  325. value is returned.
  326. </p>
  327. <p>
  328. This function offers a portable and OS-independent way to get and set the
  329. error number. Note that only <em>some</em> C&nbsp;functions set the error
  330. number. And it's only significant if the function actually indicated an
  331. error condition (e.g. with a return value of <tt>-1</tt> or
  332. <tt>NULL</tt>). Otherwise, it may or may not contain any previously set
  333. value.
  334. </p>
  335. <p>
  336. You're advised to call this function only when needed and as close as
  337. possible after the return of the related C&nbsp;function. The
  338. <tt>errno</tt> value is preserved across hooks, memory allocations,
  339. invocations of the JIT compiler and other internal VM activity. The same
  340. applies to the value returned by <tt>GetLastError()</tt> on Windows, but
  341. you need to declare and call it yourself.
  342. </p>
  343. <h3 id="ffi_string"><tt>str = ffi.string(ptr [,len])</tt></h3>
  344. <p>
  345. Creates an interned Lua string from the data pointed to by
  346. <tt>ptr</tt>.
  347. </p>
  348. <p>
  349. If the optional argument <tt>len</tt> is missing, <tt>ptr</tt> is
  350. converted to a <tt>"char&nbsp;*"</tt> and the data is assumed to be
  351. zero-terminated. The length of the string is computed with
  352. <tt>strlen()</tt>.
  353. </p>
  354. <p>
  355. Otherwise <tt>ptr</tt> is converted to a <tt>"void&nbsp;*"</tt> and
  356. <tt>len</tt> gives the length of the data. The data may contain
  357. embedded zeros and need not be byte-oriented (though this may cause
  358. endianess issues).
  359. </p>
  360. <p>
  361. This function is mainly useful to convert (temporary)
  362. <tt>"const&nbsp;char&nbsp;*"</tt> pointers returned by
  363. C&nbsp;functions to Lua strings and store them or pass them to other
  364. functions expecting a Lua string. The Lua string is an (interned) copy
  365. of the data and bears no relation to the original data area anymore.
  366. Lua strings are 8&nbsp;bit clean and may be used to hold arbitrary,
  367. non-character data.
  368. </p>
  369. <p>
  370. Performance notice: it's faster to pass the length of the string, if
  371. it's known. E.g. when the length is returned by a C&nbsp;call like
  372. <tt>sprintf()</tt>.
  373. </p>
  374. <h3 id="ffi_copy"><tt>ffi.copy(dst, src, len)<br>
  375. ffi.copy(dst, str)</tt></h3>
  376. <p>
  377. Copies the data pointed to by <tt>src</tt> to <tt>dst</tt>.
  378. <tt>dst</tt> is converted to a <tt>"void&nbsp;*"</tt> and <tt>src</tt>
  379. is converted to a <tt>"const void&nbsp;*"</tt>.
  380. </p>
  381. <p>
  382. In the first syntax, <tt>len</tt> gives the number of bytes to copy.
  383. Caveat: if <tt>src</tt> is a Lua string, then <tt>len</tt> must not
  384. exceed <tt>#src+1</tt>.
  385. </p>
  386. <p>
  387. In the second syntax, the source of the copy must be a Lua string. All
  388. bytes of the string <em>plus a zero-terminator</em> are copied to
  389. <tt>dst</tt> (i.e. <tt>#src+1</tt> bytes).
  390. </p>
  391. <p>
  392. Performance notice: <tt>ffi.copy()</tt> may be used as a faster
  393. (inlinable) replacement for the C&nbsp;library functions
  394. <tt>memcpy()</tt>, <tt>strcpy()</tt> and <tt>strncpy()</tt>.
  395. </p>
  396. <h3 id="ffi_fill"><tt>ffi.fill(dst, len [,c])</tt></h3>
  397. <p>
  398. Fills the data pointed to by <tt>dst</tt> with <tt>len</tt> constant
  399. bytes, given by <tt>c</tt>. If <tt>c</tt> is omitted, the data is
  400. zero-filled.
  401. </p>
  402. <p>
  403. Performance notice: <tt>ffi.fill()</tt> may be used as a faster
  404. (inlinable) replacement for the C&nbsp;library function
  405. <tt>memset(dst,&nbsp;c,&nbsp;len)</tt>. Please note the different
  406. order of arguments!
  407. </p>
  408. <h2 id="target">Target-specific Information</h2>
  409. <h3 id="ffi_abi"><tt>status = ffi.abi(param)</tt></h3>
  410. <p>
  411. Returns <tt>true</tt> if <tt>param</tt> (a Lua string) applies for the
  412. target ABI (Application Binary Interface). Returns <tt>false</tt>
  413. otherwise. The following parameters are currently defined:
  414. </p>
  415. <table class="abitable">
  416. <tr class="abihead">
  417. <td class="abiparam">Parameter</td>
  418. <td class="abidesc">Description</td>
  419. </tr>
  420. <tr class="odd separate">
  421. <td class="abiparam">32bit</td><td class="abidesc">32 bit architecture</td></tr>
  422. <tr class="even">
  423. <td class="abiparam">64bit</td><td class="abidesc">64 bit architecture</td></tr>
  424. <tr class="odd separate">
  425. <td class="abiparam">le</td><td class="abidesc">Little-endian architecture</td></tr>
  426. <tr class="even">
  427. <td class="abiparam">be</td><td class="abidesc">Big-endian architecture</td></tr>
  428. <tr class="odd separate">
  429. <td class="abiparam">fpu</td><td class="abidesc">Target has a hardware FPU</td></tr>
  430. <tr class="even">
  431. <td class="abiparam">softfp</td><td class="abidesc">softfp calling conventions</td></tr>
  432. <tr class="odd">
  433. <td class="abiparam">hardfp</td><td class="abidesc">hardfp calling conventions</td></tr>
  434. <tr class="even separate">
  435. <td class="abiparam">eabi</td><td class="abidesc">EABI variant of the standard ABI</td></tr>
  436. <tr class="odd">
  437. <td class="abiparam">win</td><td class="abidesc">Windows variant of the standard ABI</td></tr>
  438. </table>
  439. <h3 id="ffi_os"><tt>ffi.os</tt></h3>
  440. <p>
  441. Contains the target OS name. Same contents as
  442. <a href="ext_jit.html#jit_os"><tt>jit.os</tt></a>.
  443. </p>
  444. <h3 id="ffi_arch"><tt>ffi.arch</tt></h3>
  445. <p>
  446. Contains the target architecture name. Same contents as
  447. <a href="ext_jit.html#jit_arch"><tt>jit.arch</tt></a>.
  448. </p>
  449. <h2 id="callback">Methods for Callbacks</h2>
  450. <p>
  451. The C&nbsp;types for <a href="ext_ffi_semantics.html#callback">callbacks</a>
  452. have some extra methods:
  453. </p>
  454. <h3 id="callback_free"><tt>cb:free()</tt></h3>
  455. <p>
  456. Free the resources associated with a callback. The associated Lua
  457. function is unanchored and may be garbage collected. The callback
  458. function pointer is no longer valid and must not be called again
  459. (it may be reused by a subsequently created callback).
  460. </p>
  461. <h3 id="callback_set"><tt>cb:set(func)</tt></h3>
  462. <p>
  463. Associate a new Lua function with a callback. The C&nbsp;type of the
  464. callback and the callback function pointer are unchanged.
  465. </p>
  466. <p>
  467. This method is useful to dynamically switch the receiver of callbacks
  468. without creating a new callback each time and registering it again (e.g.
  469. with a GUI library).
  470. </p>
  471. <h2 id="extended">Extended Standard Library Functions</h2>
  472. <p>
  473. The following standard library functions have been extended to work
  474. with cdata objects:
  475. </p>
  476. <h3 id="tonumber"><tt>n = tonumber(cdata)</tt></h3>
  477. <p>
  478. Converts a number cdata object to a <tt>double</tt> and returns it as
  479. a Lua number. This is particularly useful for boxed 64&nbsp;bit
  480. integer values. Caveat: this conversion may incur a precision loss.
  481. </p>
  482. <h3 id="tostring"><tt>s = tostring(cdata)</tt></h3>
  483. <p>
  484. Returns a string representation of the value of 64&nbsp;bit integers
  485. (<tt><b>"</b>nnn<b>LL"</b></tt> or <tt><b>"</b>nnn<b>ULL"</b></tt>) or
  486. complex numbers (<tt><b>"</b>re&plusmn;im<b>i"</b></tt>). Otherwise
  487. returns a string representation of the C&nbsp;type of a ctype object
  488. (<tt><b>"ctype&lt;</b>type<b>&gt;"</b></tt>) or a cdata object
  489. (<tt><b>"cdata&lt;</b>type<b>&gt;:&nbsp;</b>address"</tt>), unless you
  490. override it with a <tt>__tostring</tt> metamethod (see
  491. <a href="#ffi_metatype"><tt>ffi.metatype()</tt></a>).
  492. </p>
  493. <h3 id="pairs"><tt>iter, obj, start = pairs(cdata)<br>
  494. iter, obj, start = ipairs(cdata)<br></tt></h3>
  495. <p>
  496. Calls the <tt>__pairs</tt> or <tt>__ipairs</tt> metamethod of the
  497. corresponding ctype.
  498. </p>
  499. <h2 id="literals">Extensions to the Lua Parser</h2>
  500. <p>
  501. The parser for Lua source code treats numeric literals with the
  502. suffixes <tt>LL</tt> or <tt>ULL</tt> as signed or unsigned 64&nbsp;bit
  503. integers. Case doesn't matter, but uppercase is recommended for
  504. readability. It handles both decimal (<tt>42LL</tt>) and hexadecimal
  505. (<tt>0x2aLL</tt>) literals.
  506. </p>
  507. <p>
  508. The imaginary part of complex numbers can be specified by suffixing
  509. number literals with <tt>i</tt> or <tt>I</tt>, e.g. <tt>12.5i</tt>.
  510. Caveat: you'll need to use <tt>1i</tt> to get an imaginary part with
  511. the value one, since <tt>i</tt> itself still refers to a variable
  512. named <tt>i</tt>.
  513. </p>
  514. <br class="flush">
  515. </div>
  516. <div id="foot">
  517. <hr class="hide">
  518. Copyright &copy; 2005-2023
  519. <span class="noprint">
  520. &middot;
  521. <a href="contact.html">Contact</a>
  522. </span>
  523. </div>
  524. </body>
  525. </html>