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4 Copyright (C) 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,
5 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free
6 Software Foundation, Inc.
8 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
9 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
10 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of
11 the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
14 This manual contains no Invariant Sections. The Front-Cover Texts
15 are (a) (see below), and the Back-Cover Texts are (b) (see below).
17 (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:
21 (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:
23 You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
24 software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
25 funds for GNU development.
27 INFO-DIR-SECTION Software development
29 * Cpp: (cpp). The GNU C preprocessor.
33 File: cpp.info, Node: Top, Next: Overview, Up: (dir)
38 The C preprocessor implements the macro language used to transform C,
39 C++, and Objective-C programs before they are compiled. It can also be
52 * Preprocessor Output::
54 * Implementation Details::
56 * Environment Variables::
57 * GNU Free Documentation License::
58 * Index of Directives::
62 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
67 * Initial processing::
69 * The preprocessing language::
77 * Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef::
84 * Object-like Macros::
85 * Function-like Macros::
91 * Undefining and Redefining Macros::
92 * Directives Within Macro Arguments::
97 * Standard Predefined Macros::
98 * Common Predefined Macros::
99 * System-specific Predefined Macros::
100 * C++ Named Operators::
105 * Operator Precedence Problems::
106 * Swallowing the Semicolon::
107 * Duplication of Side Effects::
108 * Self-Referential Macros::
110 * Newlines in Arguments::
115 * Conditional Syntax::
126 Implementation Details
128 * Implementation-defined behavior::
129 * Implementation limits::
130 * Obsolete Features::
131 * Differences from previous versions::
135 * Obsolete Features::
137 Copyright (C) 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,
138 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free
139 Software Foundation, Inc.
141 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
142 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
143 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of
144 the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
147 This manual contains no Invariant Sections. The Front-Cover Texts
148 are (a) (see below), and the Back-Cover Texts are (b) (see below).
150 (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is:
154 (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is:
156 You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU
157 software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise
158 funds for GNU development.
161 File: cpp.info, Node: Overview, Next: Header Files, Prev: Top, Up: Top
166 The C preprocessor, often known as "cpp", is a "macro processor" that
167 is used automatically by the C compiler to transform your program
168 before compilation. It is called a macro processor because it allows
169 you to define "macros", which are brief abbreviations for longer
172 The C preprocessor is intended to be used only with C, C++, and
173 Objective-C source code. In the past, it has been abused as a general
174 text processor. It will choke on input which does not obey C's lexical
175 rules. For example, apostrophes will be interpreted as the beginning of
176 character constants, and cause errors. Also, you cannot rely on it
177 preserving characteristics of the input which are not significant to
178 C-family languages. If a Makefile is preprocessed, all the hard tabs
179 will be removed, and the Makefile will not work.
181 Having said that, you can often get away with using cpp on things
182 which are not C. Other Algol-ish programming languages are often safe
183 (Pascal, Ada, etc.) So is assembly, with caution. `-traditional-cpp'
184 mode preserves more white space, and is otherwise more permissive. Many
185 of the problems can be avoided by writing C or C++ style comments
186 instead of native language comments, and keeping macros simple.
188 Wherever possible, you should use a preprocessor geared to the
189 language you are writing in. Modern versions of the GNU assembler have
190 macro facilities. Most high level programming languages have their own
191 conditional compilation and inclusion mechanism. If all else fails,
192 try a true general text processor, such as GNU M4.
194 C preprocessors vary in some details. This manual discusses the GNU
195 C preprocessor, which provides a small superset of the features of ISO
196 Standard C. In its default mode, the GNU C preprocessor does not do a
197 few things required by the standard. These are features which are
198 rarely, if ever, used, and may cause surprising changes to the meaning
199 of a program which does not expect them. To get strict ISO Standard C,
200 you should use the `-std=c89' or `-std=c99' options, depending on which
201 version of the standard you want. To get all the mandatory
202 diagnostics, you must also use `-pedantic'. *Note Invocation::.
204 This manual describes the behavior of the ISO preprocessor. To
205 minimize gratuitous differences, where the ISO preprocessor's behavior
206 does not conflict with traditional semantics, the traditional
207 preprocessor should behave the same way. The various differences that
208 do exist are detailed in the section *Note Traditional Mode::.
210 For clarity, unless noted otherwise, references to `CPP' in this
211 manual refer to GNU CPP.
216 * Initial processing::
218 * The preprocessing language::
221 File: cpp.info, Node: Character sets, Next: Initial processing, Up: Overview
226 Source code character set processing in C and related languages is
227 rather complicated. The C standard discusses two character sets, but
228 there are really at least four.
230 The files input to CPP might be in any character set at all. CPP's
231 very first action, before it even looks for line boundaries, is to
232 convert the file into the character set it uses for internal
233 processing. That set is what the C standard calls the "source"
234 character set. It must be isomorphic with ISO 10646, also known as
235 Unicode. CPP uses the UTF-8 encoding of Unicode.
237 The character sets of the input files are specified using the
238 `-finput-charset=' option.
240 All preprocessing work (the subject of the rest of this manual) is
241 carried out in the source character set. If you request textual output
242 from the preprocessor with the `-E' option, it will be in UTF-8.
244 After preprocessing is complete, string and character constants are
245 converted again, into the "execution" character set. This character
246 set is under control of the user; the default is UTF-8, matching the
247 source character set. Wide string and character constants have their
248 own character set, which is not called out specifically in the
249 standard. Again, it is under control of the user. The default is
250 UTF-16 or UTF-32, whichever fits in the target's `wchar_t' type, in the
251 target machine's byte order.(1) Octal and hexadecimal escape sequences
252 do not undergo conversion; '\x12' has the value 0x12 regardless of the
253 currently selected execution character set. All other escapes are
254 replaced by the character in the source character set that they
255 represent, then converted to the execution character set, just like
256 unescaped characters.
258 Unless the experimental `-fextended-identifiers' option is used, GCC
259 does not permit the use of characters outside the ASCII range, nor `\u'
260 and `\U' escapes, in identifiers. Even with that option, characters
261 outside the ASCII range can only be specified with the `\u' and `\U'
262 escapes, not used directly in identifiers.
264 ---------- Footnotes ----------
266 (1) UTF-16 does not meet the requirements of the C standard for a
267 wide character set, but the choice of 16-bit `wchar_t' is enshrined in
268 some system ABIs so we cannot fix this.
271 File: cpp.info, Node: Initial processing, Next: Tokenization, Prev: Character sets, Up: Overview
273 1.2 Initial processing
274 ======================
276 The preprocessor performs a series of textual transformations on its
277 input. These happen before all other processing. Conceptually, they
278 happen in a rigid order, and the entire file is run through each
279 transformation before the next one begins. CPP actually does them all
280 at once, for performance reasons. These transformations correspond
281 roughly to the first three "phases of translation" described in the C
284 1. The input file is read into memory and broken into lines.
286 Different systems use different conventions to indicate the end of
287 a line. GCC accepts the ASCII control sequences `LF', `CR LF' and
288 `CR' as end-of-line markers. These are the canonical sequences
289 used by Unix, DOS and VMS, and the classic Mac OS (before OSX)
290 respectively. You may therefore safely copy source code written
291 on any of those systems to a different one and use it without
292 conversion. (GCC may lose track of the current line number if a
293 file doesn't consistently use one convention, as sometimes happens
294 when it is edited on computers with different conventions that
295 share a network file system.)
297 If the last line of any input file lacks an end-of-line marker,
298 the end of the file is considered to implicitly supply one. The C
299 standard says that this condition provokes undefined behavior, so
300 GCC will emit a warning message.
302 2. If trigraphs are enabled, they are replaced by their corresponding
303 single characters. By default GCC ignores trigraphs, but if you
304 request a strictly conforming mode with the `-std' option, or you
305 specify the `-trigraphs' option, then it converts them.
307 These are nine three-character sequences, all starting with `??',
308 that are defined by ISO C to stand for single characters. They
309 permit obsolete systems that lack some of C's punctuation to use
310 C. For example, `??/' stands for `\', so '??/n' is a character
311 constant for a newline.
313 Trigraphs are not popular and many compilers implement them
314 incorrectly. Portable code should not rely on trigraphs being
315 either converted or ignored. With `-Wtrigraphs' GCC will warn you
316 when a trigraph may change the meaning of your program if it were
317 converted. *Note Wtrigraphs::.
319 In a string constant, you can prevent a sequence of question marks
320 from being confused with a trigraph by inserting a backslash
321 between the question marks, or by separating the string literal at
322 the trigraph and making use of string literal concatenation.
323 "(??\?)" is the string `(???)', not `(?]'. Traditional C
324 compilers do not recognize these idioms.
326 The nine trigraphs and their replacements are
328 Trigraph: ??( ??) ??< ??> ??= ??/ ??' ??! ??-
329 Replacement: [ ] { } # \ ^ | ~
331 3. Continued lines are merged into one long line.
333 A continued line is a line which ends with a backslash, `\'. The
334 backslash is removed and the following line is joined with the
335 current one. No space is inserted, so you may split a line
336 anywhere, even in the middle of a word. (It is generally more
337 readable to split lines only at white space.)
339 The trailing backslash on a continued line is commonly referred to
340 as a "backslash-newline".
342 If there is white space between a backslash and the end of a line,
343 that is still a continued line. However, as this is usually the
344 result of an editing mistake, and many compilers will not accept
345 it as a continued line, GCC will warn you about it.
347 4. All comments are replaced with single spaces.
349 There are two kinds of comments. "Block comments" begin with `/*'
350 and continue until the next `*/'. Block comments do not nest:
352 /* this is /* one comment */ text outside comment
354 "Line comments" begin with `//' and continue to the end of the
355 current line. Line comments do not nest either, but it does not
356 matter, because they would end in the same place anyway.
358 // this is // one comment
361 It is safe to put line comments inside block comments, or vice versa.
364 // contains line comment
368 // line comment /* contains block comment */
370 But beware of commenting out one end of a block comment with a line
373 // l.c. /* block comment begins
374 oops! this isn't a comment anymore */
376 Comments are not recognized within string literals. "/* blah */" is
377 the string constant `/* blah */', not an empty string.
379 Line comments are not in the 1989 edition of the C standard, but they
380 are recognized by GCC as an extension. In C++ and in the 1999 edition
381 of the C standard, they are an official part of the language.
383 Since these transformations happen before all other processing, you
384 can split a line mechanically with backslash-newline anywhere. You can
385 comment out the end of a line. You can continue a line comment onto the
386 next line with backslash-newline. You can even split `/*', `*/', and
387 `//' onto multiple lines with backslash-newline. For example:
397 is equivalent to `#define FOO 1020'. All these tricks are extremely
398 confusing and should not be used in code intended to be readable.
400 There is no way to prevent a backslash at the end of a line from
401 being interpreted as a backslash-newline. This cannot affect any
402 correct program, however.
405 File: cpp.info, Node: Tokenization, Next: The preprocessing language, Prev: Initial processing, Up: Overview
410 After the textual transformations are finished, the input file is
411 converted into a sequence of "preprocessing tokens". These mostly
412 correspond to the syntactic tokens used by the C compiler, but there are
413 a few differences. White space separates tokens; it is not itself a
414 token of any kind. Tokens do not have to be separated by white space,
415 but it is often necessary to avoid ambiguities.
417 When faced with a sequence of characters that has more than one
418 possible tokenization, the preprocessor is greedy. It always makes
419 each token, starting from the left, as big as possible before moving on
420 to the next token. For instance, `a+++++b' is interpreted as
421 `a ++ ++ + b', not as `a ++ + ++ b', even though the latter
422 tokenization could be part of a valid C program and the former could
425 Once the input file is broken into tokens, the token boundaries never
426 change, except when the `##' preprocessing operator is used to paste
427 tokens together. *Note Concatenation::. For example,
435 The compiler does not re-tokenize the preprocessor's output. Each
436 preprocessing token becomes one compiler token.
438 Preprocessing tokens fall into five broad classes: identifiers,
439 preprocessing numbers, string literals, punctuators, and other. An
440 "identifier" is the same as an identifier in C: any sequence of
441 letters, digits, or underscores, which begins with a letter or
442 underscore. Keywords of C have no significance to the preprocessor;
443 they are ordinary identifiers. You can define a macro whose name is a
444 keyword, for instance. The only identifier which can be considered a
445 preprocessing keyword is `defined'. *Note Defined::.
447 This is mostly true of other languages which use the C preprocessor.
448 However, a few of the keywords of C++ are significant even in the
449 preprocessor. *Note C++ Named Operators::.
451 In the 1999 C standard, identifiers may contain letters which are not
452 part of the "basic source character set", at the implementation's
453 discretion (such as accented Latin letters, Greek letters, or Chinese
454 ideograms). This may be done with an extended character set, or the
455 `\u' and `\U' escape sequences. The implementation of this feature in
456 GCC is experimental; such characters are only accepted in the `\u' and
457 `\U' forms and only if `-fextended-identifiers' is used.
459 As an extension, GCC treats `$' as a letter. This is for
460 compatibility with some systems, such as VMS, where `$' is commonly
461 used in system-defined function and object names. `$' is not a letter
462 in strictly conforming mode, or if you specify the `-$' option. *Note
465 A "preprocessing number" has a rather bizarre definition. The
466 category includes all the normal integer and floating point constants
467 one expects of C, but also a number of other things one might not
468 initially recognize as a number. Formally, preprocessing numbers begin
469 with an optional period, a required decimal digit, and then continue
470 with any sequence of letters, digits, underscores, periods, and
471 exponents. Exponents are the two-character sequences `e+', `e-', `E+',
472 `E-', `p+', `p-', `P+', and `P-'. (The exponents that begin with `p'
473 or `P' are new to C99. They are used for hexadecimal floating-point
476 The purpose of this unusual definition is to isolate the preprocessor
477 from the full complexity of numeric constants. It does not have to
478 distinguish between lexically valid and invalid floating-point numbers,
479 which is complicated. The definition also permits you to split an
480 identifier at any position and get exactly two tokens, which can then be
481 pasted back together with the `##' operator.
483 It's possible for preprocessing numbers to cause programs to be
484 misinterpreted. For example, `0xE+12' is a preprocessing number which
485 does not translate to any valid numeric constant, therefore a syntax
486 error. It does not mean `0xE + 12', which is what you might have
489 "String literals" are string constants, character constants, and
490 header file names (the argument of `#include').(1) String constants
491 and character constants are straightforward: "..." or '...'. In either
492 case embedded quotes should be escaped with a backslash: '\'' is the
493 character constant for `''. There is no limit on the length of a
494 character constant, but the value of a character constant that contains
495 more than one character is implementation-defined. *Note
496 Implementation Details::.
498 Header file names either look like string constants, "...", or are
499 written with angle brackets instead, <...>. In either case, backslash
500 is an ordinary character. There is no way to escape the closing quote
501 or angle bracket. The preprocessor looks for the header file in
502 different places depending on which form you use. *Note Include
505 No string literal may extend past the end of a line. Older versions
506 of GCC accepted multi-line string constants. You may use continued
507 lines instead, or string constant concatenation. *Note Differences
508 from previous versions::.
510 "Punctuators" are all the usual bits of punctuation which are
511 meaningful to C and C++. All but three of the punctuation characters in
512 ASCII are C punctuators. The exceptions are `@', `$', and ``'. In
513 addition, all the two- and three-character operators are punctuators.
514 There are also six "digraphs", which the C++ standard calls
515 "alternative tokens", which are merely alternate ways to spell other
516 punctuators. This is a second attempt to work around missing
517 punctuation in obsolete systems. It has no negative side effects,
518 unlike trigraphs, but does not cover as much ground. The digraphs and
519 their corresponding normal punctuators are:
521 Digraph: <% %> <: :> %: %:%:
522 Punctuator: { } [ ] # ##
524 Any other single character is considered "other". It is passed on to
525 the preprocessor's output unmolested. The C compiler will almost
526 certainly reject source code containing "other" tokens. In ASCII, the
527 only other characters are `@', `$', ``', and control characters other
528 than NUL (all bits zero). (Note that `$' is normally considered a
529 letter.) All characters with the high bit set (numeric range
530 0x7F-0xFF) are also "other" in the present implementation. This will
531 change when proper support for international character sets is added to
534 NUL is a special case because of the high probability that its
535 appearance is accidental, and because it may be invisible to the user
536 (many terminals do not display NUL at all). Within comments, NULs are
537 silently ignored, just as any other character would be. In running
538 text, NUL is considered white space. For example, these two directives
539 have the same meaning.
544 (where `^@' is ASCII NUL). Within string or character constants, NULs
545 are preserved. In the latter two cases the preprocessor emits a
548 ---------- Footnotes ----------
550 (1) The C standard uses the term "string literal" to refer only to
551 what we are calling "string constants".
554 File: cpp.info, Node: The preprocessing language, Prev: Tokenization, Up: Overview
556 1.4 The preprocessing language
557 ==============================
559 After tokenization, the stream of tokens may simply be passed straight
560 to the compiler's parser. However, if it contains any operations in the
561 "preprocessing language", it will be transformed first. This stage
562 corresponds roughly to the standard's "translation phase 4" and is what
563 most people think of as the preprocessor's job.
565 The preprocessing language consists of "directives" to be executed
566 and "macros" to be expanded. Its primary capabilities are:
568 * Inclusion of header files. These are files of declarations that
569 can be substituted into your program.
571 * Macro expansion. You can define "macros", which are abbreviations
572 for arbitrary fragments of C code. The preprocessor will replace
573 the macros with their definitions throughout the program. Some
574 macros are automatically defined for you.
576 * Conditional compilation. You can include or exclude parts of the
577 program according to various conditions.
579 * Line control. If you use a program to combine or rearrange source
580 files into an intermediate file which is then compiled, you can
581 use line control to inform the compiler where each source line
582 originally came from.
584 * Diagnostics. You can detect problems at compile time and issue
587 There are a few more, less useful, features.
589 Except for expansion of predefined macros, all these operations are
590 triggered with "preprocessing directives". Preprocessing directives
591 are lines in your program that start with `#'. Whitespace is allowed
592 before and after the `#'. The `#' is followed by an identifier, the
593 "directive name". It specifies the operation to perform. Directives
594 are commonly referred to as `#NAME' where NAME is the directive name.
595 For example, `#define' is the directive that defines a macro.
597 The `#' which begins a directive cannot come from a macro expansion.
598 Also, the directive name is not macro expanded. Thus, if `foo' is
599 defined as a macro expanding to `define', that does not make `#foo' a
600 valid preprocessing directive.
602 The set of valid directive names is fixed. Programs cannot define
603 new preprocessing directives.
605 Some directives require arguments; these make up the rest of the
606 directive line and must be separated from the directive name by
607 whitespace. For example, `#define' must be followed by a macro name
608 and the intended expansion of the macro.
610 A preprocessing directive cannot cover more than one line. The line
611 may, however, be continued with backslash-newline, or by a block comment
612 which extends past the end of the line. In either case, when the
613 directive is processed, the continuations have already been merged with
614 the first line to make one long line.
617 File: cpp.info, Node: Header Files, Next: Macros, Prev: Overview, Up: Top
622 A header file is a file containing C declarations and macro definitions
623 (*note Macros::) to be shared between several source files. You request
624 the use of a header file in your program by "including" it, with the C
625 preprocessing directive `#include'.
627 Header files serve two purposes.
629 * System header files declare the interfaces to parts of the
630 operating system. You include them in your program to supply the
631 definitions and declarations you need to invoke system calls and
634 * Your own header files contain declarations for interfaces between
635 the source files of your program. Each time you have a group of
636 related declarations and macro definitions all or most of which
637 are needed in several different source files, it is a good idea to
638 create a header file for them.
640 Including a header file produces the same results as copying the
641 header file into each source file that needs it. Such copying would be
642 time-consuming and error-prone. With a header file, the related
643 declarations appear in only one place. If they need to be changed, they
644 can be changed in one place, and programs that include the header file
645 will automatically use the new version when next recompiled. The header
646 file eliminates the labor of finding and changing all the copies as well
647 as the risk that a failure to find one copy will result in
648 inconsistencies within a program.
650 In C, the usual convention is to give header files names that end
651 with `.h'. It is most portable to use only letters, digits, dashes, and
652 underscores in header file names, and at most one dot.
657 * Include Operation::
659 * Once-Only Headers::
660 * Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef::
661 * Computed Includes::
666 File: cpp.info, Node: Include Syntax, Next: Include Operation, Up: Header Files
671 Both user and system header files are included using the preprocessing
672 directive `#include'. It has two variants:
675 This variant is used for system header files. It searches for a
676 file named FILE in a standard list of system directories. You can
677 prepend directories to this list with the `-I' option (*note
681 This variant is used for header files of your own program. It
682 searches for a file named FILE first in the directory containing
683 the current file, then in the quote directories and then the same
684 directories used for `<FILE>'. You can prepend directories to the
685 list of quote directories with the `-iquote' option.
687 The argument of `#include', whether delimited with quote marks or
688 angle brackets, behaves like a string constant in that comments are not
689 recognized, and macro names are not expanded. Thus, `#include <x/*y>'
690 specifies inclusion of a system header file named `x/*y'.
692 However, if backslashes occur within FILE, they are considered
693 ordinary text characters, not escape characters. None of the character
694 escape sequences appropriate to string constants in C are processed.
695 Thus, `#include "x\n\\y"' specifies a filename containing three
696 backslashes. (Some systems interpret `\' as a pathname separator. All
697 of these also interpret `/' the same way. It is most portable to use
700 It is an error if there is anything (other than comments) on the line
704 File: cpp.info, Node: Include Operation, Next: Search Path, Prev: Include Syntax, Up: Header Files
706 2.2 Include Operation
707 =====================
709 The `#include' directive works by directing the C preprocessor to scan
710 the specified file as input before continuing with the rest of the
711 current file. The output from the preprocessor contains the output
712 already generated, followed by the output resulting from the included
713 file, followed by the output that comes from the text after the
714 `#include' directive. For example, if you have a header file
715 `header.h' as follows,
719 and a main program called `program.c' that uses the header file, like
731 the compiler will see the same token stream as it would if `program.c'
743 Included files are not limited to declarations and macro definitions;
744 those are merely the typical uses. Any fragment of a C program can be
745 included from another file. The include file could even contain the
746 beginning of a statement that is concluded in the containing file, or
747 the end of a statement that was started in the including file. However,
748 an included file must consist of complete tokens. Comments and string
749 literals which have not been closed by the end of an included file are
750 invalid. For error recovery, they are considered to end at the end of
753 To avoid confusion, it is best if header files contain only complete
754 syntactic units--function declarations or definitions, type
757 The line following the `#include' directive is always treated as a
758 separate line by the C preprocessor, even if the included file lacks a
762 File: cpp.info, Node: Search Path, Next: Once-Only Headers, Prev: Include Operation, Up: Header Files
767 GCC looks in several different places for headers. On a normal Unix
768 system, if you do not instruct it otherwise, it will look for headers
769 requested with `#include <FILE>' in:
772 LIBDIR/gcc/TARGET/VERSION/include
776 For C++ programs, it will also look in `/usr/include/g++-v3', first.
777 In the above, TARGET is the canonical name of the system GCC was
778 configured to compile code for; often but not always the same as the
779 canonical name of the system it runs on. VERSION is the version of GCC
782 You can add to this list with the `-IDIR' command line option. All
783 the directories named by `-I' are searched, in left-to-right order,
784 _before_ the default directories. The only exception is when `dir' is
785 already searched by default. In this case, the option is ignored and
786 the search order for system directories remains unchanged.
788 Duplicate directories are removed from the quote and bracket search
789 chains before the two chains are merged to make the final search chain.
790 Thus, it is possible for a directory to occur twice in the final search
791 chain if it was specified in both the quote and bracket chains.
793 You can prevent GCC from searching any of the default directories
794 with the `-nostdinc' option. This is useful when you are compiling an
795 operating system kernel or some other program that does not use the
796 standard C library facilities, or the standard C library itself. `-I'
797 options are not ignored as described above when `-nostdinc' is in
800 GCC looks for headers requested with `#include "FILE"' first in the
801 directory containing the current file, then in the directories as
802 specified by `-iquote' options, then in the same places it would have
803 looked for a header requested with angle brackets. For example, if
804 `/usr/include/sys/stat.h' contains `#include "types.h"', GCC looks for
805 `types.h' first in `/usr/include/sys', then in its usual search path.
807 `#line' (*note Line Control::) does not change GCC's idea of the
808 directory containing the current file.
810 You may put `-I-' at any point in your list of `-I' options. This
811 has two effects. First, directories appearing before the `-I-' in the
812 list are searched only for headers requested with quote marks.
813 Directories after `-I-' are searched for all headers. Second, the
814 directory containing the current file is not searched for anything,
815 unless it happens to be one of the directories named by an `-I' switch.
816 `-I-' is deprecated, `-iquote' should be used instead.
818 `-I. -I-' is not the same as no `-I' options at all, and does not
819 cause the same behavior for `<>' includes that `""' includes get with
820 no special options. `-I.' searches the compiler's current working
821 directory for header files. That may or may not be the same as the
822 directory containing the current file.
824 If you need to look for headers in a directory named `-', write
827 There are several more ways to adjust the header search path. They
828 are generally less useful. *Note Invocation::.
831 File: cpp.info, Node: Once-Only Headers, Next: Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef, Prev: Search Path, Up: Header Files
833 2.4 Once-Only Headers
834 =====================
836 If a header file happens to be included twice, the compiler will process
837 its contents twice. This is very likely to cause an error, e.g. when
838 the compiler sees the same structure definition twice. Even if it does
839 not, it will certainly waste time.
841 The standard way to prevent this is to enclose the entire real
842 contents of the file in a conditional, like this:
845 #ifndef FILE_FOO_SEEN
846 #define FILE_FOO_SEEN
850 #endif /* !FILE_FOO_SEEN */
852 This construct is commonly known as a "wrapper #ifndef". When the
853 header is included again, the conditional will be false, because
854 `FILE_FOO_SEEN' is defined. The preprocessor will skip over the entire
855 contents of the file, and the compiler will not see it twice.
857 CPP optimizes even further. It remembers when a header file has a
858 wrapper `#ifndef'. If a subsequent `#include' specifies that header,
859 and the macro in the `#ifndef' is still defined, it does not bother to
860 rescan the file at all.
862 You can put comments outside the wrapper. They will not interfere
863 with this optimization.
865 The macro `FILE_FOO_SEEN' is called the "controlling macro" or
866 "guard macro". In a user header file, the macro name should not begin
867 with `_'. In a system header file, it should begin with `__' to avoid
868 conflicts with user programs. In any kind of header file, the macro
869 name should contain the name of the file and some additional text, to
870 avoid conflicts with other header files.
873 File: cpp.info, Node: Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef, Next: Computed Includes, Prev: Once-Only Headers, Up: Header Files
875 2.5 Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef
876 ===================================
878 CPP supports two more ways of indicating that a header file should be
879 read only once. Neither one is as portable as a wrapper `#ifndef' and
880 we recommend you do not use them in new programs, with the caveat that
881 `#import' is standard practice in Objective-C.
883 CPP supports a variant of `#include' called `#import' which includes
884 a file, but does so at most once. If you use `#import' instead of
885 `#include', then you don't need the conditionals inside the header file
886 to prevent multiple inclusion of the contents. `#import' is standard
887 in Objective-C, but is considered a deprecated extension in C and C++.
889 `#import' is not a well designed feature. It requires the users of
890 a header file to know that it should only be included once. It is much
891 better for the header file's implementor to write the file so that users
892 don't need to know this. Using a wrapper `#ifndef' accomplishes this
895 In the present implementation, a single use of `#import' will
896 prevent the file from ever being read again, by either `#import' or
897 `#include'. You should not rely on this; do not use both `#import' and
898 `#include' to refer to the same header file.
900 Another way to prevent a header file from being included more than
901 once is with the `#pragma once' directive. If `#pragma once' is seen
902 when scanning a header file, that file will never be read again, no
905 `#pragma once' does not have the problems that `#import' does, but
906 it is not recognized by all preprocessors, so you cannot rely on it in
910 File: cpp.info, Node: Computed Includes, Next: Wrapper Headers, Prev: Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef, Up: Header Files
912 2.6 Computed Includes
913 =====================
915 Sometimes it is necessary to select one of several different header
916 files to be included into your program. They might specify
917 configuration parameters to be used on different sorts of operating
918 systems, for instance. You could do this with a series of conditionals,
921 # include "system_1.h"
923 # include "system_2.h"
928 That rapidly becomes tedious. Instead, the preprocessor offers the
929 ability to use a macro for the header name. This is called a "computed
930 include". Instead of writing a header name as the direct argument of
931 `#include', you simply put a macro name there instead:
933 #define SYSTEM_H "system_1.h"
937 `SYSTEM_H' will be expanded, and the preprocessor will look for
938 `system_1.h' as if the `#include' had been written that way originally.
939 `SYSTEM_H' could be defined by your Makefile with a `-D' option.
941 You must be careful when you define the macro. `#define' saves
942 tokens, not text. The preprocessor has no way of knowing that the macro
943 will be used as the argument of `#include', so it generates ordinary
944 tokens, not a header name. This is unlikely to cause problems if you
945 use double-quote includes, which are close enough to string constants.
946 If you use angle brackets, however, you may have trouble.
948 The syntax of a computed include is actually a bit more general than
949 the above. If the first non-whitespace character after `#include' is
950 not `"' or `<', then the entire line is macro-expanded like running
953 If the line expands to a single string constant, the contents of that
954 string constant are the file to be included. CPP does not re-examine
955 the string for embedded quotes, but neither does it process backslash
956 escapes in the string. Therefore
958 #define HEADER "a\"b"
961 looks for a file named `a\"b'. CPP searches for the file according to
962 the rules for double-quoted includes.
964 If the line expands to a token stream beginning with a `<' token and
965 including a `>' token, then the tokens between the `<' and the first
966 `>' are combined to form the filename to be included. Any whitespace
967 between tokens is reduced to a single space; then any space after the
968 initial `<' is retained, but a trailing space before the closing `>' is
969 ignored. CPP searches for the file according to the rules for
970 angle-bracket includes.
972 In either case, if there are any tokens on the line after the file
973 name, an error occurs and the directive is not processed. It is also
974 an error if the result of expansion does not match either of the two
977 These rules are implementation-defined behavior according to the C
978 standard. To minimize the risk of different compilers interpreting your
979 computed includes differently, we recommend you use only a single
980 object-like macro which expands to a string constant. This will also
981 minimize confusion for people reading your program.
984 File: cpp.info, Node: Wrapper Headers, Next: System Headers, Prev: Computed Includes, Up: Header Files
989 Sometimes it is necessary to adjust the contents of a system-provided
990 header file without editing it directly. GCC's `fixincludes' operation
991 does this, for example. One way to do that would be to create a new
992 header file with the same name and insert it in the search path before
993 the original header. That works fine as long as you're willing to
994 replace the old header entirely. But what if you want to refer to the
995 old header from the new one?
997 You cannot simply include the old header with `#include'. That will
998 start from the beginning, and find your new header again. If your
999 header is not protected from multiple inclusion (*note Once-Only
1000 Headers::), it will recurse infinitely and cause a fatal error.
1002 You could include the old header with an absolute pathname:
1003 #include "/usr/include/old-header.h"
1004 This works, but is not clean; should the system headers ever move,
1005 you would have to edit the new headers to match.
1007 There is no way to solve this problem within the C standard, but you
1008 can use the GNU extension `#include_next'. It means, "Include the
1009 _next_ file with this name". This directive works like `#include'
1010 except in searching for the specified file: it starts searching the
1011 list of header file directories _after_ the directory in which the
1012 current file was found.
1014 Suppose you specify `-I /usr/local/include', and the list of
1015 directories to search also includes `/usr/include'; and suppose both
1016 directories contain `signal.h'. Ordinary `#include <signal.h>' finds
1017 the file under `/usr/local/include'. If that file contains
1018 `#include_next <signal.h>', it starts searching after that directory,
1019 and finds the file in `/usr/include'.
1021 `#include_next' does not distinguish between `<FILE>' and `"FILE"'
1022 inclusion, nor does it check that the file you specify has the same
1023 name as the current file. It simply looks for the file named, starting
1024 with the directory in the search path after the one where the current
1027 The use of `#include_next' can lead to great confusion. We
1028 recommend it be used only when there is no other alternative. In
1029 particular, it should not be used in the headers belonging to a specific
1030 program; it should be used only to make global corrections along the
1031 lines of `fixincludes'.
1034 File: cpp.info, Node: System Headers, Prev: Wrapper Headers, Up: Header Files
1039 The header files declaring interfaces to the operating system and
1040 runtime libraries often cannot be written in strictly conforming C.
1041 Therefore, GCC gives code found in "system headers" special treatment.
1042 All warnings, other than those generated by `#warning' (*note
1043 Diagnostics::), are suppressed while GCC is processing a system header.
1044 Macros defined in a system header are immune to a few warnings
1045 wherever they are expanded. This immunity is granted on an ad-hoc
1046 basis, when we find that a warning generates lots of false positives
1047 because of code in macros defined in system headers.
1049 Normally, only the headers found in specific directories are
1050 considered system headers. These directories are determined when GCC
1051 is compiled. There are, however, two ways to make normal headers into
1054 The `-isystem' command line option adds its argument to the list of
1055 directories to search for headers, just like `-I'. Any headers found
1056 in that directory will be considered system headers.
1058 All directories named by `-isystem' are searched _after_ all
1059 directories named by `-I', no matter what their order was on the
1060 command line. If the same directory is named by both `-I' and
1061 `-isystem', the `-I' option is ignored. GCC provides an informative
1062 message when this occurs if `-v' is used.
1064 There is also a directive, `#pragma GCC system_header', which tells
1065 GCC to consider the rest of the current include file a system header,
1066 no matter where it was found. Code that comes before the `#pragma' in
1067 the file will not be affected. `#pragma GCC system_header' has no
1068 effect in the primary source file.
1070 On very old systems, some of the pre-defined system header
1071 directories get even more special treatment. GNU C++ considers code in
1072 headers found in those directories to be surrounded by an `extern "C"'
1073 block. There is no way to request this behavior with a `#pragma', or
1074 from the command line.
1077 File: cpp.info, Node: Macros, Next: Conditionals, Prev: Header Files, Up: Top
1082 A "macro" is a fragment of code which has been given a name. Whenever
1083 the name is used, it is replaced by the contents of the macro. There
1084 are two kinds of macros. They differ mostly in what they look like
1085 when they are used. "Object-like" macros resemble data objects when
1086 used, "function-like" macros resemble function calls.
1088 You may define any valid identifier as a macro, even if it is a C
1089 keyword. The preprocessor does not know anything about keywords. This
1090 can be useful if you wish to hide a keyword such as `const' from an
1091 older compiler that does not understand it. However, the preprocessor
1092 operator `defined' (*note Defined::) can never be defined as a macro,
1093 and C++'s named operators (*note C++ Named Operators::) cannot be
1094 macros when you are compiling C++.
1098 * Object-like Macros::
1099 * Function-like Macros::
1104 * Predefined Macros::
1105 * Undefining and Redefining Macros::
1106 * Directives Within Macro Arguments::
1110 File: cpp.info, Node: Object-like Macros, Next: Function-like Macros, Up: Macros
1112 3.1 Object-like Macros
1113 ======================
1115 An "object-like macro" is a simple identifier which will be replaced by
1116 a code fragment. It is called object-like because it looks like a data
1117 object in code that uses it. They are most commonly used to give
1118 symbolic names to numeric constants.
1120 You create macros with the `#define' directive. `#define' is
1121 followed by the name of the macro and then the token sequence it should
1122 be an abbreviation for, which is variously referred to as the macro's
1123 "body", "expansion" or "replacement list". For example,
1125 #define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
1127 defines a macro named `BUFFER_SIZE' as an abbreviation for the token
1128 `1024'. If somewhere after this `#define' directive there comes a C
1129 statement of the form
1131 foo = (char *) malloc (BUFFER_SIZE);
1133 then the C preprocessor will recognize and "expand" the macro
1134 `BUFFER_SIZE'. The C compiler will see the same tokens as it would if
1137 foo = (char *) malloc (1024);
1139 By convention, macro names are written in uppercase. Programs are
1140 easier to read when it is possible to tell at a glance which names are
1143 The macro's body ends at the end of the `#define' line. You may
1144 continue the definition onto multiple lines, if necessary, using
1145 backslash-newline. When the macro is expanded, however, it will all
1146 come out on one line. For example,
1148 #define NUMBERS 1, \
1151 int x[] = { NUMBERS };
1152 ==> int x[] = { 1, 2, 3 };
1154 The most common visible consequence of this is surprising line numbers
1157 There is no restriction on what can go in a macro body provided it
1158 decomposes into valid preprocessing tokens. Parentheses need not
1159 balance, and the body need not resemble valid C code. (If it does not,
1160 you may get error messages from the C compiler when you use the macro.)
1162 The C preprocessor scans your program sequentially. Macro
1163 definitions take effect at the place you write them. Therefore, the
1164 following input to the C preprocessor
1175 When the preprocessor expands a macro name, the macro's expansion
1176 replaces the macro invocation, then the expansion is examined for more
1177 macros to expand. For example,
1179 #define TABLESIZE BUFSIZE
1180 #define BUFSIZE 1024
1185 `TABLESIZE' is expanded first to produce `BUFSIZE', then that macro is
1186 expanded to produce the final result, `1024'.
1188 Notice that `BUFSIZE' was not defined when `TABLESIZE' was defined.
1189 The `#define' for `TABLESIZE' uses exactly the expansion you
1190 specify--in this case, `BUFSIZE'--and does not check to see whether it
1191 too contains macro names. Only when you _use_ `TABLESIZE' is the
1192 result of its expansion scanned for more macro names.
1194 This makes a difference if you change the definition of `BUFSIZE' at
1195 some point in the source file. `TABLESIZE', defined as shown, will
1196 always expand using the definition of `BUFSIZE' that is currently in
1199 #define BUFSIZE 1020
1200 #define TABLESIZE BUFSIZE
1204 Now `TABLESIZE' expands (in two stages) to `37'.
1206 If the expansion of a macro contains its own name, either directly or
1207 via intermediate macros, it is not expanded again when the expansion is
1208 examined for more macros. This prevents infinite recursion. *Note
1209 Self-Referential Macros::, for the precise details.
1212 File: cpp.info, Node: Function-like Macros, Next: Macro Arguments, Prev: Object-like Macros, Up: Macros
1214 3.2 Function-like Macros
1215 ========================
1217 You can also define macros whose use looks like a function call. These
1218 are called "function-like macros". To define a function-like macro,
1219 you use the same `#define' directive, but you put a pair of parentheses
1220 immediately after the macro name. For example,
1222 #define lang_init() c_init()
1226 A function-like macro is only expanded if its name appears with a
1227 pair of parentheses after it. If you write just the name, it is left
1228 alone. This can be useful when you have a function and a macro of the
1229 same name, and you wish to use the function sometimes.
1231 extern void foo(void);
1232 #define foo() /* optimized inline version */
1237 Here the call to `foo()' will use the macro, but the function
1238 pointer will get the address of the real function. If the macro were to
1239 be expanded, it would cause a syntax error.
1241 If you put spaces between the macro name and the parentheses in the
1242 macro definition, that does not define a function-like macro, it defines
1243 an object-like macro whose expansion happens to begin with a pair of
1246 #define lang_init () c_init()
1250 The first two pairs of parentheses in this expansion come from the
1251 macro. The third is the pair that was originally after the macro
1252 invocation. Since `lang_init' is an object-like macro, it does not
1253 consume those parentheses.
1256 File: cpp.info, Node: Macro Arguments, Next: Stringification, Prev: Function-like Macros, Up: Macros
1261 Function-like macros can take "arguments", just like true functions.
1262 To define a macro that uses arguments, you insert "parameters" between
1263 the pair of parentheses in the macro definition that make the macro
1264 function-like. The parameters must be valid C identifiers, separated
1265 by commas and optionally whitespace.
1267 To invoke a macro that takes arguments, you write the name of the
1268 macro followed by a list of "actual arguments" in parentheses, separated
1269 by commas. The invocation of the macro need not be restricted to a
1270 single logical line--it can cross as many lines in the source file as
1271 you wish. The number of arguments you give must match the number of
1272 parameters in the macro definition. When the macro is expanded, each
1273 use of a parameter in its body is replaced by the tokens of the
1274 corresponding argument. (You need not use all of the parameters in the
1277 As an example, here is a macro that computes the minimum of two
1278 numeric values, as it is defined in many C programs, and some uses.
1280 #define min(X, Y) ((X) < (Y) ? (X) : (Y))
1281 x = min(a, b); ==> x = ((a) < (b) ? (a) : (b));
1282 y = min(1, 2); ==> y = ((1) < (2) ? (1) : (2));
1283 z = min(a + 28, *p); ==> z = ((a + 28) < (*p) ? (a + 28) : (*p));
1285 (In this small example you can already see several of the dangers of
1286 macro arguments. *Note Macro Pitfalls::, for detailed explanations.)
1288 Leading and trailing whitespace in each argument is dropped, and all
1289 whitespace between the tokens of an argument is reduced to a single
1290 space. Parentheses within each argument must balance; a comma within
1291 such parentheses does not end the argument. However, there is no
1292 requirement for square brackets or braces to balance, and they do not
1293 prevent a comma from separating arguments. Thus,
1295 macro (array[x = y, x + 1])
1297 passes two arguments to `macro': `array[x = y' and `x + 1]'. If you
1298 want to supply `array[x = y, x + 1]' as an argument, you can write it
1299 as `array[(x = y, x + 1)]', which is equivalent C code.
1301 All arguments to a macro are completely macro-expanded before they
1302 are substituted into the macro body. After substitution, the complete
1303 text is scanned again for macros to expand, including the arguments.
1304 This rule may seem strange, but it is carefully designed so you need
1305 not worry about whether any function call is actually a macro
1306 invocation. You can run into trouble if you try to be too clever,
1307 though. *Note Argument Prescan::, for detailed discussion.
1309 For example, `min (min (a, b), c)' is first expanded to
1311 min (((a) < (b) ? (a) : (b)), (c))
1315 ((((a) < (b) ? (a) : (b))) < (c)
1316 ? (((a) < (b) ? (a) : (b)))
1319 (Line breaks shown here for clarity would not actually be generated.)
1321 You can leave macro arguments empty; this is not an error to the
1322 preprocessor (but many macros will then expand to invalid code). You
1323 cannot leave out arguments entirely; if a macro takes two arguments,
1324 there must be exactly one comma at the top level of its argument list.
1325 Here are some silly examples using `min':
1327 min(, b) ==> (( ) < (b) ? ( ) : (b))
1328 min(a, ) ==> ((a ) < ( ) ? (a ) : ( ))
1329 min(,) ==> (( ) < ( ) ? ( ) : ( ))
1330 min((,),) ==> (((,)) < ( ) ? ((,)) : ( ))
1332 min() error--> macro "min" requires 2 arguments, but only 1 given
1333 min(,,) error--> macro "min" passed 3 arguments, but takes just 2
1335 Whitespace is not a preprocessing token, so if a macro `foo' takes
1336 one argument, `foo ()' and `foo ( )' both supply it an empty argument.
1337 Previous GNU preprocessor implementations and documentation were
1338 incorrect on this point, insisting that a function-like macro that
1339 takes a single argument be passed a space if an empty argument was
1342 Macro parameters appearing inside string literals are not replaced by
1343 their corresponding actual arguments.
1345 #define foo(x) x, "x"
1346 foo(bar) ==> bar, "x"
1349 File: cpp.info, Node: Stringification, Next: Concatenation, Prev: Macro Arguments, Up: Macros
1354 Sometimes you may want to convert a macro argument into a string
1355 constant. Parameters are not replaced inside string constants, but you
1356 can use the `#' preprocessing operator instead. When a macro parameter
1357 is used with a leading `#', the preprocessor replaces it with the
1358 literal text of the actual argument, converted to a string constant.
1359 Unlike normal parameter replacement, the argument is not macro-expanded
1360 first. This is called "stringification".
1362 There is no way to combine an argument with surrounding text and
1363 stringify it all together. Instead, you can write a series of adjacent
1364 string constants and stringified arguments. The preprocessor will
1365 replace the stringified arguments with string constants. The C
1366 compiler will then combine all the adjacent string constants into one
1369 Here is an example of a macro definition that uses stringification:
1371 #define WARN_IF(EXP) \
1373 fprintf (stderr, "Warning: " #EXP "\n"); } \
1376 ==> do { if (x == 0)
1377 fprintf (stderr, "Warning: " "x == 0" "\n"); } while (0);
1379 The argument for `EXP' is substituted once, as-is, into the `if'
1380 statement, and once, stringified, into the argument to `fprintf'. If
1381 `x' were a macro, it would be expanded in the `if' statement, but not
1384 The `do' and `while (0)' are a kludge to make it possible to write
1385 `WARN_IF (ARG);', which the resemblance of `WARN_IF' to a function
1386 would make C programmers want to do; see *Note Swallowing the
1389 Stringification in C involves more than putting double-quote
1390 characters around the fragment. The preprocessor backslash-escapes the
1391 quotes surrounding embedded string constants, and all backslashes
1392 within string and character constants, in order to get a valid C string
1393 constant with the proper contents. Thus, stringifying `p = "foo\n";'
1394 results in "p = \"foo\\n\";". However, backslashes that are not inside
1395 string or character constants are not duplicated: `\n' by itself
1396 stringifies to "\n".
1398 All leading and trailing whitespace in text being stringified is
1399 ignored. Any sequence of whitespace in the middle of the text is
1400 converted to a single space in the stringified result. Comments are
1401 replaced by whitespace long before stringification happens, so they
1402 never appear in stringified text.
1404 There is no way to convert a macro argument into a character
1407 If you want to stringify the result of expansion of a macro argument,
1408 you have to use two levels of macros.
1410 #define xstr(s) str(s)
1420 `s' is stringified when it is used in `str', so it is not
1421 macro-expanded first. But `s' is an ordinary argument to `xstr', so it
1422 is completely macro-expanded before `xstr' itself is expanded (*note
1423 Argument Prescan::). Therefore, by the time `str' gets to its
1424 argument, it has already been macro-expanded.
1427 File: cpp.info, Node: Concatenation, Next: Variadic Macros, Prev: Stringification, Up: Macros
1432 It is often useful to merge two tokens into one while expanding macros.
1433 This is called "token pasting" or "token concatenation". The `##'
1434 preprocessing operator performs token pasting. When a macro is
1435 expanded, the two tokens on either side of each `##' operator are
1436 combined into a single token, which then replaces the `##' and the two
1437 original tokens in the macro expansion. Usually both will be
1438 identifiers, or one will be an identifier and the other a preprocessing
1439 number. When pasted, they make a longer identifier. This isn't the
1440 only valid case. It is also possible to concatenate two numbers (or a
1441 number and a name, such as `1.5' and `e3') into a number. Also,
1442 multi-character operators such as `+=' can be formed by token pasting.
1444 However, two tokens that don't together form a valid token cannot be
1445 pasted together. For example, you cannot concatenate `x' with `+' in
1446 either order. If you try, the preprocessor issues a warning and emits
1447 the two tokens. Whether it puts white space between the tokens is
1448 undefined. It is common to find unnecessary uses of `##' in complex
1449 macros. If you get this warning, it is likely that you can simply
1452 Both the tokens combined by `##' could come from the macro body, but
1453 you could just as well write them as one token in the first place.
1454 Token pasting is most useful when one or both of the tokens comes from a
1455 macro argument. If either of the tokens next to an `##' is a parameter
1456 name, it is replaced by its actual argument before `##' executes. As
1457 with stringification, the actual argument is not macro-expanded first.
1458 If the argument is empty, that `##' has no effect.
1460 Keep in mind that the C preprocessor converts comments to whitespace
1461 before macros are even considered. Therefore, you cannot create a
1462 comment by concatenating `/' and `*'. You can put as much whitespace
1463 between `##' and its operands as you like, including comments, and you
1464 can put comments in arguments that will be concatenated. However, it
1465 is an error if `##' appears at either end of a macro body.
1467 Consider a C program that interprets named commands. There probably
1468 needs to be a table of commands, perhaps an array of structures declared
1474 void (*function) (void);
1477 struct command commands[] =
1479 { "quit", quit_command },
1480 { "help", help_command },
1484 It would be cleaner not to have to give each command name twice,
1485 once in the string constant and once in the function name. A macro
1486 which takes the name of a command as an argument can make this
1487 unnecessary. The string constant can be created with stringification,
1488 and the function name by concatenating the argument with `_command'.
1489 Here is how it is done:
1491 #define COMMAND(NAME) { #NAME, NAME ## _command }
1493 struct command commands[] =
1501 File: cpp.info, Node: Variadic Macros, Next: Predefined Macros, Prev: Concatenation, Up: Macros
1506 A macro can be declared to accept a variable number of arguments much as
1507 a function can. The syntax for defining the macro is similar to that of
1508 a function. Here is an example:
1510 #define eprintf(...) fprintf (stderr, __VA_ARGS__)
1512 This kind of macro is called "variadic". When the macro is invoked,
1513 all the tokens in its argument list after the last named argument (this
1514 macro has none), including any commas, become the "variable argument".
1515 This sequence of tokens replaces the identifier `__VA_ARGS__' in the
1516 macro body wherever it appears. Thus, we have this expansion:
1518 eprintf ("%s:%d: ", input_file, lineno)
1519 ==> fprintf (stderr, "%s:%d: ", input_file, lineno)
1521 The variable argument is completely macro-expanded before it is
1522 inserted into the macro expansion, just like an ordinary argument. You
1523 may use the `#' and `##' operators to stringify the variable argument
1524 or to paste its leading or trailing token with another token. (But see
1525 below for an important special case for `##'.)
1527 If your macro is complicated, you may want a more descriptive name
1528 for the variable argument than `__VA_ARGS__'. CPP permits this, as an
1529 extension. You may write an argument name immediately before the
1530 `...'; that name is used for the variable argument. The `eprintf'
1531 macro above could be written
1533 #define eprintf(args...) fprintf (stderr, args)
1535 using this extension. You cannot use `__VA_ARGS__' and this extension
1538 You can have named arguments as well as variable arguments in a
1539 variadic macro. We could define `eprintf' like this, instead:
1541 #define eprintf(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, __VA_ARGS__)
1543 This formulation looks more descriptive, but unfortunately it is less
1544 flexible: you must now supply at least one argument after the format
1545 string. In standard C, you cannot omit the comma separating the named
1546 argument from the variable arguments. Furthermore, if you leave the
1547 variable argument empty, you will get a syntax error, because there
1548 will be an extra comma after the format string.
1550 eprintf("success!\n", );
1551 ==> fprintf(stderr, "success!\n", );
1553 GNU CPP has a pair of extensions which deal with this problem.
1554 First, you are allowed to leave the variable argument out entirely:
1556 eprintf ("success!\n")
1557 ==> fprintf(stderr, "success!\n", );
1559 Second, the `##' token paste operator has a special meaning when placed
1560 between a comma and a variable argument. If you write
1562 #define eprintf(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, ##__VA_ARGS__)
1564 and the variable argument is left out when the `eprintf' macro is used,
1565 then the comma before the `##' will be deleted. This does _not_ happen
1566 if you pass an empty argument, nor does it happen if the token
1567 preceding `##' is anything other than a comma.
1569 eprintf ("success!\n")
1570 ==> fprintf(stderr, "success!\n");
1572 The above explanation is ambiguous about the case where the only macro
1573 parameter is a variable arguments parameter, as it is meaningless to
1574 try to distinguish whether no argument at all is an empty argument or a
1575 missing argument. In this case the C99 standard is clear that the
1576 comma must remain, however the existing GCC extension used to swallow
1577 the comma. So CPP retains the comma when conforming to a specific C
1578 standard, and drops it otherwise.
1580 C99 mandates that the only place the identifier `__VA_ARGS__' can
1581 appear is in the replacement list of a variadic macro. It may not be
1582 used as a macro name, macro argument name, or within a different type
1583 of macro. It may also be forbidden in open text; the standard is
1584 ambiguous. We recommend you avoid using it except for its defined
1587 Variadic macros are a new feature in C99. GNU CPP has supported them
1588 for a long time, but only with a named variable argument (`args...',
1589 not `...' and `__VA_ARGS__'). If you are concerned with portability to
1590 previous versions of GCC, you should use only named variable arguments.
1591 On the other hand, if you are concerned with portability to other
1592 conforming implementations of C99, you should use only `__VA_ARGS__'.
1594 Previous versions of CPP implemented the comma-deletion extension
1595 much more generally. We have restricted it in this release to minimize
1596 the differences from C99. To get the same effect with both this and
1597 previous versions of GCC, the token preceding the special `##' must be
1598 a comma, and there must be white space between that comma and whatever
1599 comes immediately before it:
1601 #define eprintf(format, args...) fprintf (stderr, format , ##args)
1603 *Note Differences from previous versions::, for the gory details.
1606 File: cpp.info, Node: Predefined Macros, Next: Undefining and Redefining Macros, Prev: Variadic Macros, Up: Macros
1608 3.7 Predefined Macros
1609 =====================
1611 Several object-like macros are predefined; you use them without
1612 supplying their definitions. They fall into three classes: standard,
1613 common, and system-specific.
1615 In C++, there is a fourth category, the named operators. They act
1616 like predefined macros, but you cannot undefine them.
1620 * Standard Predefined Macros::
1621 * Common Predefined Macros::
1622 * System-specific Predefined Macros::
1623 * C++ Named Operators::
1626 File: cpp.info, Node: Standard Predefined Macros, Next: Common Predefined Macros, Up: Predefined Macros
1628 3.7.1 Standard Predefined Macros
1629 --------------------------------
1631 The standard predefined macros are specified by the relevant language
1632 standards, so they are available with all compilers that implement
1633 those standards. Older compilers may not provide all of them. Their
1634 names all start with double underscores.
1637 This macro expands to the name of the current input file, in the
1638 form of a C string constant. This is the path by which the
1639 preprocessor opened the file, not the short name specified in
1640 `#include' or as the input file name argument. For example,
1641 `"/usr/local/include/myheader.h"' is a possible expansion of this
1645 This macro expands to the current input line number, in the form
1646 of a decimal integer constant. While we call it a predefined
1647 macro, it's a pretty strange macro, since its "definition" changes
1648 with each new line of source code.
1650 `__FILE__' and `__LINE__' are useful in generating an error message
1651 to report an inconsistency detected by the program; the message can
1652 state the source line at which the inconsistency was detected. For
1655 fprintf (stderr, "Internal error: "
1656 "negative string length "
1657 "%d at %s, line %d.",
1658 length, __FILE__, __LINE__);
1660 An `#include' directive changes the expansions of `__FILE__' and
1661 `__LINE__' to correspond to the included file. At the end of that
1662 file, when processing resumes on the input file that contained the
1663 `#include' directive, the expansions of `__FILE__' and `__LINE__'
1664 revert to the values they had before the `#include' (but `__LINE__' is
1665 then incremented by one as processing moves to the line after the
1668 A `#line' directive changes `__LINE__', and may change `__FILE__' as
1669 well. *Note Line Control::.
1671 C99 introduces `__func__', and GCC has provided `__FUNCTION__' for a
1672 long time. Both of these are strings containing the name of the
1673 current function (there are slight semantic differences; see the GCC
1674 manual). Neither of them is a macro; the preprocessor does not know the
1675 name of the current function. They tend to be useful in conjunction
1676 with `__FILE__' and `__LINE__', though.
1679 This macro expands to a string constant that describes the date on
1680 which the preprocessor is being run. The string constant contains
1681 eleven characters and looks like `"Feb 12 1996"'. If the day of
1682 the month is less than 10, it is padded with a space on the left.
1684 If GCC cannot determine the current date, it will emit a warning
1685 message (once per compilation) and `__DATE__' will expand to
1689 This macro expands to a string constant that describes the time at
1690 which the preprocessor is being run. The string constant contains
1691 eight characters and looks like `"23:59:01"'.
1693 If GCC cannot determine the current time, it will emit a warning
1694 message (once per compilation) and `__TIME__' will expand to
1698 In normal operation, this macro expands to the constant 1, to
1699 signify that this compiler conforms to ISO Standard C. If GNU CPP
1700 is used with a compiler other than GCC, this is not necessarily
1701 true; however, the preprocessor always conforms to the standard
1702 unless the `-traditional-cpp' option is used.
1704 This macro is not defined if the `-traditional-cpp' option is used.
1706 On some hosts, the system compiler uses a different convention,
1707 where `__STDC__' is normally 0, but is 1 if the user specifies
1708 strict conformance to the C Standard. CPP follows the host
1709 convention when processing system header files, but when
1710 processing user files `__STDC__' is always 1. This has been
1711 reported to cause problems; for instance, some versions of Solaris
1712 provide X Windows headers that expect `__STDC__' to be either
1713 undefined or 1. *Note Invocation::.
1716 This macro expands to the C Standard's version number, a long
1717 integer constant of the form `YYYYMML' where YYYY and MM are the
1718 year and month of the Standard version. This signifies which
1719 version of the C Standard the compiler conforms to. Like
1720 `__STDC__', this is not necessarily accurate for the entire
1721 implementation, unless GNU CPP is being used with GCC.
1723 The value `199409L' signifies the 1989 C standard as amended in
1724 1994, which is the current default; the value `199901L' signifies
1725 the 1999 revision of the C standard. Support for the 1999
1726 revision is not yet complete.
1728 This macro is not defined if the `-traditional-cpp' option is
1729 used, nor when compiling C++ or Objective-C.
1732 This macro is defined, with value 1, if the compiler's target is a
1733 "hosted environment". A hosted environment has the complete
1734 facilities of the standard C library available.
1737 This macro is defined when the C++ compiler is in use. You can use
1738 `__cplusplus' to test whether a header is compiled by a C compiler
1739 or a C++ compiler. This macro is similar to `__STDC_VERSION__', in
1740 that it expands to a version number. A fully conforming
1741 implementation of the 1998 C++ standard will define this macro to
1742 `199711L'. The GNU C++ compiler is not yet fully conforming, so
1743 it uses `1' instead. It is hoped to complete the implementation
1744 of standard C++ in the near future.
1747 This macro is defined, with value 1, when the Objective-C compiler
1748 is in use. You can use `__OBJC__' to test whether a header is
1749 compiled by a C compiler or a Objective-C compiler.
1752 This macro is defined with value 1 when preprocessing assembly
1757 File: cpp.info, Node: Common Predefined Macros, Next: System-specific Predefined Macros, Prev: Standard Predefined Macros, Up: Predefined Macros
1759 3.7.2 Common Predefined Macros
1760 ------------------------------
1762 The common predefined macros are GNU C extensions. They are available
1763 with the same meanings regardless of the machine or operating system on
1764 which you are using GNU C or GNU Fortran. Their names all start with
1768 This macro expands to sequential integral values starting from 0.
1769 In conjunction with the `##' operator, this provides a convenient
1770 means to generate unique identifiers. Care must be taken to
1771 ensure that `__COUNTER__' is not expanded prior to inclusion of
1772 precompiled headers which use it. Otherwise, the precompiled
1773 headers will not be used.
1776 The GNU Fortran compiler defines this.
1780 `__GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__'
1781 These macros are defined by all GNU compilers that use the C
1782 preprocessor: C, C++, Objective-C and Fortran. Their values are
1783 the major version, minor version, and patch level of the compiler,
1784 as integer constants. For example, GCC 3.2.1 will define
1785 `__GNUC__' to 3, `__GNUC_MINOR__' to 2, and `__GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__'
1786 to 1. These macros are also defined if you invoke the
1787 preprocessor directly.
1789 `__GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__' is new to GCC 3.0; it is also present in the
1790 widely-used development snapshots leading up to 3.0 (which identify
1791 themselves as GCC 2.96 or 2.97, depending on which snapshot you
1794 If all you need to know is whether or not your program is being
1795 compiled by GCC, or a non-GCC compiler that claims to accept the
1796 GNU C dialects, you can simply test `__GNUC__'. If you need to
1797 write code which depends on a specific version, you must be more
1798 careful. Each time the minor version is increased, the patch
1799 level is reset to zero; each time the major version is increased
1800 (which happens rarely), the minor version and patch level are
1801 reset. If you wish to use the predefined macros directly in the
1802 conditional, you will need to write it like this:
1804 /* Test for GCC > 3.2.0 */
1805 #if __GNUC__ > 3 || \
1806 (__GNUC__ == 3 && (__GNUC_MINOR__ > 2 || \
1807 (__GNUC_MINOR__ == 2 && \
1808 __GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__ > 0))
1810 Another approach is to use the predefined macros to calculate a
1811 single number, then compare that against a threshold:
1813 #define GCC_VERSION (__GNUC__ * 10000 \
1814 + __GNUC_MINOR__ * 100 \
1815 + __GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__)
1817 /* Test for GCC > 3.2.0 */
1818 #if GCC_VERSION > 30200
1820 Many people find this form easier to understand.
1823 The GNU C++ compiler defines this. Testing it is equivalent to
1824 testing `(__GNUC__ && __cplusplus)'.
1827 GCC defines this macro if and only if the `-ansi' switch, or a
1828 `-std' switch specifying strict conformance to some version of ISO
1829 C, was specified when GCC was invoked. It is defined to `1'.
1830 This macro exists primarily to direct GNU libc's header files to
1831 restrict their definitions to the minimal set found in the 1989 C
1835 This macro expands to the name of the main input file, in the form
1836 of a C string constant. This is the source file that was specified
1837 on the command line of the preprocessor or C compiler.
1840 This macro expands to a decimal integer constant that represents
1841 the depth of nesting in include files. The value of this macro is
1842 incremented on every `#include' directive and decremented at the
1843 end of every included file. It starts out at 0, its value within
1844 the base file specified on the command line.
1847 This macro is defined if the target uses the ELF object format.
1850 This macro expands to a string constant which describes the
1851 version of the compiler in use. You should not rely on its
1852 contents having any particular form, but it can be counted on to
1853 contain at least the release number.
1858 These macros describe the compilation mode. `__OPTIMIZE__' is
1859 defined in all optimizing compilations. `__OPTIMIZE_SIZE__' is
1860 defined if the compiler is optimizing for size, not speed.
1861 `__NO_INLINE__' is defined if no functions will be inlined into
1862 their callers (when not optimizing, or when inlining has been
1863 specifically disabled by `-fno-inline').
1865 These macros cause certain GNU header files to provide optimized
1866 definitions, using macros or inline functions, of system library
1867 functions. You should not use these macros in any way unless you
1868 make sure that programs will execute with the same effect whether
1869 or not they are defined. If they are defined, their value is 1.
1871 `__GNUC_GNU_INLINE__'
1872 GCC defines this macro if functions declared `inline' will be
1873 handled in GCC's traditional gnu89 mode. Object files will contain
1874 externally visible definitions of all functions declared `inline'
1875 without `extern' or `static'. They will not contain any
1876 definitions of any functions declared `extern inline'.
1878 `__GNUC_STDC_INLINE__'
1879 GCC defines this macro if functions declared `inline' will be
1880 handled according to the ISO C99 standard. Object files will
1881 contain externally visible definitions of all functions declared
1882 `extern inline'. They will not contain definitions of any
1883 functions declared `inline' without `extern'.
1885 If this macro is defined, GCC supports the `gnu_inline' function
1886 attribute as a way to always get the gnu89 behavior. Support for
1887 this and `__GNUC_GNU_INLINE__' was added in GCC 4.1.3. If neither
1888 macro is defined, an older version of GCC is being used: `inline'
1889 functions will be compiled in gnu89 mode, and the `gnu_inline'
1890 function attribute will not be recognized.
1893 GCC defines this macro if and only if the data type `char' is
1894 unsigned on the target machine. It exists to cause the standard
1895 header file `limits.h' to work correctly. You should not use this
1896 macro yourself; instead, refer to the standard macros defined in
1899 `__WCHAR_UNSIGNED__'
1900 Like `__CHAR_UNSIGNED__', this macro is defined if and only if the
1901 data type `wchar_t' is unsigned and the front-end is in C++ mode.
1903 `__REGISTER_PREFIX__'
1904 This macro expands to a single token (not a string constant) which
1905 is the prefix applied to CPU register names in assembly language
1906 for this target. You can use it to write assembly that is usable
1907 in multiple environments. For example, in the `m68k-aout'
1908 environment it expands to nothing, but in the `m68k-coff'
1909 environment it expands to a single `%'.
1911 `__USER_LABEL_PREFIX__'
1912 This macro expands to a single token which is the prefix applied to
1913 user labels (symbols visible to C code) in assembly. For example,
1914 in the `m68k-aout' environment it expands to an `_', but in the
1915 `m68k-coff' environment it expands to nothing.
1917 This macro will have the correct definition even if
1918 `-f(no-)underscores' is in use, but it will not be correct if
1919 target-specific options that adjust this prefix are used (e.g. the
1920 OSF/rose `-mno-underscores' option).
1928 These macros are defined to the correct underlying types for the
1929 `size_t', `ptrdiff_t', `wchar_t', `wint_t', `intmax_t', and
1930 `uintmax_t' typedefs, respectively. They exist to make the
1931 standard header files `stddef.h' and `wchar.h' work correctly.
1932 You should not use these macros directly; instead, include the
1933 appropriate headers and use the typedefs.
1936 Defined to the number of bits used in the representation of the
1937 `char' data type. It exists to make the standard header given
1938 numerical limits work correctly. You should not use this macro
1939 directly; instead, include the appropriate headers.
1948 Defined to the maximum value of the `signed char', `wchar_t',
1949 `signed short', `signed int', `signed long', `signed long long',
1950 and `intmax_t' types respectively. They exist to make the
1951 standard header given numerical limits work correctly. You should
1952 not use these macros directly; instead, include the appropriate
1957 `__SIZEOF_LONG_LONG__'
1959 `__SIZEOF_POINTER__'
1962 `__SIZEOF_LONG_DOUBLE__'
1964 `__SIZEOF_WCHAR_T__'
1966 `__SIZEOF_PTRDIFF_T__'
1967 Defined to the number of bytes of the C standard data types: `int',
1968 `long', `long long', `short', `void *', `float', `double', `long
1969 double', `size_t', `wchar_t', `wint_t' and `ptrdiff_t'.
1972 This macro is defined, with value 1, when compiling a C++ source
1973 file with warnings about deprecated constructs enabled. These
1974 warnings are enabled by default, but can be disabled with
1978 This macro is defined, with value 1, when compiling a C++ source
1979 file with exceptions enabled. If `-fno-exceptions' is used when
1980 compiling the file, then this macro is not defined.
1983 This macro is defined, with value 1, when compiling a C++ source
1984 file with runtime type identification enabled. If `-fno-rtti' is
1985 used when compiling the file, then this macro is not defined.
1987 `__USING_SJLJ_EXCEPTIONS__'
1988 This macro is defined, with value 1, if the compiler uses the old
1989 mechanism based on `setjmp' and `longjmp' for exception handling.
1991 `__GXX_EXPERIMENTAL_CXX0X__'
1992 This macro is defined when compiling a C++ source file with the
1993 option `-std=c++0x' or `-std=gnu++0x'. It indicates that some
1994 features likely to be included in C++0x are available. Note that
1995 these features are experimental, and may change or be removed in
1996 future versions of GCC.
1999 This macro is defined when compiling a C++ source file. It has the
2000 value 1 if the compiler will use weak symbols, COMDAT sections, or
2001 other similar techniques to collapse symbols with "vague linkage"
2002 that are defined in multiple translation units. If the compiler
2003 will not collapse such symbols, this macro is defined with value
2004 0. In general, user code should not need to make use of this
2005 macro; the purpose of this macro is to ease implementation of the
2006 C++ runtime library provided with G++.
2009 This macro is defined, with value 1, if (and only if) the NeXT
2010 runtime (as in `-fnext-runtime') is in use for Objective-C. If
2011 the GNU runtime is used, this macro is not defined, so that you
2012 can use this macro to determine which runtime (NeXT or GNU) is
2017 These macros are defined, with value 1, if (and only if) the
2018 compilation is for a target where `long int' and pointer both use
2019 64-bits and `int' uses 32-bit.
2022 This macro is defined, with value 1, when `-fstack-protector' is in
2026 This macro is defined, with value 2, when `-fstack-protector-all'
2030 This macro expands to a string constant that describes the date
2031 and time of the last modification of the current source file. The
2032 string constant contains abbreviated day of the week, month, day
2033 of the month, time in hh:mm:ss form, year and looks like
2034 `"Sun Sep 16 01:03:52 1973"'. If the day of the month is less
2035 than 10, it is padded with a space on the left.
2037 If GCC cannot determine the current date, it will emit a warning
2038 message (once per compilation) and `__TIMESTAMP__' will expand to
2039 `"??? ??? ?? ??:??:?? ????"'.
2041 `__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_1'
2042 `__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_2'
2043 `__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_4'
2044 `__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_8'
2045 `__GCC_HAVE_SYNC_COMPARE_AND_SWAP_16'
2046 These macros are defined when the target processor supports atomic
2047 compare and swap operations on operands 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bytes in
2048 length, respectively.
2050 `__GCC_HAVE_DWARF2_CFI_ASM'
2051 This macro is defined when the compiler is emitting Dwarf2 CFI
2052 directives to the assembler. When this is defined, it is possible
2053 to emit those same directives in inline assembly.
2056 File: cpp.info, Node: System-specific Predefined Macros, Next: C++ Named Operators, Prev: Common Predefined Macros, Up: Predefined Macros
2058 3.7.3 System-specific Predefined Macros
2059 ---------------------------------------
2061 The C preprocessor normally predefines several macros that indicate what
2062 type of system and machine is in use. They are obviously different on
2063 each target supported by GCC. This manual, being for all systems and
2064 machines, cannot tell you what their names are, but you can use `cpp
2065 -dM' to see them all. *Note Invocation::. All system-specific
2066 predefined macros expand to the constant 1, so you can test them with
2067 either `#ifdef' or `#if'.
2069 The C standard requires that all system-specific macros be part of
2070 the "reserved namespace". All names which begin with two underscores,
2071 or an underscore and a capital letter, are reserved for the compiler and
2072 library to use as they wish. However, historically system-specific
2073 macros have had names with no special prefix; for instance, it is common
2074 to find `unix' defined on Unix systems. For all such macros, GCC
2075 provides a parallel macro with two underscores added at the beginning
2076 and the end. If `unix' is defined, `__unix__' will be defined too.
2077 There will never be more than two underscores; the parallel of `_mips'
2080 When the `-ansi' option, or any `-std' option that requests strict
2081 conformance, is given to the compiler, all the system-specific
2082 predefined macros outside the reserved namespace are suppressed. The
2083 parallel macros, inside the reserved namespace, remain defined.
2085 We are slowly phasing out all predefined macros which are outside the
2086 reserved namespace. You should never use them in new programs, and we
2087 encourage you to correct older code to use the parallel macros whenever
2088 you find it. We don't recommend you use the system-specific macros that
2089 are in the reserved namespace, either. It is better in the long run to
2090 check specifically for features you need, using a tool such as
2094 File: cpp.info, Node: C++ Named Operators, Prev: System-specific Predefined Macros, Up: Predefined Macros
2096 3.7.4 C++ Named Operators
2097 -------------------------
2099 In C++, there are eleven keywords which are simply alternate spellings
2100 of operators normally written with punctuation. These keywords are
2101 treated as such even in the preprocessor. They function as operators in
2102 `#if', and they cannot be defined as macros or poisoned. In C, you can
2103 request that those keywords take their C++ meaning by including
2104 `iso646.h'. That header defines each one as a normal object-like macro
2105 expanding to the appropriate punctuator.
2107 These are the named operators and their corresponding punctuators:
2109 Named Operator Punctuator
2123 File: cpp.info, Node: Undefining and Redefining Macros, Next: Directives Within Macro Arguments, Prev: Predefined Macros, Up: Macros
2125 3.8 Undefining and Redefining Macros
2126 ====================================
2128 If a macro ceases to be useful, it may be "undefined" with the `#undef'
2129 directive. `#undef' takes a single argument, the name of the macro to
2130 undefine. You use the bare macro name, even if the macro is
2131 function-like. It is an error if anything appears on the line after
2132 the macro name. `#undef' has no effect if the name is not a macro.
2137 x = FOO; ==> x = FOO;
2139 Once a macro has been undefined, that identifier may be "redefined"
2140 as a macro by a subsequent `#define' directive. The new definition
2141 need not have any resemblance to the old definition.
2143 However, if an identifier which is currently a macro is redefined,
2144 then the new definition must be "effectively the same" as the old one.
2145 Two macro definitions are effectively the same if:
2146 * Both are the same type of macro (object- or function-like).
2148 * All the tokens of the replacement list are the same.
2150 * If there are any parameters, they are the same.
2152 * Whitespace appears in the same places in both. It need not be
2153 exactly the same amount of whitespace, though. Remember that
2154 comments count as whitespace.
2156 These definitions are effectively the same:
2157 #define FOUR (2 + 2)
2158 #define FOUR (2 + 2)
2159 #define FOUR (2 /* two */ + 2)
2161 #define FOUR (2 + 2)
2162 #define FOUR ( 2+2 )
2163 #define FOUR (2 * 2)
2164 #define FOUR(score,and,seven,years,ago) (2 + 2)
2166 If a macro is redefined with a definition that is not effectively the
2167 same as the old one, the preprocessor issues a warning and changes the
2168 macro to use the new definition. If the new definition is effectively
2169 the same, the redefinition is silently ignored. This allows, for
2170 instance, two different headers to define a common macro. The
2171 preprocessor will only complain if the definitions do not match.
2174 File: cpp.info, Node: Directives Within Macro Arguments, Next: Macro Pitfalls, Prev: Undefining and Redefining Macros, Up: Macros
2176 3.9 Directives Within Macro Arguments
2177 =====================================
2179 Occasionally it is convenient to use preprocessor directives within the
2180 arguments of a macro. The C and C++ standards declare that behavior in
2181 these cases is undefined.
2183 Versions of CPP prior to 3.2 would reject such constructs with an
2184 error message. This was the only syntactic difference between normal
2185 functions and function-like macros, so it seemed attractive to remove
2186 this limitation, and people would often be surprised that they could
2187 not use macros in this way. Moreover, sometimes people would use
2188 conditional compilation in the argument list to a normal library
2189 function like `printf', only to find that after a library upgrade
2190 `printf' had changed to be a function-like macro, and their code would
2191 no longer compile. So from version 3.2 we changed CPP to successfully
2192 process arbitrary directives within macro arguments in exactly the same
2193 way as it would have processed the directive were the function-like
2194 macro invocation not present.
2196 If, within a macro invocation, that macro is redefined, then the new
2197 definition takes effect in time for argument pre-expansion, but the
2198 original definition is still used for argument replacement. Here is a
2199 pathological example:
2211 with the semantics described above.
2214 File: cpp.info, Node: Macro Pitfalls, Prev: Directives Within Macro Arguments, Up: Macros
2219 In this section we describe some special rules that apply to macros and
2220 macro expansion, and point out certain cases in which the rules have
2221 counter-intuitive consequences that you must watch out for.
2226 * Operator Precedence Problems::
2227 * Swallowing the Semicolon::
2228 * Duplication of Side Effects::
2229 * Self-Referential Macros::
2230 * Argument Prescan::
2231 * Newlines in Arguments::
2234 File: cpp.info, Node: Misnesting, Next: Operator Precedence Problems, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2239 When a macro is called with arguments, the arguments are substituted
2240 into the macro body and the result is checked, together with the rest of
2241 the input file, for more macro calls. It is possible to piece together
2242 a macro call coming partially from the macro body and partially from the
2243 arguments. For example,
2245 #define twice(x) (2*(x))
2246 #define call_with_1(x) x(1)
2251 Macro definitions do not have to have balanced parentheses. By
2252 writing an unbalanced open parenthesis in a macro body, it is possible
2253 to create a macro call that begins inside the macro body but ends
2254 outside of it. For example,
2256 #define strange(file) fprintf (file, "%s %d",
2258 strange(stderr) p, 35)
2259 ==> fprintf (stderr, "%s %d", p, 35)
2261 The ability to piece together a macro call can be useful, but the
2262 use of unbalanced open parentheses in a macro body is just confusing,
2263 and should be avoided.
2266 File: cpp.info, Node: Operator Precedence Problems, Next: Swallowing the Semicolon, Prev: Misnesting, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2268 3.10.2 Operator Precedence Problems
2269 -----------------------------------
2271 You may have noticed that in most of the macro definition examples shown
2272 above, each occurrence of a macro argument name had parentheses around
2273 it. In addition, another pair of parentheses usually surround the
2274 entire macro definition. Here is why it is best to write macros that
2277 Suppose you define a macro as follows,
2279 #define ceil_div(x, y) (x + y - 1) / y
2281 whose purpose is to divide, rounding up. (One use for this operation is
2282 to compute how many `int' objects are needed to hold a certain number
2283 of `char' objects.) Then suppose it is used as follows:
2285 a = ceil_div (b & c, sizeof (int));
2286 ==> a = (b & c + sizeof (int) - 1) / sizeof (int);
2288 This does not do what is intended. The operator-precedence rules of C
2289 make it equivalent to this:
2291 a = (b & (c + sizeof (int) - 1)) / sizeof (int);
2293 What we want is this:
2295 a = ((b & c) + sizeof (int) - 1)) / sizeof (int);
2297 Defining the macro as
2299 #define ceil_div(x, y) ((x) + (y) - 1) / (y)
2301 provides the desired result.
2303 Unintended grouping can result in another way. Consider `sizeof
2304 ceil_div(1, 2)'. That has the appearance of a C expression that would
2305 compute the size of the type of `ceil_div (1, 2)', but in fact it means
2306 something very different. Here is what it expands to:
2308 sizeof ((1) + (2) - 1) / (2)
2310 This would take the size of an integer and divide it by two. The
2311 precedence rules have put the division outside the `sizeof' when it was
2312 intended to be inside.
2314 Parentheses around the entire macro definition prevent such problems.
2315 Here, then, is the recommended way to define `ceil_div':
2317 #define ceil_div(x, y) (((x) + (y) - 1) / (y))
2320 File: cpp.info, Node: Swallowing the Semicolon, Next: Duplication of Side Effects, Prev: Operator Precedence Problems, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2322 3.10.3 Swallowing the Semicolon
2323 -------------------------------
2325 Often it is desirable to define a macro that expands into a compound
2326 statement. Consider, for example, the following macro, that advances a
2327 pointer (the argument `p' says where to find it) across whitespace
2330 #define SKIP_SPACES(p, limit) \
2331 { char *lim = (limit); \
2333 if (*p++ != ' ') { \
2336 Here backslash-newline is used to split the macro definition, which must
2337 be a single logical line, so that it resembles the way such code would
2338 be laid out if not part of a macro definition.
2340 A call to this macro might be `SKIP_SPACES (p, lim)'. Strictly
2341 speaking, the call expands to a compound statement, which is a complete
2342 statement with no need for a semicolon to end it. However, since it
2343 looks like a function call, it minimizes confusion if you can use it
2344 like a function call, writing a semicolon afterward, as in `SKIP_SPACES
2347 This can cause trouble before `else' statements, because the
2348 semicolon is actually a null statement. Suppose you write
2351 SKIP_SPACES (p, lim);
2354 The presence of two statements--the compound statement and a null
2355 statement--in between the `if' condition and the `else' makes invalid C
2358 The definition of the macro `SKIP_SPACES' can be altered to solve
2359 this problem, using a `do ... while' statement. Here is how:
2361 #define SKIP_SPACES(p, limit) \
2362 do { char *lim = (limit); \
2364 if (*p++ != ' ') { \
2368 Now `SKIP_SPACES (p, lim);' expands into
2372 which is one statement. The loop executes exactly once; most compilers
2373 generate no extra code for it.
2376 File: cpp.info, Node: Duplication of Side Effects, Next: Self-Referential Macros, Prev: Swallowing the Semicolon, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2378 3.10.4 Duplication of Side Effects
2379 ----------------------------------
2381 Many C programs define a macro `min', for "minimum", like this:
2383 #define min(X, Y) ((X) < (Y) ? (X) : (Y))
2385 When you use this macro with an argument containing a side effect,
2388 next = min (x + y, foo (z));
2390 it expands as follows:
2392 next = ((x + y) < (foo (z)) ? (x + y) : (foo (z)));
2394 where `x + y' has been substituted for `X' and `foo (z)' for `Y'.
2396 The function `foo' is used only once in the statement as it appears
2397 in the program, but the expression `foo (z)' has been substituted twice
2398 into the macro expansion. As a result, `foo' might be called two times
2399 when the statement is executed. If it has side effects or if it takes
2400 a long time to compute, the results might not be what you intended. We
2401 say that `min' is an "unsafe" macro.
2403 The best solution to this problem is to define `min' in a way that
2404 computes the value of `foo (z)' only once. The C language offers no
2405 standard way to do this, but it can be done with GNU extensions as
2409 ({ typeof (X) x_ = (X); \
2410 typeof (Y) y_ = (Y); \
2411 (x_ < y_) ? x_ : y_; })
2413 The `({ ... })' notation produces a compound statement that acts as
2414 an expression. Its value is the value of its last statement. This
2415 permits us to define local variables and assign each argument to one.
2416 The local variables have underscores after their names to reduce the
2417 risk of conflict with an identifier of wider scope (it is impossible to
2418 avoid this entirely). Now each argument is evaluated exactly once.
2420 If you do not wish to use GNU C extensions, the only solution is to
2421 be careful when _using_ the macro `min'. For example, you can
2422 calculate the value of `foo (z)', save it in a variable, and use that
2425 #define min(X, Y) ((X) < (Y) ? (X) : (Y))
2429 next = min (x + y, tem);
2432 (where we assume that `foo' returns type `int').
2435 File: cpp.info, Node: Self-Referential Macros, Next: Argument Prescan, Prev: Duplication of Side Effects, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2437 3.10.5 Self-Referential Macros
2438 ------------------------------
2440 A "self-referential" macro is one whose name appears in its definition.
2441 Recall that all macro definitions are rescanned for more macros to
2442 replace. If the self-reference were considered a use of the macro, it
2443 would produce an infinitely large expansion. To prevent this, the
2444 self-reference is not considered a macro call. It is passed into the
2445 preprocessor output unchanged. Consider an example:
2447 #define foo (4 + foo)
2449 where `foo' is also a variable in your program.
2451 Following the ordinary rules, each reference to `foo' will expand
2452 into `(4 + foo)'; then this will be rescanned and will expand into `(4
2453 + (4 + foo))'; and so on until the computer runs out of memory.
2455 The self-reference rule cuts this process short after one step, at
2456 `(4 + foo)'. Therefore, this macro definition has the possibly useful
2457 effect of causing the program to add 4 to the value of `foo' wherever
2458 `foo' is referred to.
2460 In most cases, it is a bad idea to take advantage of this feature. A
2461 person reading the program who sees that `foo' is a variable will not
2462 expect that it is a macro as well. The reader will come across the
2463 identifier `foo' in the program and think its value should be that of
2464 the variable `foo', whereas in fact the value is four greater.
2466 One common, useful use of self-reference is to create a macro which
2467 expands to itself. If you write
2471 then the macro `EPERM' expands to `EPERM'. Effectively, it is left
2472 alone by the preprocessor whenever it's used in running text. You can
2473 tell that it's a macro with `#ifdef'. You might do this if you want to
2474 define numeric constants with an `enum', but have `#ifdef' be true for
2477 If a macro `x' expands to use a macro `y', and the expansion of `y'
2478 refers to the macro `x', that is an "indirect self-reference" of `x'.
2479 `x' is not expanded in this case either. Thus, if we have
2484 then `x' and `y' expand as follows:
2492 Each macro is expanded when it appears in the definition of the other
2493 macro, but not when it indirectly appears in its own definition.
2496 File: cpp.info, Node: Argument Prescan, Next: Newlines in Arguments, Prev: Self-Referential Macros, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2498 3.10.6 Argument Prescan
2499 -----------------------
2501 Macro arguments are completely macro-expanded before they are
2502 substituted into a macro body, unless they are stringified or pasted
2503 with other tokens. After substitution, the entire macro body, including
2504 the substituted arguments, is scanned again for macros to be expanded.
2505 The result is that the arguments are scanned _twice_ to expand macro
2508 Most of the time, this has no effect. If the argument contained any
2509 macro calls, they are expanded during the first scan. The result
2510 therefore contains no macro calls, so the second scan does not change
2511 it. If the argument were substituted as given, with no prescan, the
2512 single remaining scan would find the same macro calls and produce the
2515 You might expect the double scan to change the results when a
2516 self-referential macro is used in an argument of another macro (*note
2517 Self-Referential Macros::): the self-referential macro would be
2518 expanded once in the first scan, and a second time in the second scan.
2519 However, this is not what happens. The self-references that do not
2520 expand in the first scan are marked so that they will not expand in the
2523 You might wonder, "Why mention the prescan, if it makes no
2524 difference? And why not skip it and make the preprocessor faster?"
2525 The answer is that the prescan does make a difference in three special
2528 * Nested calls to a macro.
2530 We say that "nested" calls to a macro occur when a macro's argument
2531 contains a call to that very macro. For example, if `f' is a macro
2532 that expects one argument, `f (f (1))' is a nested pair of calls to
2533 `f'. The desired expansion is made by expanding `f (1)' and
2534 substituting that into the definition of `f'. The prescan causes
2535 the expected result to happen. Without the prescan, `f (1)' itself
2536 would be substituted as an argument, and the inner use of `f' would
2537 appear during the main scan as an indirect self-reference and
2538 would not be expanded.
2540 * Macros that call other macros that stringify or concatenate.
2542 If an argument is stringified or concatenated, the prescan does not
2543 occur. If you _want_ to expand a macro, then stringify or
2544 concatenate its expansion, you can do that by causing one macro to
2545 call another macro that does the stringification or concatenation.
2546 For instance, if you have
2548 #define AFTERX(x) X_ ## x
2549 #define XAFTERX(x) AFTERX(x)
2550 #define TABLESIZE 1024
2551 #define BUFSIZE TABLESIZE
2553 then `AFTERX(BUFSIZE)' expands to `X_BUFSIZE', and
2554 `XAFTERX(BUFSIZE)' expands to `X_1024'. (Not to `X_TABLESIZE'.
2555 Prescan always does a complete expansion.)
2557 * Macros used in arguments, whose expansions contain unshielded
2560 This can cause a macro expanded on the second scan to be called
2561 with the wrong number of arguments. Here is an example:
2564 #define bar(x) lose(x)
2565 #define lose(x) (1 + (x))
2567 We would like `bar(foo)' to turn into `(1 + (foo))', which would
2568 then turn into `(1 + (a,b))'. Instead, `bar(foo)' expands into
2569 `lose(a,b)', and you get an error because `lose' requires a single
2570 argument. In this case, the problem is easily solved by the same
2571 parentheses that ought to be used to prevent misnesting of
2572 arithmetic operations:
2576 #define bar(x) lose((x))
2578 The extra pair of parentheses prevents the comma in `foo''s
2579 definition from being interpreted as an argument separator.
2583 File: cpp.info, Node: Newlines in Arguments, Prev: Argument Prescan, Up: Macro Pitfalls
2585 3.10.7 Newlines in Arguments
2586 ----------------------------
2588 The invocation of a function-like macro can extend over many logical
2589 lines. However, in the present implementation, the entire expansion
2590 comes out on one line. Thus line numbers emitted by the compiler or
2591 debugger refer to the line the invocation started on, which might be
2592 different to the line containing the argument causing the problem.
2594 Here is an example illustrating this:
2596 #define ignore_second_arg(a,b,c) a; c
2598 ignore_second_arg (foo (),
2602 The syntax error triggered by the tokens `syntax error' results in an
2603 error message citing line three--the line of ignore_second_arg-- even
2604 though the problematic code comes from line five.
2606 We consider this a bug, and intend to fix it in the near future.
2609 File: cpp.info, Node: Conditionals, Next: Diagnostics, Prev: Macros, Up: Top
2614 A "conditional" is a directive that instructs the preprocessor to
2615 select whether or not to include a chunk of code in the final token
2616 stream passed to the compiler. Preprocessor conditionals can test
2617 arithmetic expressions, or whether a name is defined as a macro, or both
2618 simultaneously using the special `defined' operator.
2620 A conditional in the C preprocessor resembles in some ways an `if'
2621 statement in C, but it is important to understand the difference between
2622 them. The condition in an `if' statement is tested during the
2623 execution of your program. Its purpose is to allow your program to
2624 behave differently from run to run, depending on the data it is
2625 operating on. The condition in a preprocessing conditional directive is
2626 tested when your program is compiled. Its purpose is to allow different
2627 code to be included in the program depending on the situation at the
2628 time of compilation.
2630 However, the distinction is becoming less clear. Modern compilers
2631 often do test `if' statements when a program is compiled, if their
2632 conditions are known not to vary at run time, and eliminate code which
2633 can never be executed. If you can count on your compiler to do this,
2634 you may find that your program is more readable if you use `if'
2635 statements with constant conditions (perhaps determined by macros). Of
2636 course, you can only use this to exclude code, not type definitions or
2637 other preprocessing directives, and you can only do it if the code
2638 remains syntactically valid when it is not to be used.
2640 GCC version 3 eliminates this kind of never-executed code even when
2641 not optimizing. Older versions did it only when optimizing.
2645 * Conditional Uses::
2646 * Conditional Syntax::
2650 File: cpp.info, Node: Conditional Uses, Next: Conditional Syntax, Up: Conditionals
2652 4.1 Conditional Uses
2653 ====================
2655 There are three general reasons to use a conditional.
2657 * A program may need to use different code depending on the machine
2658 or operating system it is to run on. In some cases the code for
2659 one operating system may be erroneous on another operating system;
2660 for example, it might refer to data types or constants that do not
2661 exist on the other system. When this happens, it is not enough to
2662 avoid executing the invalid code. Its mere presence will cause
2663 the compiler to reject the program. With a preprocessing
2664 conditional, the offending code can be effectively excised from
2665 the program when it is not valid.
2667 * You may want to be able to compile the same source file into two
2668 different programs. One version might make frequent time-consuming
2669 consistency checks on its intermediate data, or print the values of
2670 those data for debugging, and the other not.
2672 * A conditional whose condition is always false is one way to
2673 exclude code from the program but keep it as a sort of comment for
2676 Simple programs that do not need system-specific logic or complex
2677 debugging hooks generally will not need to use preprocessing
2681 File: cpp.info, Node: Conditional Syntax, Next: Deleted Code, Prev: Conditional Uses, Up: Conditionals
2683 4.2 Conditional Syntax
2684 ======================
2686 A conditional in the C preprocessor begins with a "conditional
2687 directive": `#if', `#ifdef' or `#ifndef'.
2698 File: cpp.info, Node: Ifdef, Next: If, Up: Conditional Syntax
2703 The simplest sort of conditional is
2711 This block is called a "conditional group". CONTROLLED TEXT will be
2712 included in the output of the preprocessor if and only if MACRO is
2713 defined. We say that the conditional "succeeds" if MACRO is defined,
2714 "fails" if it is not.
2716 The CONTROLLED TEXT inside of a conditional can include
2717 preprocessing directives. They are executed only if the conditional
2718 succeeds. You can nest conditional groups inside other conditional
2719 groups, but they must be completely nested. In other words, `#endif'
2720 always matches the nearest `#ifdef' (or `#ifndef', or `#if'). Also,
2721 you cannot start a conditional group in one file and end it in another.
2723 Even if a conditional fails, the CONTROLLED TEXT inside it is still
2724 run through initial transformations and tokenization. Therefore, it
2725 must all be lexically valid C. Normally the only way this matters is
2726 that all comments and string literals inside a failing conditional group
2727 must still be properly ended.
2729 The comment following the `#endif' is not required, but it is a good
2730 practice if there is a lot of CONTROLLED TEXT, because it helps people
2731 match the `#endif' to the corresponding `#ifdef'. Older programs
2732 sometimes put MACRO directly after the `#endif' without enclosing it in
2733 a comment. This is invalid code according to the C standard. CPP
2734 accepts it with a warning. It never affects which `#ifndef' the
2737 Sometimes you wish to use some code if a macro is _not_ defined.
2738 You can do this by writing `#ifndef' instead of `#ifdef'. One common
2739 use of `#ifndef' is to include code only the first time a header file
2740 is included. *Note Once-Only Headers::.
2742 Macro definitions can vary between compilations for several reasons.
2743 Here are some samples.
2745 * Some macros are predefined on each kind of machine (*note
2746 System-specific Predefined Macros::). This allows you to provide
2747 code specially tuned for a particular machine.
2749 * System header files define more macros, associated with the
2750 features they implement. You can test these macros with
2751 conditionals to avoid using a system feature on a machine where it
2754 * Macros can be defined or undefined with the `-D' and `-U' command
2755 line options when you compile the program. You can arrange to
2756 compile the same source file into two different programs by
2757 choosing a macro name to specify which program you want, writing
2758 conditionals to test whether or how this macro is defined, and
2759 then controlling the state of the macro with command line options,
2760 perhaps set in the Makefile. *Note Invocation::.
2762 * Your program might have a special header file (often called
2763 `config.h') that is adjusted when the program is compiled. It can
2764 define or not define macros depending on the features of the
2765 system and the desired capabilities of the program. The
2766 adjustment can be automated by a tool such as `autoconf', or done
2770 File: cpp.info, Node: If, Next: Defined, Prev: Ifdef, Up: Conditional Syntax
2775 The `#if' directive allows you to test the value of an arithmetic
2776 expression, rather than the mere existence of one macro. Its syntax is
2782 #endif /* EXPRESSION */
2784 EXPRESSION is a C expression of integer type, subject to stringent
2785 restrictions. It may contain
2787 * Integer constants.
2789 * Character constants, which are interpreted as they would be in
2792 * Arithmetic operators for addition, subtraction, multiplication,
2793 division, bitwise operations, shifts, comparisons, and logical
2794 operations (`&&' and `||'). The latter two obey the usual
2795 short-circuiting rules of standard C.
2797 * Macros. All macros in the expression are expanded before actual
2798 computation of the expression's value begins.
2800 * Uses of the `defined' operator, which lets you check whether macros
2801 are defined in the middle of an `#if'.
2803 * Identifiers that are not macros, which are all considered to be the
2804 number zero. This allows you to write `#if MACRO' instead of
2805 `#ifdef MACRO', if you know that MACRO, when defined, will always
2806 have a nonzero value. Function-like macros used without their
2807 function call parentheses are also treated as zero.
2809 In some contexts this shortcut is undesirable. The `-Wundef'
2810 option causes GCC to warn whenever it encounters an identifier
2811 which is not a macro in an `#if'.
2813 The preprocessor does not know anything about types in the language.
2814 Therefore, `sizeof' operators are not recognized in `#if', and neither
2815 are `enum' constants. They will be taken as identifiers which are not
2816 macros, and replaced by zero. In the case of `sizeof', this is likely
2817 to cause the expression to be invalid.
2819 The preprocessor calculates the value of EXPRESSION. It carries out
2820 all calculations in the widest integer type known to the compiler; on
2821 most machines supported by GCC this is 64 bits. This is not the same
2822 rule as the compiler uses to calculate the value of a constant
2823 expression, and may give different results in some cases. If the value
2824 comes out to be nonzero, the `#if' succeeds and the CONTROLLED TEXT is
2825 included; otherwise it is skipped.
2828 File: cpp.info, Node: Defined, Next: Else, Prev: If, Up: Conditional Syntax
2833 The special operator `defined' is used in `#if' and `#elif' expressions
2834 to test whether a certain name is defined as a macro. `defined NAME'
2835 and `defined (NAME)' are both expressions whose value is 1 if NAME is
2836 defined as a macro at the current point in the program, and 0
2837 otherwise. Thus, `#if defined MACRO' is precisely equivalent to
2840 `defined' is useful when you wish to test more than one macro for
2841 existence at once. For example,
2843 #if defined (__vax__) || defined (__ns16000__)
2845 would succeed if either of the names `__vax__' or `__ns16000__' is
2848 Conditionals written like this:
2850 #if defined BUFSIZE && BUFSIZE >= 1024
2852 can generally be simplified to just `#if BUFSIZE >= 1024', since if
2853 `BUFSIZE' is not defined, it will be interpreted as having the value
2856 If the `defined' operator appears as a result of a macro expansion,
2857 the C standard says the behavior is undefined. GNU cpp treats it as a
2858 genuine `defined' operator and evaluates it normally. It will warn
2859 wherever your code uses this feature if you use the command-line option
2860 `-pedantic', since other compilers may handle it differently.
2863 File: cpp.info, Node: Else, Next: Elif, Prev: Defined, Up: Conditional Syntax
2868 The `#else' directive can be added to a conditional to provide
2869 alternative text to be used if the condition fails. This is what it
2874 #else /* Not EXPRESSION */
2876 #endif /* Not EXPRESSION */
2878 If EXPRESSION is nonzero, the TEXT-IF-TRUE is included and the
2879 TEXT-IF-FALSE is skipped. If EXPRESSION is zero, the opposite happens.
2881 You can use `#else' with `#ifdef' and `#ifndef', too.
2884 File: cpp.info, Node: Elif, Prev: Else, Up: Conditional Syntax
2889 One common case of nested conditionals is used to check for more than
2890 two possible alternatives. For example, you might have
2902 Another conditional directive, `#elif', allows this to be
2903 abbreviated as follows:
2909 #else /* X != 2 and X != 1*/
2911 #endif /* X != 2 and X != 1*/
2913 `#elif' stands for "else if". Like `#else', it goes in the middle
2914 of a conditional group and subdivides it; it does not require a
2915 matching `#endif' of its own. Like `#if', the `#elif' directive
2916 includes an expression to be tested. The text following the `#elif' is
2917 processed only if the original `#if'-condition failed and the `#elif'
2920 More than one `#elif' can go in the same conditional group. Then
2921 the text after each `#elif' is processed only if the `#elif' condition
2922 succeeds after the original `#if' and all previous `#elif' directives
2923 within it have failed.
2925 `#else' is allowed after any number of `#elif' directives, but
2926 `#elif' may not follow `#else'.
2929 File: cpp.info, Node: Deleted Code, Prev: Conditional Syntax, Up: Conditionals
2934 If you replace or delete a part of the program but want to keep the old
2935 code around for future reference, you often cannot simply comment it
2936 out. Block comments do not nest, so the first comment inside the old
2937 code will end the commenting-out. The probable result is a flood of
2940 One way to avoid this problem is to use an always-false conditional
2941 instead. For instance, put `#if 0' before the deleted code and
2942 `#endif' after it. This works even if the code being turned off
2943 contains conditionals, but they must be entire conditionals (balanced
2944 `#if' and `#endif').
2946 Some people use `#ifdef notdef' instead. This is risky, because
2947 `notdef' might be accidentally defined as a macro, and then the
2948 conditional would succeed. `#if 0' can be counted on to fail.
2950 Do not use `#if 0' for comments which are not C code. Use a real
2951 comment, instead. The interior of `#if 0' must consist of complete
2952 tokens; in particular, single-quote characters must balance. Comments
2953 often contain unbalanced single-quote characters (known in English as
2954 apostrophes). These confuse `#if 0'. They don't confuse `/*'.
2957 File: cpp.info, Node: Diagnostics, Next: Line Control, Prev: Conditionals, Up: Top
2962 The directive `#error' causes the preprocessor to report a fatal error.
2963 The tokens forming the rest of the line following `#error' are used as
2966 You would use `#error' inside of a conditional that detects a
2967 combination of parameters which you know the program does not properly
2968 support. For example, if you know that the program will not run
2969 properly on a VAX, you might write
2972 #error "Won't work on VAXen. See comments at get_last_object."
2975 If you have several configuration parameters that must be set up by
2976 the installation in a consistent way, you can use conditionals to detect
2977 an inconsistency and report it with `#error'. For example,
2979 #if !defined(UNALIGNED_INT_ASM_OP) && defined(DWARF2_DEBUGGING_INFO)
2980 #error "DWARF2_DEBUGGING_INFO requires UNALIGNED_INT_ASM_OP."
2983 The directive `#warning' is like `#error', but causes the
2984 preprocessor to issue a warning and continue preprocessing. The tokens
2985 following `#warning' are used as the warning message.
2987 You might use `#warning' in obsolete header files, with a message
2988 directing the user to the header file which should be used instead.
2990 Neither `#error' nor `#warning' macro-expands its argument.
2991 Internal whitespace sequences are each replaced with a single space.
2992 The line must consist of complete tokens. It is wisest to make the
2993 argument of these directives be a single string constant; this avoids
2994 problems with apostrophes and the like.
2997 File: cpp.info, Node: Line Control, Next: Pragmas, Prev: Diagnostics, Up: Top
3002 The C preprocessor informs the C compiler of the location in your source
3003 code where each token came from. Presently, this is just the file name
3004 and line number. All the tokens resulting from macro expansion are
3005 reported as having appeared on the line of the source file where the
3006 outermost macro was used. We intend to be more accurate in the future.
3008 If you write a program which generates source code, such as the
3009 `bison' parser generator, you may want to adjust the preprocessor's
3010 notion of the current file name and line number by hand. Parts of the
3011 output from `bison' are generated from scratch, other parts come from a
3012 standard parser file. The rest are copied verbatim from `bison''s
3013 input. You would like compiler error messages and symbolic debuggers
3014 to be able to refer to `bison''s input file.
3016 `bison' or any such program can arrange this by writing `#line'
3017 directives into the output file. `#line' is a directive that specifies
3018 the original line number and source file name for subsequent input in
3019 the current preprocessor input file. `#line' has three variants:
3022 LINENUM is a non-negative decimal integer constant. It specifies
3023 the line number which should be reported for the following line of
3024 input. Subsequent lines are counted from LINENUM.
3026 `#line LINENUM FILENAME'
3027 LINENUM is the same as for the first form, and has the same
3028 effect. In addition, FILENAME is a string constant. The
3029 following line and all subsequent lines are reported to come from
3030 the file it specifies, until something else happens to change that.
3031 FILENAME is interpreted according to the normal rules for a string
3032 constant: backslash escapes are interpreted. This is different
3035 Previous versions of CPP did not interpret escapes in `#line'; we
3036 have changed it because the standard requires they be interpreted,
3037 and most other compilers do.
3039 `#line ANYTHING ELSE'
3040 ANYTHING ELSE is checked for macro calls, which are expanded. The
3041 result should match one of the above two forms.
3043 `#line' directives alter the results of the `__FILE__' and
3044 `__LINE__' predefined macros from that point on. *Note Standard
3045 Predefined Macros::. They do not have any effect on `#include''s idea
3046 of the directory containing the current file. This is a change from
3047 GCC 2.95. Previously, a file reading
3049 #line 1 "../src/gram.y"
3052 would search for `gram.h' in `../src', then the `-I' chain; the
3053 directory containing the physical source file would not be searched.
3054 In GCC 3.0 and later, the `#include' is not affected by the presence of
3055 a `#line' referring to a different directory.
3057 We made this change because the old behavior caused problems when
3058 generated source files were transported between machines. For instance,
3059 it is common practice to ship generated parsers with a source release,
3060 so that people building the distribution do not need to have yacc or
3061 Bison installed. These files frequently have `#line' directives
3062 referring to the directory tree of the system where the distribution was
3063 created. If GCC tries to search for headers in those directories, the
3064 build is likely to fail.
3066 The new behavior can cause failures too, if the generated file is not
3067 in the same directory as its source and it attempts to include a header
3068 which would be visible searching from the directory containing the
3069 source file. However, this problem is easily solved with an additional
3070 `-I' switch on the command line. The failures caused by the old
3071 semantics could sometimes be corrected only by editing the generated
3072 files, which is difficult and error-prone.
3075 File: cpp.info, Node: Pragmas, Next: Other Directives, Prev: Line Control, Up: Top
3080 The `#pragma' directive is the method specified by the C standard for
3081 providing additional information to the compiler, beyond what is
3082 conveyed in the language itself. Three forms of this directive
3083 (commonly known as "pragmas") are specified by the 1999 C standard. A
3084 C compiler is free to attach any meaning it likes to other pragmas.
3086 GCC has historically preferred to use extensions to the syntax of the
3087 language, such as `__attribute__', for this purpose. However, GCC does
3088 define a few pragmas of its own. These mostly have effects on the
3089 entire translation unit or source file.
3091 In GCC version 3, all GNU-defined, supported pragmas have been given
3092 a `GCC' prefix. This is in line with the `STDC' prefix on all pragmas
3093 defined by C99. For backward compatibility, pragmas which were
3094 recognized by previous versions are still recognized without the `GCC'
3095 prefix, but that usage is deprecated. Some older pragmas are
3096 deprecated in their entirety. They are not recognized with the `GCC'
3097 prefix. *Note Obsolete Features::.
3099 C99 introduces the `_Pragma' operator. This feature addresses a
3100 major problem with `#pragma': being a directive, it cannot be produced
3101 as the result of macro expansion. `_Pragma' is an operator, much like
3102 `sizeof' or `defined', and can be embedded in a macro.
3104 Its syntax is `_Pragma (STRING-LITERAL)', where STRING-LITERAL can
3105 be either a normal or wide-character string literal. It is
3106 destringized, by replacing all `\\' with a single `\' and all `\"' with
3107 a `"'. The result is then processed as if it had appeared as the right
3108 hand side of a `#pragma' directive. For example,
3110 _Pragma ("GCC dependency \"parse.y\"")
3112 has the same effect as `#pragma GCC dependency "parse.y"'. The same
3113 effect could be achieved using macros, for example
3115 #define DO_PRAGMA(x) _Pragma (#x)
3116 DO_PRAGMA (GCC dependency "parse.y")
3118 The standard is unclear on where a `_Pragma' operator can appear.
3119 The preprocessor does not accept it within a preprocessing conditional
3120 directive like `#if'. To be safe, you are probably best keeping it out
3121 of directives other than `#define', and putting it on a line of its own.
3123 This manual documents the pragmas which are meaningful to the
3124 preprocessor itself. Other pragmas are meaningful to the C or C++
3125 compilers. They are documented in the GCC manual.
3127 `#pragma GCC dependency'
3128 `#pragma GCC dependency' allows you to check the relative dates of
3129 the current file and another file. If the other file is more
3130 recent than the current file, a warning is issued. This is useful
3131 if the current file is derived from the other file, and should be
3132 regenerated. The other file is searched for using the normal
3133 include search path. Optional trailing text can be used to give
3134 more information in the warning message.
3136 #pragma GCC dependency "parse.y"
3137 #pragma GCC dependency "/usr/include/time.h" rerun fixincludes
3139 `#pragma GCC poison'
3140 Sometimes, there is an identifier that you want to remove
3141 completely from your program, and make sure that it never creeps
3142 back in. To enforce this, you can "poison" the identifier with
3143 this pragma. `#pragma GCC poison' is followed by a list of
3144 identifiers to poison. If any of those identifiers appears
3145 anywhere in the source after the directive, it is a hard error.
3148 #pragma GCC poison printf sprintf fprintf
3149 sprintf(some_string, "hello");
3151 will produce an error.
3153 If a poisoned identifier appears as part of the expansion of a
3154 macro which was defined before the identifier was poisoned, it
3155 will _not_ cause an error. This lets you poison an identifier
3156 without worrying about system headers defining macros that use it.
3160 #define strrchr rindex
3161 #pragma GCC poison rindex
3162 strrchr(some_string, 'h');
3164 will not produce an error.
3166 `#pragma GCC system_header'
3167 This pragma takes no arguments. It causes the rest of the code in
3168 the current file to be treated as if it came from a system header.
3169 *Note System Headers::.
3173 File: cpp.info, Node: Other Directives, Next: Preprocessor Output, Prev: Pragmas, Up: Top
3178 The `#ident' directive takes one argument, a string constant. On some
3179 systems, that string constant is copied into a special segment of the
3180 object file. On other systems, the directive is ignored. The `#sccs'
3181 directive is a synonym for `#ident'.
3183 These directives are not part of the C standard, but they are not
3184 official GNU extensions either. What historical information we have
3185 been able to find, suggests they originated with System V.
3187 Both `#ident' and `#sccs' are deprecated extensions.
3189 The "null directive" consists of a `#' followed by a newline, with
3190 only whitespace (including comments) in between. A null directive is
3191 understood as a preprocessing directive but has no effect on the
3192 preprocessor output. The primary significance of the existence of the
3193 null directive is that an input line consisting of just a `#' will
3194 produce no output, rather than a line of output containing just a `#'.
3195 Supposedly some old C programs contain such lines.
3198 File: cpp.info, Node: Preprocessor Output, Next: Traditional Mode, Prev: Other Directives, Up: Top
3200 9 Preprocessor Output
3201 *********************
3203 When the C preprocessor is used with the C, C++, or Objective-C
3204 compilers, it is integrated into the compiler and communicates a stream
3205 of binary tokens directly to the compiler's parser. However, it can
3206 also be used in the more conventional standalone mode, where it produces
3209 The output from the C preprocessor looks much like the input, except
3210 that all preprocessing directive lines have been replaced with blank
3211 lines and all comments with spaces. Long runs of blank lines are
3214 The ISO standard specifies that it is implementation defined whether
3215 a preprocessor preserves whitespace between tokens, or replaces it with
3216 e.g. a single space. In GNU CPP, whitespace between tokens is collapsed
3217 to become a single space, with the exception that the first token on a
3218 non-directive line is preceded with sufficient spaces that it appears in
3219 the same column in the preprocessed output that it appeared in the
3220 original source file. This is so the output is easy to read. *Note
3221 Differences from previous versions::. CPP does not insert any
3222 whitespace where there was none in the original source, except where
3223 necessary to prevent an accidental token paste.
3225 Source file name and line number information is conveyed by lines of
3228 # LINENUM FILENAME FLAGS
3230 These are called "linemarkers". They are inserted as needed into the
3231 output (but never within a string or character constant). They mean
3232 that the following line originated in file FILENAME at line LINENUM.
3233 FILENAME will never contain any non-printing characters; they are
3234 replaced with octal escape sequences.
3236 After the file name comes zero or more flags, which are `1', `2',
3237 `3', or `4'. If there are multiple flags, spaces separate them. Here
3238 is what the flags mean:
3241 This indicates the start of a new file.
3244 This indicates returning to a file (after having included another
3248 This indicates that the following text comes from a system header
3249 file, so certain warnings should be suppressed.
3252 This indicates that the following text should be treated as being
3253 wrapped in an implicit `extern "C"' block.
3255 As an extension, the preprocessor accepts linemarkers in
3256 non-assembler input files. They are treated like the corresponding
3257 `#line' directive, (*note Line Control::), except that trailing flags
3258 are permitted, and are interpreted with the meanings described above.
3259 If multiple flags are given, they must be in ascending order.
3261 Some directives may be duplicated in the output of the preprocessor.
3262 These are `#ident' (always), `#pragma' (only if the preprocessor does
3263 not handle the pragma itself), and `#define' and `#undef' (with certain
3264 debugging options). If this happens, the `#' of the directive will
3265 always be in the first column, and there will be no space between the
3266 `#' and the directive name. If macro expansion happens to generate
3267 tokens which might be mistaken for a duplicated directive, a space will
3268 be inserted between the `#' and the directive name.
3271 File: cpp.info, Node: Traditional Mode, Next: Implementation Details, Prev: Preprocessor Output, Up: Top
3276 Traditional (pre-standard) C preprocessing is rather different from the
3277 preprocessing specified by the standard. When GCC is given the
3278 `-traditional-cpp' option, it attempts to emulate a traditional
3281 GCC versions 3.2 and later only support traditional mode semantics in
3282 the preprocessor, and not in the compiler front ends. This chapter
3283 outlines the traditional preprocessor semantics we implemented.
3285 The implementation does not correspond precisely to the behavior of
3286 earlier versions of GCC, nor to any true traditional preprocessor.
3287 After all, inconsistencies among traditional implementations were a
3288 major motivation for C standardization. However, we intend that it
3289 should be compatible with true traditional preprocessors in all ways
3290 that actually matter.
3294 * Traditional lexical analysis::
3295 * Traditional macros::
3296 * Traditional miscellany::
3297 * Traditional warnings::
3300 File: cpp.info, Node: Traditional lexical analysis, Next: Traditional macros, Up: Traditional Mode
3302 10.1 Traditional lexical analysis
3303 =================================
3305 The traditional preprocessor does not decompose its input into tokens
3306 the same way a standards-conforming preprocessor does. The input is
3307 simply treated as a stream of text with minimal internal form.
3309 This implementation does not treat trigraphs (*note trigraphs::)
3310 specially since they were an invention of the standards committee. It
3311 handles arbitrarily-positioned escaped newlines properly and splices
3312 the lines as you would expect; many traditional preprocessors did not
3315 The form of horizontal whitespace in the input file is preserved in
3316 the output. In particular, hard tabs remain hard tabs. This can be
3317 useful if, for example, you are preprocessing a Makefile.
3319 Traditional CPP only recognizes C-style block comments, and treats
3320 the `/*' sequence as introducing a comment only if it lies outside
3321 quoted text. Quoted text is introduced by the usual single and double
3322 quotes, and also by an initial `<' in a `#include' directive.
3324 Traditionally, comments are completely removed and are not replaced
3325 with a space. Since a traditional compiler does its own tokenization
3326 of the output of the preprocessor, this means that comments can
3327 effectively be used as token paste operators. However, comments behave
3328 like separators for text handled by the preprocessor itself, since it
3329 doesn't re-lex its input. For example, in
3333 `foo' and `bar' are distinct identifiers and expanded separately if
3334 they happen to be macros. In other words, this directive is equivalent
3343 Generally speaking, in traditional mode an opening quote need not
3344 have a matching closing quote. In particular, a macro may be defined
3345 with replacement text that contains an unmatched quote. Of course, if
3346 you attempt to compile preprocessed output containing an unmatched quote
3347 you will get a syntax error.
3349 However, all preprocessing directives other than `#define' require
3350 matching quotes. For example:
3352 #define m This macro's fine and has an unmatched quote
3353 "/* This is not a comment. */
3354 /* This is a comment. The following #include directive
3358 Just as for the ISO preprocessor, what would be a closing quote can
3359 be escaped with a backslash to prevent the quoted text from closing.
3362 File: cpp.info, Node: Traditional macros, Next: Traditional miscellany, Prev: Traditional lexical analysis, Up: Traditional Mode
3364 10.2 Traditional macros
3365 =======================
3367 The major difference between traditional and ISO macros is that the
3368 former expand to text rather than to a token sequence. CPP removes all
3369 leading and trailing horizontal whitespace from a macro's replacement
3370 text before storing it, but preserves the form of internal whitespace.
3372 One consequence is that it is legitimate for the replacement text to
3373 contain an unmatched quote (*note Traditional lexical analysis::). An
3374 unclosed string or character constant continues into the text following
3375 the macro call. Similarly, the text at the end of a macro's expansion
3376 can run together with the text after the macro invocation to produce a
3379 Normally comments are removed from the replacement text after the
3380 macro is expanded, but if the `-CC' option is passed on the command
3381 line comments are preserved. (In fact, the current implementation
3382 removes comments even before saving the macro replacement text, but it
3383 careful to do it in such a way that the observed effect is identical
3384 even in the function-like macro case.)
3386 The ISO stringification operator `#' and token paste operator `##'
3387 have no special meaning. As explained later, an effect similar to
3388 these operators can be obtained in a different way. Macro names that
3389 are embedded in quotes, either from the main file or after macro
3390 replacement, do not expand.
3392 CPP replaces an unquoted object-like macro name with its replacement
3393 text, and then rescans it for further macros to replace. Unlike
3394 standard macro expansion, traditional macro expansion has no provision
3395 to prevent recursion. If an object-like macro appears unquoted in its
3396 replacement text, it will be replaced again during the rescan pass, and
3397 so on _ad infinitum_. GCC detects when it is expanding recursive
3398 macros, emits an error message, and continues after the offending macro
3402 #define INC(x) PLUS+x
3406 Function-like macros are similar in form but quite different in
3407 behavior to their ISO counterparts. Their arguments are contained
3408 within parentheses, are comma-separated, and can cross physical lines.
3409 Commas within nested parentheses are not treated as argument
3410 separators. Similarly, a quote in an argument cannot be left unclosed;
3411 a following comma or parenthesis that comes before the closing quote is
3412 treated like any other character. There is no facility for handling
3415 This implementation removes all comments from macro arguments, unless
3416 the `-C' option is given. The form of all other horizontal whitespace
3417 in arguments is preserved, including leading and trailing whitespace.
3422 is treated as an invocation of the macro `f' with a single argument
3423 consisting of a single space. If you want to invoke a function-like
3424 macro that takes no arguments, you must not leave any whitespace
3425 between the parentheses.
3427 If a macro argument crosses a new line, the new line is replaced with
3428 a space when forming the argument. If the previous line contained an
3429 unterminated quote, the following line inherits the quoted state.
3431 Traditional preprocessors replace parameters in the replacement text
3432 with their arguments regardless of whether the parameters are within
3433 quotes or not. This provides a way to stringize arguments. For example
3436 str(/* A comment */some text )
3439 Note that the comment is removed, but that the trailing space is
3440 preserved. Here is an example of using a comment to effect token
3443 #define suffix(x) foo_/**/x
3448 File: cpp.info, Node: Traditional miscellany, Next: Traditional warnings, Prev: Traditional macros, Up: Traditional Mode
3450 10.3 Traditional miscellany
3451 ===========================
3453 Here are some things to be aware of when using the traditional
3456 * Preprocessing directives are recognized only when their leading
3457 `#' appears in the first column. There can be no whitespace
3458 between the beginning of the line and the `#', but whitespace can
3461 * A true traditional C preprocessor does not recognize `#error' or
3462 `#pragma', and may not recognize `#elif'. CPP supports all the
3463 directives in traditional mode that it supports in ISO mode,
3464 including extensions, with the exception that the effects of
3465 `#pragma GCC poison' are undefined.
3467 * __STDC__ is not defined.
3469 * If you use digraphs the behavior is undefined.
3471 * If a line that looks like a directive appears within macro
3472 arguments, the behavior is undefined.
3476 File: cpp.info, Node: Traditional warnings, Prev: Traditional miscellany, Up: Traditional Mode
3478 10.4 Traditional warnings
3479 =========================
3481 You can request warnings about features that did not exist, or worked
3482 differently, in traditional C with the `-Wtraditional' option. GCC
3483 does not warn about features of ISO C which you must use when you are
3484 using a conforming compiler, such as the `#' and `##' operators.
3486 Presently `-Wtraditional' warns about:
3488 * Macro parameters that appear within string literals in the macro
3489 body. In traditional C macro replacement takes place within
3490 string literals, but does not in ISO C.
3492 * In traditional C, some preprocessor directives did not exist.
3493 Traditional preprocessors would only consider a line to be a
3494 directive if the `#' appeared in column 1 on the line. Therefore
3495 `-Wtraditional' warns about directives that traditional C
3496 understands but would ignore because the `#' does not appear as the
3497 first character on the line. It also suggests you hide directives
3498 like `#pragma' not understood by traditional C by indenting them.
3499 Some traditional implementations would not recognize `#elif', so it
3500 suggests avoiding it altogether.
3502 * A function-like macro that appears without an argument list. In
3503 some traditional preprocessors this was an error. In ISO C it
3504 merely means that the macro is not expanded.
3506 * The unary plus operator. This did not exist in traditional C.
3508 * The `U' and `LL' integer constant suffixes, which were not
3509 available in traditional C. (Traditional C does support the `L'
3510 suffix for simple long integer constants.) You are not warned
3511 about uses of these suffixes in macros defined in system headers.
3512 For instance, `UINT_MAX' may well be defined as `4294967295U', but
3513 you will not be warned if you use `UINT_MAX'.
3515 You can usually avoid the warning, and the related warning about
3516 constants which are so large that they are unsigned, by writing the
3517 integer constant in question in hexadecimal, with no U suffix.
3518 Take care, though, because this gives the wrong result in exotic
3522 File: cpp.info, Node: Implementation Details, Next: Invocation, Prev: Traditional Mode, Up: Top
3524 11 Implementation Details
3525 *************************
3527 Here we document details of how the preprocessor's implementation
3528 affects its user-visible behavior. You should try to avoid undue
3529 reliance on behavior described here, as it is possible that it will
3530 change subtly in future implementations.
3532 Also documented here are obsolete features and changes from previous
3537 * Implementation-defined behavior::
3538 * Implementation limits::
3539 * Obsolete Features::
3540 * Differences from previous versions::
3543 File: cpp.info, Node: Implementation-defined behavior, Next: Implementation limits, Up: Implementation Details
3545 11.1 Implementation-defined behavior
3546 ====================================
3548 This is how CPP behaves in all the cases which the C standard describes
3549 as "implementation-defined". This term means that the implementation
3550 is free to do what it likes, but must document its choice and stick to
3553 * The mapping of physical source file multi-byte characters to the
3554 execution character set.
3556 The input character set can be specified using the
3557 `-finput-charset' option, while the execution character set may be
3558 controlled using the `-fexec-charset' and `-fwide-exec-charset'
3561 * Identifier characters.
3563 The C and C++ standards allow identifiers to be composed of `_'
3564 and the alphanumeric characters. C++ and C99 also allow universal
3565 character names, and C99 further permits implementation-defined
3566 characters. GCC currently only permits universal character names
3567 if `-fextended-identifiers' is used, because the implementation of
3568 universal character names in identifiers is experimental.
3570 GCC allows the `$' character in identifiers as an extension for
3571 most targets. This is true regardless of the `std=' switch, since
3572 this extension cannot conflict with standards-conforming programs.
3573 When preprocessing assembler, however, dollars are not identifier
3574 characters by default.
3576 Currently the targets that by default do not permit `$' are AVR,
3577 IP2K, MMIX, MIPS Irix 3, ARM aout, and PowerPC targets for the AIX
3580 You can override the default with `-fdollars-in-identifiers' or
3581 `fno-dollars-in-identifiers'. *Note fdollars-in-identifiers::.
3583 * Non-empty sequences of whitespace characters.
3585 In textual output, each whitespace sequence is collapsed to a
3586 single space. For aesthetic reasons, the first token on each
3587 non-directive line of output is preceded with sufficient spaces
3588 that it appears in the same column as it did in the original
3591 * The numeric value of character constants in preprocessor
3594 The preprocessor and compiler interpret character constants in the
3595 same way; i.e. escape sequences such as `\a' are given the values
3596 they would have on the target machine.
3598 The compiler values a multi-character character constant a
3599 character at a time, shifting the previous value left by the
3600 number of bits per target character, and then or-ing in the
3601 bit-pattern of the new character truncated to the width of a
3602 target character. The final bit-pattern is given type `int', and
3603 is therefore signed, regardless of whether single characters are
3604 signed or not (a slight change from versions 3.1 and earlier of
3605 GCC). If there are more characters in the constant than would fit
3606 in the target `int' the compiler issues a warning, and the excess
3607 leading characters are ignored.
3609 For example, `'ab'' for a target with an 8-bit `char' would be
3611 `(int) ((unsigned char) 'a' * 256 + (unsigned char) 'b')', and
3613 `(int) ((unsigned char) '\234' * 256 + (unsigned char) 'a')'.
3615 * Source file inclusion.
3617 For a discussion on how the preprocessor locates header files,
3618 *Note Include Operation::.
3620 * Interpretation of the filename resulting from a macro-expanded
3621 `#include' directive.
3623 *Note Computed Includes::.
3625 * Treatment of a `#pragma' directive that after macro-expansion
3626 results in a standard pragma.
3628 No macro expansion occurs on any `#pragma' directive line, so the
3629 question does not arise.
3631 Note that GCC does not yet implement any of the standard pragmas.
3635 File: cpp.info, Node: Implementation limits, Next: Obsolete Features, Prev: Implementation-defined behavior, Up: Implementation Details
3637 11.2 Implementation limits
3638 ==========================
3640 CPP has a small number of internal limits. This section lists the
3641 limits which the C standard requires to be no lower than some minimum,
3642 and all the others known. It is intended that there should be as few
3643 limits as possible. If you encounter an undocumented or inconvenient
3644 limit, please report that as a bug. *Note Reporting Bugs: (gcc)Bugs.
3646 Where we say something is limited "only by available memory", that
3647 means that internal data structures impose no intrinsic limit, and space
3648 is allocated with `malloc' or equivalent. The actual limit will
3649 therefore depend on many things, such as the size of other things
3650 allocated by the compiler at the same time, the amount of memory
3651 consumed by other processes on the same computer, etc.
3653 * Nesting levels of `#include' files.
3655 We impose an arbitrary limit of 200 levels, to avoid runaway
3656 recursion. The standard requires at least 15 levels.
3658 * Nesting levels of conditional inclusion.
3660 The C standard mandates this be at least 63. CPP is limited only
3661 by available memory.
3663 * Levels of parenthesized expressions within a full expression.
3665 The C standard requires this to be at least 63. In preprocessor
3666 conditional expressions, it is limited only by available memory.
3668 * Significant initial characters in an identifier or macro name.
3670 The preprocessor treats all characters as significant. The C
3671 standard requires only that the first 63 be significant.
3673 * Number of macros simultaneously defined in a single translation
3676 The standard requires at least 4095 be possible. CPP is limited
3677 only by available memory.
3679 * Number of parameters in a macro definition and arguments in a
3682 We allow `USHRT_MAX', which is no smaller than 65,535. The minimum
3683 required by the standard is 127.
3685 * Number of characters on a logical source line.
3687 The C standard requires a minimum of 4096 be permitted. CPP places
3688 no limits on this, but you may get incorrect column numbers
3689 reported in diagnostics for lines longer than 65,535 characters.
3691 * Maximum size of a source file.
3693 The standard does not specify any lower limit on the maximum size
3694 of a source file. GNU cpp maps files into memory, so it is
3695 limited by the available address space. This is generally at
3696 least two gigabytes. Depending on the operating system, the size
3697 of physical memory may or may not be a limitation.
3701 File: cpp.info, Node: Obsolete Features, Next: Differences from previous versions, Prev: Implementation limits, Up: Implementation Details
3703 11.3 Obsolete Features
3704 ======================
3706 CPP has some features which are present mainly for compatibility with
3707 older programs. We discourage their use in new code. In some cases,
3708 we plan to remove the feature in a future version of GCC.
3713 "Assertions" are a deprecated alternative to macros in writing
3714 conditionals to test what sort of computer or system the compiled
3715 program will run on. Assertions are usually predefined, but you can
3716 define them with preprocessing directives or command-line options.
3718 Assertions were intended to provide a more systematic way to describe
3719 the compiler's target system. However, in practice they are just as
3720 unpredictable as the system-specific predefined macros. In addition,
3721 they are not part of any standard, and only a few compilers support
3722 them. Therefore, the use of assertions is *less* portable than the use
3723 of system-specific predefined macros. We recommend you do not use them
3726 An assertion looks like this:
3730 PREDICATE must be a single identifier. ANSWER can be any sequence of
3731 tokens; all characters are significant except for leading and trailing
3732 whitespace, and differences in internal whitespace sequences are
3733 ignored. (This is similar to the rules governing macro redefinition.)
3734 Thus, `(x + y)' is different from `(x+y)' but equivalent to
3735 `( x + y )'. Parentheses do not nest inside an answer.
3737 To test an assertion, you write it in an `#if'. For example, this
3738 conditional succeeds if either `vax' or `ns16000' has been asserted as
3739 an answer for `machine'.
3741 #if #machine (vax) || #machine (ns16000)
3743 You can test whether _any_ answer is asserted for a predicate by
3744 omitting the answer in the conditional:
3748 Assertions are made with the `#assert' directive. Its sole argument
3749 is the assertion to make, without the leading `#' that identifies
3750 assertions in conditionals.
3752 #assert PREDICATE (ANSWER)
3754 You may make several assertions with the same predicate and different
3755 answers. Subsequent assertions do not override previous ones for the
3756 same predicate. All the answers for any given predicate are
3757 simultaneously true.
3759 Assertions can be canceled with the `#unassert' directive. It has
3760 the same syntax as `#assert'. In that form it cancels only the answer
3761 which was specified on the `#unassert' line; other answers for that
3762 predicate remain true. You can cancel an entire predicate by leaving
3767 In either form, if no such assertion has been made, `#unassert' has no
3770 You can also make or cancel assertions using command line options.
3774 File: cpp.info, Node: Differences from previous versions, Prev: Obsolete Features, Up: Implementation Details
3776 11.4 Differences from previous versions
3777 =======================================
3779 This section details behavior which has changed from previous versions
3780 of CPP. We do not plan to change it again in the near future, but we
3781 do not promise not to, either.
3783 The "previous versions" discussed here are 2.95 and before. The
3784 behavior of GCC 3.0 is mostly the same as the behavior of the widely
3785 used 2.96 and 2.97 development snapshots. Where there are differences,
3786 they generally represent bugs in the snapshots.
3790 This option has been deprecated in 4.0. `-iquote' is meant to
3791 replace the need for this option.
3793 * Order of evaluation of `#' and `##' operators
3795 The standard does not specify the order of evaluation of a chain of
3796 `##' operators, nor whether `#' is evaluated before, after, or at
3797 the same time as `##'. You should therefore not write any code
3798 which depends on any specific ordering. It is possible to
3799 guarantee an ordering, if you need one, by suitable use of nested
3802 An example of where this might matter is pasting the arguments `1',
3803 `e' and `-2'. This would be fine for left-to-right pasting, but
3804 right-to-left pasting would produce an invalid token `e-2'.
3806 GCC 3.0 evaluates `#' and `##' at the same time and strictly left
3807 to right. Older versions evaluated all `#' operators first, then
3808 all `##' operators, in an unreliable order.
3810 * The form of whitespace between tokens in preprocessor output
3812 *Note Preprocessor Output::, for the current textual format. This
3813 is also the format used by stringification. Normally, the
3814 preprocessor communicates tokens directly to the compiler's
3815 parser, and whitespace does not come up at all.
3817 Older versions of GCC preserved all whitespace provided by the
3818 user and inserted lots more whitespace of their own, because they
3819 could not accurately predict when extra spaces were needed to
3820 prevent accidental token pasting.
3822 * Optional argument when invoking rest argument macros
3824 As an extension, GCC permits you to omit the variable arguments
3825 entirely when you use a variable argument macro. This is
3826 forbidden by the 1999 C standard, and will provoke a pedantic
3827 warning with GCC 3.0. Previous versions accepted it silently.
3829 * `##' swallowing preceding text in rest argument macros
3831 Formerly, in a macro expansion, if `##' appeared before a variable
3832 arguments parameter, and the set of tokens specified for that
3833 argument in the macro invocation was empty, previous versions of
3834 CPP would back up and remove the preceding sequence of
3835 non-whitespace characters (*not* the preceding token). This
3836 extension is in direct conflict with the 1999 C standard and has
3837 been drastically pared back.
3839 In the current version of the preprocessor, if `##' appears between
3840 a comma and a variable arguments parameter, and the variable
3841 argument is omitted entirely, the comma will be removed from the
3842 expansion. If the variable argument is empty, or the token before
3843 `##' is not a comma, then `##' behaves as a normal token paste.
3845 * `#line' and `#include'
3847 The `#line' directive used to change GCC's notion of the
3848 "directory containing the current file", used by `#include' with a
3849 double-quoted header file name. In 3.0 and later, it does not.
3850 *Note Line Control::, for further explanation.
3854 In GCC 2.95 and previous, the string constant argument to `#line'
3855 was treated the same way as the argument to `#include': backslash
3856 escapes were not honored, and the string ended at the second `"'.
3857 This is not compliant with the C standard. In GCC 3.0, an attempt
3858 was made to correct the behavior, so that the string was treated
3859 as a real string constant, but it turned out to be buggy. In 3.1,
3860 the bugs have been fixed. (We are not fixing the bugs in 3.0
3861 because they affect relatively few people and the fix is quite
3866 File: cpp.info, Node: Invocation, Next: Environment Variables, Prev: Implementation Details, Up: Top
3871 Most often when you use the C preprocessor you will not have to invoke
3872 it explicitly: the C compiler will do so automatically. However, the
3873 preprocessor is sometimes useful on its own. All the options listed
3874 here are also acceptable to the C compiler and have the same meaning,
3875 except that the C compiler has different rules for specifying the output
3878 _Note:_ Whether you use the preprocessor by way of `gcc' or `cpp',
3879 the "compiler driver" is run first. This program's purpose is to
3880 translate your command into invocations of the programs that do the
3881 actual work. Their command line interfaces are similar but not
3882 identical to the documented interface, and may change without notice.
3884 The C preprocessor expects two file names as arguments, INFILE and
3885 OUTFILE. The preprocessor reads INFILE together with any other files
3886 it specifies with `#include'. All the output generated by the combined
3887 input files is written in OUTFILE.
3889 Either INFILE or OUTFILE may be `-', which as INFILE means to read
3890 from standard input and as OUTFILE means to write to standard output.
3891 Also, if either file is omitted, it means the same as if `-' had been
3892 specified for that file.
3894 Unless otherwise noted, or the option ends in `=', all options which
3895 take an argument may have that argument appear either immediately after
3896 the option, or with a space between option and argument: `-Ifoo' and
3897 `-I foo' have the same effect.
3899 Many options have multi-letter names; therefore multiple
3900 single-letter options may _not_ be grouped: `-dM' is very different from
3904 Predefine NAME as a macro, with definition `1'.
3906 `-D NAME=DEFINITION'
3907 The contents of DEFINITION are tokenized and processed as if they
3908 appeared during translation phase three in a `#define' directive.
3909 In particular, the definition will be truncated by embedded
3912 If you are invoking the preprocessor from a shell or shell-like
3913 program you may need to use the shell's quoting syntax to protect
3914 characters such as spaces that have a meaning in the shell syntax.
3916 If you wish to define a function-like macro on the command line,
3917 write its argument list with surrounding parentheses before the
3918 equals sign (if any). Parentheses are meaningful to most shells,
3919 so you will need to quote the option. With `sh' and `csh',
3920 `-D'NAME(ARGS...)=DEFINITION'' works.
3922 `-D' and `-U' options are processed in the order they are given on
3923 the command line. All `-imacros FILE' and `-include FILE' options
3924 are processed after all `-D' and `-U' options.
3927 Cancel any previous definition of NAME, either built in or
3928 provided with a `-D' option.
3931 Do not predefine any system-specific or GCC-specific macros. The
3932 standard predefined macros remain defined. *Note Standard
3933 Predefined Macros::.
3936 Add the directory DIR to the list of directories to be searched
3937 for header files. *Note Search Path::. Directories named by `-I'
3938 are searched before the standard system include directories. If
3939 the directory DIR is a standard system include directory, the
3940 option is ignored to ensure that the default search order for
3941 system directories and the special treatment of system headers are
3942 not defeated (*note System Headers::) . If DIR begins with `=',
3943 then the `=' will be replaced by the sysroot prefix; see
3944 `--sysroot' and `-isysroot'.
3947 Write output to FILE. This is the same as specifying FILE as the
3948 second non-option argument to `cpp'. `gcc' has a different
3949 interpretation of a second non-option argument, so you must use
3950 `-o' to specify the output file.
3953 Turns on all optional warnings which are desirable for normal code.
3954 At present this is `-Wcomment', `-Wtrigraphs', `-Wmultichar' and a
3955 warning about integer promotion causing a change of sign in `#if'
3956 expressions. Note that many of the preprocessor's warnings are on
3957 by default and have no options to control them.
3961 Warn whenever a comment-start sequence `/*' appears in a `/*'
3962 comment, or whenever a backslash-newline appears in a `//' comment.
3963 (Both forms have the same effect.)
3966 Most trigraphs in comments cannot affect the meaning of the
3967 program. However, a trigraph that would form an escaped newline
3968 (`??/' at the end of a line) can, by changing where the comment
3969 begins or ends. Therefore, only trigraphs that would form escaped
3970 newlines produce warnings inside a comment.
3972 This option is implied by `-Wall'. If `-Wall' is not given, this
3973 option is still enabled unless trigraphs are enabled. To get
3974 trigraph conversion without warnings, but get the other `-Wall'
3975 warnings, use `-trigraphs -Wall -Wno-trigraphs'.
3978 Warn about certain constructs that behave differently in
3979 traditional and ISO C. Also warn about ISO C constructs that have
3980 no traditional C equivalent, and problematic constructs which
3981 should be avoided. *Note Traditional Mode::.
3984 Warn whenever an identifier which is not a macro is encountered in
3985 an `#if' directive, outside of `defined'. Such identifiers are
3989 Warn about macros defined in the main file that are unused. A
3990 macro is "used" if it is expanded or tested for existence at least
3991 once. The preprocessor will also warn if the macro has not been
3992 used at the time it is redefined or undefined.
3994 Built-in macros, macros defined on the command line, and macros
3995 defined in include files are not warned about.
3997 _Note:_ If a macro is actually used, but only used in skipped
3998 conditional blocks, then CPP will report it as unused. To avoid
3999 the warning in such a case, you might improve the scope of the
4000 macro's definition by, for example, moving it into the first
4001 skipped block. Alternatively, you could provide a dummy use with
4004 #if defined the_macro_causing_the_warning
4008 Warn whenever an `#else' or an `#endif' are followed by text.
4009 This usually happens in code of the form
4017 The second and third `FOO' should be in comments, but often are not
4018 in older programs. This warning is on by default.
4021 Make all warnings into hard errors. Source code which triggers
4022 warnings will be rejected.
4025 Issue warnings for code in system headers. These are normally
4026 unhelpful in finding bugs in your own code, therefore suppressed.
4027 If you are responsible for the system library, you may want to see
4031 Suppress all warnings, including those which GNU CPP issues by
4035 Issue all the mandatory diagnostics listed in the C standard.
4036 Some of them are left out by default, since they trigger
4037 frequently on harmless code.
4040 Issue all the mandatory diagnostics, and make all mandatory
4041 diagnostics into errors. This includes mandatory diagnostics that
4042 GCC issues without `-pedantic' but treats as warnings.
4045 Instead of outputting the result of preprocessing, output a rule
4046 suitable for `make' describing the dependencies of the main source
4047 file. The preprocessor outputs one `make' rule containing the
4048 object file name for that source file, a colon, and the names of
4049 all the included files, including those coming from `-include' or
4050 `-imacros' command line options.
4052 Unless specified explicitly (with `-MT' or `-MQ'), the object file
4053 name consists of the name of the source file with any suffix
4054 replaced with object file suffix and with any leading directory
4055 parts removed. If there are many included files then the rule is
4056 split into several lines using `\'-newline. The rule has no
4059 This option does not suppress the preprocessor's debug output,
4060 such as `-dM'. To avoid mixing such debug output with the
4061 dependency rules you should explicitly specify the dependency
4062 output file with `-MF', or use an environment variable like
4063 `DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT' (*note Environment Variables::). Debug
4064 output will still be sent to the regular output stream as normal.
4066 Passing `-M' to the driver implies `-E', and suppresses warnings
4067 with an implicit `-w'.
4070 Like `-M' but do not mention header files that are found in system
4071 header directories, nor header files that are included, directly
4072 or indirectly, from such a header.
4074 This implies that the choice of angle brackets or double quotes in
4075 an `#include' directive does not in itself determine whether that
4076 header will appear in `-MM' dependency output. This is a slight
4077 change in semantics from GCC versions 3.0 and earlier.
4080 When used with `-M' or `-MM', specifies a file to write the
4081 dependencies to. If no `-MF' switch is given the preprocessor
4082 sends the rules to the same place it would have sent preprocessed
4085 When used with the driver options `-MD' or `-MMD', `-MF' overrides
4086 the default dependency output file.
4089 In conjunction with an option such as `-M' requesting dependency
4090 generation, `-MG' assumes missing header files are generated files
4091 and adds them to the dependency list without raising an error.
4092 The dependency filename is taken directly from the `#include'
4093 directive without prepending any path. `-MG' also suppresses
4094 preprocessed output, as a missing header file renders this useless.
4096 This feature is used in automatic updating of makefiles.
4099 This option instructs CPP to add a phony target for each dependency
4100 other than the main file, causing each to depend on nothing. These
4101 dummy rules work around errors `make' gives if you remove header
4102 files without updating the `Makefile' to match.
4104 This is typical output:
4106 test.o: test.c test.h
4111 Change the target of the rule emitted by dependency generation. By
4112 default CPP takes the name of the main input file, deletes any
4113 directory components and any file suffix such as `.c', and appends
4114 the platform's usual object suffix. The result is the target.
4116 An `-MT' option will set the target to be exactly the string you
4117 specify. If you want multiple targets, you can specify them as a
4118 single argument to `-MT', or use multiple `-MT' options.
4120 For example, `-MT '$(objpfx)foo.o'' might give
4122 $(objpfx)foo.o: foo.c
4125 Same as `-MT', but it quotes any characters which are special to
4126 Make. `-MQ '$(objpfx)foo.o'' gives
4128 $$(objpfx)foo.o: foo.c
4130 The default target is automatically quoted, as if it were given
4134 `-MD' is equivalent to `-M -MF FILE', except that `-E' is not
4135 implied. The driver determines FILE based on whether an `-o'
4136 option is given. If it is, the driver uses its argument but with
4137 a suffix of `.d', otherwise it takes the name of the input file,
4138 removes any directory components and suffix, and applies a `.d'
4141 If `-MD' is used in conjunction with `-E', any `-o' switch is
4142 understood to specify the dependency output file (*note -MF:
4143 dashMF.), but if used without `-E', each `-o' is understood to
4144 specify a target object file.
4146 Since `-E' is not implied, `-MD' can be used to generate a
4147 dependency output file as a side-effect of the compilation process.
4150 Like `-MD' except mention only user header files, not system
4156 `-x assembler-with-cpp'
4157 Specify the source language: C, C++, Objective-C, or assembly.
4158 This has nothing to do with standards conformance or extensions;
4159 it merely selects which base syntax to expect. If you give none
4160 of these options, cpp will deduce the language from the extension
4161 of the source file: `.c', `.cc', `.m', or `.S'. Some other common
4162 extensions for C++ and assembly are also recognized. If cpp does
4163 not recognize the extension, it will treat the file as C; this is
4164 the most generic mode.
4166 _Note:_ Previous versions of cpp accepted a `-lang' option which
4167 selected both the language and the standards conformance level.
4168 This option has been removed, because it conflicts with the `-l'
4173 Specify the standard to which the code should conform. Currently
4174 CPP knows about C and C++ standards; others may be added in the
4177 STANDARD may be one of:
4180 The ISO C standard from 1990. `c89' is the customary
4181 shorthand for this version of the standard.
4183 The `-ansi' option is equivalent to `-std=c89'.
4186 The 1990 C standard, as amended in 1994.
4192 The revised ISO C standard, published in December 1999.
4193 Before publication, this was known as C9X.
4196 The 1990 C standard plus GNU extensions. This is the default.
4200 The 1999 C standard plus GNU extensions.
4203 The 1998 ISO C++ standard plus amendments.
4206 The same as `-std=c++98' plus GNU extensions. This is the
4207 default for C++ code.
4210 Split the include path. Any directories specified with `-I'
4211 options before `-I-' are searched only for headers requested with
4212 `#include "FILE"'; they are not searched for `#include <FILE>'.
4213 If additional directories are specified with `-I' options after
4214 the `-I-', those directories are searched for all `#include'
4217 In addition, `-I-' inhibits the use of the directory of the current
4218 file directory as the first search directory for `#include "FILE"'.
4219 *Note Search Path::. This option has been deprecated.
4222 Do not search the standard system directories for header files.
4223 Only the directories you have specified with `-I' options (and the
4224 directory of the current file, if appropriate) are searched.
4227 Do not search for header files in the C++-specific standard
4228 directories, but do still search the other standard directories.
4229 (This option is used when building the C++ library.)
4232 Process FILE as if `#include "file"' appeared as the first line of
4233 the primary source file. However, the first directory searched
4234 for FILE is the preprocessor's working directory _instead of_ the
4235 directory containing the main source file. If not found there, it
4236 is searched for in the remainder of the `#include "..."' search
4239 If multiple `-include' options are given, the files are included
4240 in the order they appear on the command line.
4243 Exactly like `-include', except that any output produced by
4244 scanning FILE is thrown away. Macros it defines remain defined.
4245 This allows you to acquire all the macros from a header without
4246 also processing its declarations.
4248 All files specified by `-imacros' are processed before all files
4249 specified by `-include'.
4252 Search DIR for header files, but do it _after_ all directories
4253 specified with `-I' and the standard system directories have been
4254 exhausted. DIR is treated as a system include directory. If DIR
4255 begins with `=', then the `=' will be replaced by the sysroot
4256 prefix; see `--sysroot' and `-isysroot'.
4259 Specify PREFIX as the prefix for subsequent `-iwithprefix'
4260 options. If the prefix represents a directory, you should include
4264 `-iwithprefixbefore DIR'
4265 Append DIR to the prefix specified previously with `-iprefix', and
4266 add the resulting directory to the include search path.
4267 `-iwithprefixbefore' puts it in the same place `-I' would;
4268 `-iwithprefix' puts it where `-idirafter' would.
4271 This option is like the `--sysroot' option, but applies only to
4272 header files. See the `--sysroot' option for more information.
4275 Use DIR as a subdirectory of the directory containing
4276 target-specific C++ headers.
4279 Search DIR for header files, after all directories specified by
4280 `-I' but before the standard system directories. Mark it as a
4281 system directory, so that it gets the same special treatment as is
4282 applied to the standard system directories. *Note System
4283 Headers::. If DIR begins with `=', then the `=' will be replaced
4284 by the sysroot prefix; see `--sysroot' and `-isysroot'.
4287 Search DIR only for header files requested with `#include "FILE"';
4288 they are not searched for `#include <FILE>', before all
4289 directories specified by `-I' and before the standard system
4290 directories. *Note Search Path::. If DIR begins with `=', then
4291 the `=' will be replaced by the sysroot prefix; see `--sysroot'
4295 When preprocessing, handle directives, but do not expand macros.
4297 The option's behavior depends on the `-E' and `-fpreprocessed'
4300 With `-E', preprocessing is limited to the handling of directives
4301 such as `#define', `#ifdef', and `#error'. Other preprocessor
4302 operations, such as macro expansion and trigraph conversion are
4303 not performed. In addition, the `-dD' option is implicitly
4306 With `-fpreprocessed', predefinition of command line and most
4307 builtin macros is disabled. Macros such as `__LINE__', which are
4308 contextually dependent, are handled normally. This enables
4309 compilation of files previously preprocessed with `-E
4312 With both `-E' and `-fpreprocessed', the rules for
4313 `-fpreprocessed' take precedence. This enables full preprocessing
4314 of files previously preprocessed with `-E -fdirectives-only'.
4316 `-fdollars-in-identifiers'
4317 Accept `$' in identifiers. *Note Identifier characters::.
4319 `-fextended-identifiers'
4320 Accept universal character names in identifiers. This option is
4321 experimental; in a future version of GCC, it will be enabled by
4322 default for C99 and C++.
4325 Indicate to the preprocessor that the input file has already been
4326 preprocessed. This suppresses things like macro expansion,
4327 trigraph conversion, escaped newline splicing, and processing of
4328 most directives. The preprocessor still recognizes and removes
4329 comments, so that you can pass a file preprocessed with `-C' to
4330 the compiler without problems. In this mode the integrated
4331 preprocessor is little more than a tokenizer for the front ends.
4333 `-fpreprocessed' is implicit if the input file has one of the
4334 extensions `.i', `.ii' or `.mi'. These are the extensions that
4335 GCC uses for preprocessed files created by `-save-temps'.
4338 Set the distance between tab stops. This helps the preprocessor
4339 report correct column numbers in warnings or errors, even if tabs
4340 appear on the line. If the value is less than 1 or greater than
4341 100, the option is ignored. The default is 8.
4343 `-fexec-charset=CHARSET'
4344 Set the execution character set, used for string and character
4345 constants. The default is UTF-8. CHARSET can be any encoding
4346 supported by the system's `iconv' library routine.
4348 `-fwide-exec-charset=CHARSET'
4349 Set the wide execution character set, used for wide string and
4350 character constants. The default is UTF-32 or UTF-16, whichever
4351 corresponds to the width of `wchar_t'. As with `-fexec-charset',
4352 CHARSET can be any encoding supported by the system's `iconv'
4353 library routine; however, you will have problems with encodings
4354 that do not fit exactly in `wchar_t'.
4356 `-finput-charset=CHARSET'
4357 Set the input character set, used for translation from the
4358 character set of the input file to the source character set used
4359 by GCC. If the locale does not specify, or GCC cannot get this
4360 information from the locale, the default is UTF-8. This can be
4361 overridden by either the locale or this command line option.
4362 Currently the command line option takes precedence if there's a
4363 conflict. CHARSET can be any encoding supported by the system's
4364 `iconv' library routine.
4366 `-fworking-directory'
4367 Enable generation of linemarkers in the preprocessor output that
4368 will let the compiler know the current working directory at the
4369 time of preprocessing. When this option is enabled, the
4370 preprocessor will emit, after the initial linemarker, a second
4371 linemarker with the current working directory followed by two
4372 slashes. GCC will use this directory, when it's present in the
4373 preprocessed input, as the directory emitted as the current
4374 working directory in some debugging information formats. This
4375 option is implicitly enabled if debugging information is enabled,
4376 but this can be inhibited with the negated form
4377 `-fno-working-directory'. If the `-P' flag is present in the
4378 command line, this option has no effect, since no `#line'
4379 directives are emitted whatsoever.
4382 Do not print column numbers in diagnostics. This may be necessary
4383 if diagnostics are being scanned by a program that does not
4384 understand the column numbers, such as `dejagnu'.
4386 `-A PREDICATE=ANSWER'
4387 Make an assertion with the predicate PREDICATE and answer ANSWER.
4388 This form is preferred to the older form `-A PREDICATE(ANSWER)',
4389 which is still supported, because it does not use shell special
4390 characters. *Note Obsolete Features::.
4392 `-A -PREDICATE=ANSWER'
4393 Cancel an assertion with the predicate PREDICATE and answer ANSWER.
4396 CHARS is a sequence of one or more of the following characters,
4397 and must not be preceded by a space. Other characters are
4398 interpreted by the compiler proper, or reserved for future
4399 versions of GCC, and so are silently ignored. If you specify
4400 characters whose behavior conflicts, the result is undefined.
4403 Instead of the normal output, generate a list of `#define'
4404 directives for all the macros defined during the execution of
4405 the preprocessor, including predefined macros. This gives
4406 you a way of finding out what is predefined in your version
4407 of the preprocessor. Assuming you have no file `foo.h', the
4410 touch foo.h; cpp -dM foo.h
4412 will show all the predefined macros.
4414 If you use `-dM' without the `-E' option, `-dM' is
4415 interpreted as a synonym for `-fdump-rtl-mach'. *Note
4416 Debugging Options: (gcc)Debugging Options.
4419 Like `M' except in two respects: it does _not_ include the
4420 predefined macros, and it outputs _both_ the `#define'
4421 directives and the result of preprocessing. Both kinds of
4422 output go to the standard output file.
4425 Like `D', but emit only the macro names, not their expansions.
4428 Output `#include' directives in addition to the result of
4432 Like `D' except that only macros that are expanded, or whose
4433 definedness is tested in preprocessor directives, are output;
4434 the output is delayed until the use or test of the macro; and
4435 `#undef' directives are also output for macros tested but
4436 undefined at the time.
4439 Inhibit generation of linemarkers in the output from the
4440 preprocessor. This might be useful when running the preprocessor
4441 on something that is not C code, and will be sent to a program
4442 which might be confused by the linemarkers. *Note Preprocessor
4446 Do not discard comments. All comments are passed through to the
4447 output file, except for comments in processed directives, which
4448 are deleted along with the directive.
4450 You should be prepared for side effects when using `-C'; it causes
4451 the preprocessor to treat comments as tokens in their own right.
4452 For example, comments appearing at the start of what would be a
4453 directive line have the effect of turning that line into an
4454 ordinary source line, since the first token on the line is no
4458 Do not discard comments, including during macro expansion. This is
4459 like `-C', except that comments contained within macros are also
4460 passed through to the output file where the macro is expanded.
4462 In addition to the side-effects of the `-C' option, the `-CC'
4463 option causes all C++-style comments inside a macro to be
4464 converted to C-style comments. This is to prevent later use of
4465 that macro from inadvertently commenting out the remainder of the
4468 The `-CC' option is generally used to support lint comments.
4471 Try to imitate the behavior of old-fashioned C preprocessors, as
4472 opposed to ISO C preprocessors. *Note Traditional Mode::.
4475 Process trigraph sequences. *Note Initial processing::.
4478 Enable special code to work around file systems which only permit
4479 very short file names, such as MS-DOS.
4483 Print text describing all the command line options instead of
4484 preprocessing anything.
4487 Verbose mode. Print out GNU CPP's version number at the beginning
4488 of execution, and report the final form of the include path.
4491 Print the name of each header file used, in addition to other
4492 normal activities. Each name is indented to show how deep in the
4493 `#include' stack it is. Precompiled header files are also
4494 printed, even if they are found to be invalid; an invalid
4495 precompiled header file is printed with `...x' and a valid one
4500 Print out GNU CPP's version number. With one dash, proceed to
4501 preprocess as normal. With two dashes, exit immediately.
4504 File: cpp.info, Node: Environment Variables, Next: GNU Free Documentation License, Prev: Invocation, Up: Top
4506 13 Environment Variables
4507 ************************
4509 This section describes the environment variables that affect how CPP
4510 operates. You can use them to specify directories or prefixes to use
4511 when searching for include files, or to control dependency output.
4513 Note that you can also specify places to search using options such as
4514 `-I', and control dependency output with options like `-M' (*note
4515 Invocation::). These take precedence over environment variables, which
4516 in turn take precedence over the configuration of GCC.
4520 `CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH'
4522 Each variable's value is a list of directories separated by a
4523 special character, much like `PATH', in which to look for header
4524 files. The special character, `PATH_SEPARATOR', is
4525 target-dependent and determined at GCC build time. For Microsoft
4526 Windows-based targets it is a semicolon, and for almost all other
4527 targets it is a colon.
4529 `CPATH' specifies a list of directories to be searched as if
4530 specified with `-I', but after any paths given with `-I' options
4531 on the command line. This environment variable is used regardless
4532 of which language is being preprocessed.
4534 The remaining environment variables apply only when preprocessing
4535 the particular language indicated. Each specifies a list of
4536 directories to be searched as if specified with `-isystem', but
4537 after any paths given with `-isystem' options on the command line.
4539 In all these variables, an empty element instructs the compiler to
4540 search its current working directory. Empty elements can appear
4541 at the beginning or end of a path. For instance, if the value of
4542 `CPATH' is `:/special/include', that has the same effect as
4543 `-I. -I/special/include'.
4545 See also *Note Search Path::.
4547 `DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT'
4548 If this variable is set, its value specifies how to output
4549 dependencies for Make based on the non-system header files
4550 processed by the compiler. System header files are ignored in the
4553 The value of `DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT' can be just a file name, in
4554 which case the Make rules are written to that file, guessing the
4555 target name from the source file name. Or the value can have the
4556 form `FILE TARGET', in which case the rules are written to file
4557 FILE using TARGET as the target name.
4559 In other words, this environment variable is equivalent to
4560 combining the options `-MM' and `-MF' (*note Invocation::), with
4561 an optional `-MT' switch too.
4563 `SUNPRO_DEPENDENCIES'
4564 This variable is the same as `DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT' (see above),
4565 except that system header files are not ignored, so it implies
4566 `-M' rather than `-MM'. However, the dependence on the main input
4567 file is omitted. *Note Invocation::.
4570 File: cpp.info, Node: GNU Free Documentation License, Next: Index of Directives, Prev: Environment Variables, Up: Top
4572 GNU Free Documentation License
4573 ******************************
4575 Version 1.2, November 2002
4577 Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4578 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA
4580 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
4581 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
4585 The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
4586 functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to
4587 assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it,
4588 with or without modifying it, either commercially or
4589 noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the
4590 author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not
4591 being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
4593 This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative
4594 works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense.
4595 It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
4596 license designed for free software.
4598 We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for
4599 free software, because free software needs free documentation: a
4600 free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms
4601 that the software does. But this License is not limited to
4602 software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless
4603 of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book.
4604 We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is
4605 instruction or reference.
4607 1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
4609 This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium,
4610 that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it
4611 can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice
4612 grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration,
4613 to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The
4614 "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member
4615 of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You
4616 accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a
4617 way requiring permission under copyright law.
4619 A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the
4620 Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with
4621 modifications and/or translated into another language.
4623 A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section
4624 of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the
4625 publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall
4626 subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could
4627 fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document
4628 is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not
4629 explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of
4630 historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or
4631 of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position
4634 The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose
4635 titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in
4636 the notice that says that the Document is released under this
4637 License. If a section does not fit the above definition of
4638 Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant.
4639 The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document
4640 does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
4642 The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are
4643 listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice
4644 that says that the Document is released under this License. A
4645 Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may
4646 be at most 25 words.
4648 A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy,
4649 represented in a format whose specification is available to the
4650 general public, that is suitable for revising the document
4651 straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images
4652 composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some
4653 widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to
4654 text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of
4655 formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an
4656 otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of
4657 markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent
4658 modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is
4659 not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A
4660 copy that is not "Transparent" is called "Opaque".
4662 Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain
4663 ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format,
4664 SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and
4665 standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for
4666 human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include
4667 PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that
4668 can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or
4669 XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally
4670 available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF
4671 produced by some word processors for output purposes only.
4673 The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself,
4674 plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the
4675 material this License requires to appear in the title page. For
4676 works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title
4677 Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the
4678 work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
4680 A section "Entitled XYZ" means a named subunit of the Document
4681 whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses
4682 following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ
4683 stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as
4684 "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", "Endorsements", or "History".)
4685 To "Preserve the Title" of such a section when you modify the
4686 Document means that it remains a section "Entitled XYZ" according
4689 The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice
4690 which states that this License applies to the Document. These
4691 Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in
4692 this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other
4693 implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and
4694 has no effect on the meaning of this License.
4698 You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either
4699 commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the
4700 copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License
4701 applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you
4702 add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You
4703 may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading
4704 or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However,
4705 you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you
4706 distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow
4707 the conditions in section 3.
4709 You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above,
4710 and you may publicly display copies.
4712 3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
4714 If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly
4715 have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and
4716 the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must
4717 enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
4718 these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and
4719 Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly
4720 and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The
4721 front cover must present the full title with all words of the
4722 title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material
4723 on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the
4724 covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and
4725 satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in
4728 If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit
4729 legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit
4730 reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto
4733 If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document
4734 numbering more than 100, you must either include a
4735 machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or
4736 state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from
4737 which the general network-using public has access to download
4738 using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent
4739 copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the
4740 latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you
4741 begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that
4742 this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated
4743 location until at least one year after the last time you
4744 distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or
4745 retailers) of that edition to the public.
4747 It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of
4748 the Document well before redistributing any large number of
4749 copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated
4750 version of the Document.
4754 You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document
4755 under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you
4756 release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with
4757 the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus
4758 licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to
4759 whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these
4760 things in the Modified Version:
4762 A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title
4763 distinct from that of the Document, and from those of
4764 previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed
4765 in the History section of the Document). You may use the
4766 same title as a previous version if the original publisher of
4767 that version gives permission.
4769 B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or
4770 entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in
4771 the Modified Version, together with at least five of the
4772 principal authors of the Document (all of its principal
4773 authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you
4774 from this requirement.
4776 C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the
4777 Modified Version, as the publisher.
4779 D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
4781 E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications
4782 adjacent to the other copyright notices.
4784 F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license
4785 notice giving the public permission to use the Modified
4786 Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in
4789 G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant
4790 Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's
4793 H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
4795 I. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title,
4796 and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new
4797 authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on
4798 the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in
4799 the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors,
4800 and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page,
4801 then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in
4802 the previous sentence.
4804 J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document
4805 for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and
4806 likewise the network locations given in the Document for
4807 previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in
4808 the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a
4809 work that was published at least four years before the
4810 Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version
4811 it refers to gives permission.
4813 K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications",
4814 Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the
4815 section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor
4816 acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
4818 L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document,
4819 unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers
4820 or the equivalent are not considered part of the section
4823 M. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section
4824 may not be included in the Modified Version.
4826 N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled
4827 "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant
4830 O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
4832 If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
4833 appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no
4834 material copied from the Document, you may at your option
4835 designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this,
4836 add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified
4837 Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any
4838 other section titles.
4840 You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains
4841 nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various
4842 parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text
4843 has been approved by an organization as the authoritative
4844 definition of a standard.
4846 You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text,
4847 and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end
4848 of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one
4849 passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be
4850 added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the
4851 Document already includes a cover text for the same cover,
4852 previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity
4853 you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may
4854 replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous
4855 publisher that added the old one.
4857 The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this
4858 License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to
4859 assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
4861 5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
4863 You may combine the Document with other documents released under
4864 this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for
4865 modified versions, provided that you include in the combination
4866 all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents,
4867 unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your
4868 combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all
4869 their Warranty Disclaimers.
4871 The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and
4872 multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single
4873 copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name
4874 but different contents, make the title of each such section unique
4875 by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the
4876 original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a
4877 unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in
4878 the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the
4881 In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled
4882 "History" in the various original documents, forming one section
4883 Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled
4884 "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You
4885 must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements."
4887 6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
4889 You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other
4890 documents released under this License, and replace the individual
4891 copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy
4892 that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the
4893 rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the
4894 documents in all other respects.
4896 You may extract a single document from such a collection, and
4897 distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert
4898 a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow
4899 this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of
4902 7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
4904 A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other
4905 separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of
4906 a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the
4907 copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the
4908 legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual
4909 works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this
4910 License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which
4911 are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
4913 If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
4914 copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half
4915 of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed
4916 on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
4917 electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic
4918 form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket
4919 the whole aggregate.
4923 Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
4924 distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section
4925 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
4926 permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
4927 translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
4928 original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
4929 translation of this License, and all the license notices in the
4930 Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also
4931 include the original English version of this License and the
4932 original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a
4933 disagreement between the translation and the original version of
4934 this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will
4937 If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements",
4938 "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to
4939 Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the
4944 You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document
4945 except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other
4946 attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is
4947 void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this
4948 License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights,
4949 from you under this License will not have their licenses
4950 terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
4952 10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
4954 The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of
4955 the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new
4956 versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
4957 differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See
4958 `http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/'.
4960 Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version
4961 number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered
4962 version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you
4963 have the option of following the terms and conditions either of
4964 that specified version or of any later version that has been
4965 published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If
4966 the Document does not specify a version number of this License,
4967 you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the
4968 Free Software Foundation.
4970 ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
4971 ====================================================
4973 To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
4974 the License in the document and put the following copyright and license
4975 notices just after the title page:
4977 Copyright (C) YEAR YOUR NAME.
4978 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
4979 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
4980 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
4981 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
4982 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
4983 Free Documentation License''.
4985 If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover
4986 Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:
4988 with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with
4989 the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts
4992 If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other
4993 combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the
4996 If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
4997 recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of
4998 free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to
4999 permit their use in free software.
5002 File: cpp.info, Node: Index of Directives, Next: Option Index, Prev: GNU Free Documentation License, Up: Top
5010 * #assert: Obsolete Features. (line 48)
5011 * #define: Object-like Macros. (line 11)
5012 * #elif: Elif. (line 6)
5013 * #else: Else. (line 6)
5014 * #endif: Ifdef. (line 6)
5015 * #error: Diagnostics. (line 6)
5016 * #ident: Other Directives. (line 6)
5017 * #if: Conditional Syntax. (line 6)
5018 * #ifdef: Ifdef. (line 6)
5019 * #ifndef: Ifdef. (line 40)
5020 * #import: Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef.
5022 * #include: Include Syntax. (line 6)
5023 * #include_next: Wrapper Headers. (line 6)
5024 * #line: Line Control. (line 20)
5025 * #pragma GCC dependency: Pragmas. (line 53)
5026 * #pragma GCC poison: Pragmas. (line 65)
5027 * #pragma GCC system_header <1>: Pragmas. (line 92)
5028 * #pragma GCC system_header: System Headers. (line 31)
5029 * #sccs: Other Directives. (line 6)
5030 * #unassert: Obsolete Features. (line 59)
5031 * #undef: Undefining and Redefining Macros.
5033 * #warning: Diagnostics. (line 27)
5036 File: cpp.info, Node: Option Index, Next: Concept Index, Prev: Index of Directives, Up: Top
5041 CPP's command line options and environment variables are indexed here
5042 without any initial `-' or `--'.
5047 * A: Invocation. (line 522)
5048 * ansi: Invocation. (line 308)
5049 * C: Invocation. (line 581)
5050 * C_INCLUDE_PATH: Environment Variables.
5052 * CPATH: Environment Variables.
5054 * CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH: Environment Variables.
5056 * D: Invocation. (line 39)
5057 * dD: Invocation. (line 554)
5058 * DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT: Environment Variables.
5060 * dI: Invocation. (line 563)
5061 * dM: Invocation. (line 538)
5062 * dN: Invocation. (line 560)
5063 * dU: Invocation. (line 567)
5064 * fdirectives-only: Invocation. (line 430)
5065 * fdollars-in-identifiers: Invocation. (line 452)
5066 * fexec-charset: Invocation. (line 479)
5067 * fextended-identifiers: Invocation. (line 455)
5068 * finput-charset: Invocation. (line 492)
5069 * fno-show-column: Invocation. (line 517)
5070 * fno-working-directory: Invocation. (line 502)
5071 * fpreprocessed: Invocation. (line 460)
5072 * ftabstop: Invocation. (line 473)
5073 * fwide-exec-charset: Invocation. (line 484)
5074 * fworking-directory: Invocation. (line 502)
5075 * H: Invocation. (line 626)
5076 * help: Invocation. (line 618)
5077 * I: Invocation. (line 71)
5078 * I-: Invocation. (line 345)
5079 * idirafter: Invocation. (line 387)
5080 * imacros: Invocation. (line 378)
5081 * imultilib: Invocation. (line 410)
5082 * include: Invocation. (line 367)
5083 * iprefix: Invocation. (line 394)
5084 * iquote: Invocation. (line 422)
5085 * isysroot: Invocation. (line 406)
5086 * isystem: Invocation. (line 414)
5087 * iwithprefix: Invocation. (line 400)
5088 * iwithprefixbefore: Invocation. (line 400)
5089 * M: Invocation. (line 180)
5090 * MD: Invocation. (line 269)
5091 * MF: Invocation. (line 215)
5092 * MG: Invocation. (line 224)
5093 * MM: Invocation. (line 205)
5094 * MMD: Invocation. (line 285)
5095 * MP: Invocation. (line 234)
5096 * MQ: Invocation. (line 260)
5097 * MT: Invocation. (line 246)
5098 * nostdinc: Invocation. (line 357)
5099 * nostdinc++: Invocation. (line 362)
5100 * o: Invocation. (line 82)
5101 * OBJC_INCLUDE_PATH: Environment Variables.
5103 * P: Invocation. (line 574)
5104 * pedantic: Invocation. (line 170)
5105 * pedantic-errors: Invocation. (line 175)
5106 * remap: Invocation. (line 613)
5107 * std=: Invocation. (line 308)
5108 * SUNPRO_DEPENDENCIES: Environment Variables.
5110 * target-help: Invocation. (line 618)
5111 * traditional-cpp: Invocation. (line 606)
5112 * trigraphs: Invocation. (line 610)
5113 * U: Invocation. (line 62)
5114 * undef: Invocation. (line 66)
5115 * v: Invocation. (line 622)
5116 * version: Invocation. (line 635)
5117 * w: Invocation. (line 166)
5118 * Wall: Invocation. (line 88)
5119 * Wcomment: Invocation. (line 96)
5120 * Wcomments: Invocation. (line 96)
5121 * Wendif-labels: Invocation. (line 143)
5122 * Werror: Invocation. (line 156)
5123 * Wsystem-headers: Invocation. (line 160)
5124 * Wtraditional: Invocation. (line 113)
5125 * Wtrigraphs: Invocation. (line 101)
5126 * Wundef: Invocation. (line 119)
5127 * Wunused-macros: Invocation. (line 124)
5128 * x: Invocation. (line 292)
5131 File: cpp.info, Node: Concept Index, Prev: Option Index, Up: Top
5139 * # operator: Stringification. (line 6)
5140 * ## operator: Concatenation. (line 6)
5141 * _Pragma: Pragmas. (line 25)
5142 * alternative tokens: Tokenization. (line 106)
5143 * arguments: Macro Arguments. (line 6)
5144 * arguments in macro definitions: Macro Arguments. (line 6)
5145 * assertions: Obsolete Features. (line 13)
5146 * assertions, canceling: Obsolete Features. (line 59)
5147 * backslash-newline: Initial processing. (line 61)
5148 * block comments: Initial processing. (line 77)
5149 * C++ named operators: C++ Named Operators. (line 6)
5150 * character constants: Tokenization. (line 85)
5151 * character set, execution: Invocation. (line 479)
5152 * character set, input: Invocation. (line 492)
5153 * character set, wide execution: Invocation. (line 484)
5154 * command line: Invocation. (line 6)
5155 * commenting out code: Deleted Code. (line 6)
5156 * comments: Initial processing. (line 77)
5157 * common predefined macros: Common Predefined Macros.
5159 * computed includes: Computed Includes. (line 6)
5160 * concatenation: Concatenation. (line 6)
5161 * conditional group: Ifdef. (line 14)
5162 * conditionals: Conditionals. (line 6)
5163 * continued lines: Initial processing. (line 61)
5164 * controlling macro: Once-Only Headers. (line 35)
5165 * defined: Defined. (line 6)
5166 * dependencies for make as output: Environment Variables.
5168 * dependencies, make: Invocation. (line 180)
5169 * diagnostic: Diagnostics. (line 6)
5170 * differences from previous versions: Differences from previous versions.
5172 * digraphs: Tokenization. (line 106)
5173 * directive line: The preprocessing language.
5175 * directive name: The preprocessing language.
5177 * directives: The preprocessing language.
5179 * empty macro arguments: Macro Arguments. (line 66)
5180 * environment variables: Environment Variables.
5182 * expansion of arguments: Argument Prescan. (line 6)
5183 * FDL, GNU Free Documentation License: GNU Free Documentation License.
5185 * function-like macros: Function-like Macros.
5187 * grouping options: Invocation. (line 34)
5188 * guard macro: Once-Only Headers. (line 35)
5189 * header file: Header Files. (line 6)
5190 * header file names: Tokenization. (line 85)
5191 * identifiers: Tokenization. (line 34)
5192 * implementation limits: Implementation limits.
5194 * implementation-defined behavior: Implementation-defined behavior.
5196 * including just once: Once-Only Headers. (line 6)
5197 * invocation: Invocation. (line 6)
5198 * iso646.h: C++ Named Operators. (line 6)
5199 * line comments: Initial processing. (line 77)
5200 * line control: Line Control. (line 6)
5201 * line endings: Initial processing. (line 14)
5202 * linemarkers: Preprocessor Output. (line 28)
5203 * macro argument expansion: Argument Prescan. (line 6)
5204 * macro arguments and directives: Directives Within Macro Arguments.
5206 * macros in include: Computed Includes. (line 6)
5207 * macros with arguments: Macro Arguments. (line 6)
5208 * macros with variable arguments: Variadic Macros. (line 6)
5209 * make: Invocation. (line 180)
5210 * manifest constants: Object-like Macros. (line 6)
5211 * named operators: C++ Named Operators. (line 6)
5212 * newlines in macro arguments: Newlines in Arguments.
5214 * null directive: Other Directives. (line 17)
5215 * numbers: Tokenization. (line 61)
5216 * object-like macro: Object-like Macros. (line 6)
5217 * options: Invocation. (line 38)
5218 * options, grouping: Invocation. (line 34)
5219 * other tokens: Tokenization. (line 120)
5220 * output format: Preprocessor Output. (line 12)
5221 * overriding a header file: Wrapper Headers. (line 6)
5222 * parentheses in macro bodies: Operator Precedence Problems.
5224 * pitfalls of macros: Macro Pitfalls. (line 6)
5225 * predefined macros: Predefined Macros. (line 6)
5226 * predefined macros, system-specific: System-specific Predefined Macros.
5228 * predicates: Obsolete Features. (line 26)
5229 * preprocessing directives: The preprocessing language.
5231 * preprocessing numbers: Tokenization. (line 61)
5232 * preprocessing tokens: Tokenization. (line 6)
5233 * prescan of macro arguments: Argument Prescan. (line 6)
5234 * problems with macros: Macro Pitfalls. (line 6)
5235 * punctuators: Tokenization. (line 106)
5236 * redefining macros: Undefining and Redefining Macros.
5238 * repeated inclusion: Once-Only Headers. (line 6)
5239 * reporting errors: Diagnostics. (line 6)
5240 * reporting warnings: Diagnostics. (line 6)
5241 * reserved namespace: System-specific Predefined Macros.
5243 * self-reference: Self-Referential Macros.
5245 * semicolons (after macro calls): Swallowing the Semicolon.
5247 * side effects (in macro arguments): Duplication of Side Effects.
5249 * standard predefined macros.: Standard Predefined Macros.
5251 * string constants: Tokenization. (line 85)
5252 * string literals: Tokenization. (line 85)
5253 * stringification: Stringification. (line 6)
5254 * symbolic constants: Object-like Macros. (line 6)
5255 * system header files <1>: System Headers. (line 6)
5256 * system header files: Header Files. (line 13)
5257 * system-specific predefined macros: System-specific Predefined Macros.
5259 * testing predicates: Obsolete Features. (line 37)
5260 * token concatenation: Concatenation. (line 6)
5261 * token pasting: Concatenation. (line 6)
5262 * tokens: Tokenization. (line 6)
5263 * trigraphs: Initial processing. (line 32)
5264 * undefining macros: Undefining and Redefining Macros.
5266 * unsafe macros: Duplication of Side Effects.
5268 * variable number of arguments: Variadic Macros. (line 6)
5269 * variadic macros: Variadic Macros. (line 6)
5270 * wrapper #ifndef: Once-Only Headers. (line 6)
5271 * wrapper headers: Wrapper Headers. (line 6)
5277 Node: Overview
\x7f3800
5278 Node: Character sets
\x7f6621
5279 Ref: Character sets-Footnote-1
\x7f8804
5280 Node: Initial processing
\x7f8985
5281 Ref: trigraphs
\x7f10544
5282 Node: Tokenization
\x7f14746
5283 Ref: Tokenization-Footnote-1
\x7f21882
5284 Node: The preprocessing language
\x7f21993
5285 Node: Header Files
\x7f24871
5286 Node: Include Syntax
\x7f26787
5287 Node: Include Operation
\x7f28424
5288 Node: Search Path
\x7f30272
5289 Node: Once-Only Headers
\x7f33462
5290 Node: Alternatives to Wrapper #ifndef
\x7f35121
5291 Node: Computed Includes
\x7f36864
5292 Node: Wrapper Headers
\x7f40022
5293 Node: System Headers
\x7f42448
5294 Node: Macros
\x7f44498
5295 Node: Object-like Macros
\x7f45639
5296 Node: Function-like Macros
\x7f49229
5297 Node: Macro Arguments
\x7f50845
5298 Node: Stringification
\x7f54990
5299 Node: Concatenation
\x7f58196
5300 Node: Variadic Macros
\x7f61304
5301 Node: Predefined Macros
\x7f66091
5302 Node: Standard Predefined Macros
\x7f66679
5303 Node: Common Predefined Macros
\x7f72615
5304 Node: System-specific Predefined Macros
\x7f85525
5305 Node: C++ Named Operators
\x7f87546
5306 Node: Undefining and Redefining Macros
\x7f88510
5307 Node: Directives Within Macro Arguments
\x7f90614
5308 Node: Macro Pitfalls
\x7f92162
5309 Node: Misnesting
\x7f92695
5310 Node: Operator Precedence Problems
\x7f93807
5311 Node: Swallowing the Semicolon
\x7f95673
5312 Node: Duplication of Side Effects
\x7f97696
5313 Node: Self-Referential Macros
\x7f99879
5314 Node: Argument Prescan
\x7f102288
5315 Node: Newlines in Arguments
\x7f106042
5316 Node: Conditionals
\x7f106993
5317 Node: Conditional Uses
\x7f108823
5318 Node: Conditional Syntax
\x7f110181
5319 Node: Ifdef
\x7f110501
5321 Node: Defined
\x7f115966
5322 Node: Else
\x7f117249
5323 Node: Elif
\x7f117819
5324 Node: Deleted Code
\x7f119108
5325 Node: Diagnostics
\x7f120355
5326 Node: Line Control
\x7f121972
5327 Node: Pragmas
\x7f125776
5328 Node: Other Directives
\x7f130046
5329 Node: Preprocessor Output
\x7f131153
5330 Node: Traditional Mode
\x7f134354
5331 Node: Traditional lexical analysis
\x7f135412
5332 Node: Traditional macros
\x7f137915
5333 Node: Traditional miscellany
\x7f141717
5334 Node: Traditional warnings
\x7f142714
5335 Node: Implementation Details
\x7f144911
5336 Node: Implementation-defined behavior
\x7f145532
5337 Ref: Identifier characters
\x7f146284
5338 Node: Implementation limits
\x7f149359
5339 Node: Obsolete Features
\x7f152033
5340 Node: Differences from previous versions
\x7f154870
5341 Node: Invocation
\x7f159078
5342 Ref: Wtrigraphs
\x7f163530
5343 Ref: dashMF
\x7f168305
5344 Ref: fdollars-in-identifiers
\x7f177688
5345 Node: Environment Variables
\x7f185851
5346 Node: GNU Free Documentation License
\x7f188817
5347 Node: Index of Directives
\x7f211250
5348 Node: Option Index
\x7f213184
5349 Node: Concept Index
\x7f219368