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C-Preprocessor

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7 views8 pages

C-Preprocessor

Uploaded by

Soham
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Preprocessor Directives in C

Computing Lab
https://www.isical.ac.in/~dfslab

Indian Statistical Institute

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 1/8


General rules

Can be used anywhere in a program


Affect the remaining part of the program
Syntax: # must be the first non-whitespace character in the line

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 2/8


Including files

Syntax:
#include <stdio.h> /* for include files provided by the system */
#include "common.h" /* for your "own" header files */

Effect ≡ copy-paste (replace the line by the entire contents of the file)
Typically contain #defines, typedefs, variable and function
declarations
Additional directories to search for included files specified as follows
gcc -I/path/to/directory1 -I/path/to/directory2 ...

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 3/8


Defining constants

Syntax
/* From stdio.h */
# define EOF (-1)

/* From stdint.h: minimum of signed integral types. */


# define INT8_MIN (-128)
# define INT16_MIN (-32767-1)
# define INT32_MIN (-2147483647-1)
# define INT64_MIN (-__INT64_C(9223372036854775807)-1)
/* Maximum of signed integral types. */
# define INT8_MAX (127)
# define INT16_MAX (32767)
# define INT32_MAX (2147483647)
# define INT64_MAX (__INT64_C(9223372036854775807))

Effect ≡ find-and-replace
replace the first string whenever it occurs as a complete word by the
second string

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 4/8


Defining macros

Syntax
#define MAX(a,b) (((a)>(b))?(a):(b))
#define MIN(a,b) (((a)<(b))?(a):(b))
#define SQR(x) ((x) * (x))

#define ERR_MESG(x) { perror(x); return -1; }

#define Malloc(n,type) (type *) malloc( (unsigned) ((n)*sizeof(type)))


#define Realloc(loc,n,type) (type *) realloc((char *)(loc), \
(unsigned) ((n)*sizeof(type)))

Effect
replace call to a macro by body of the macro
string-replace each parameter by the corresponding argument
See review question 2.

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 5/8


Conditional compilation: ifdef, ifndef

Syntax
#ifdef DEBUG /* if defined */
fprintf(stderr, "Some error message\n");
#endif

#ifndef EOF /* if NOT defined */


# define EOF (-1)
#endif

Alternative to commenting and uncommenting large portions of code


To define a constant at compile time (without changing source file)
gcc -DDEBUG ...
See review question 1.

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 6/8


Conditional compilation: if
Syntax
#if (DEBUG_LEVEL >= DETAILED) && defined(NAME) && undefined_name
fprintf(stderr, "Some low level error message\n");
#endif

Can use any constant expressions of integer type


Expression can contain
integer / character constants
standard arithmetic / logical operators
macros
defined operator
identifiers (zero value)
DO NOT USE sizeof operator

NOTE: All calculations use widest integer type known to the compiler
(typically 64 bits)
Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 7/8
Review questions I

1. What happens if a file a.h includes b.h and vice versa?


2. Why does the following not work as expected?
#define SQR(x) (x * x)

int x = 5, y;
y = SQR(x+1);
printf("%d\n", y);

Computing Lab (ISI) Preprocessor Directives in C 8/8

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