In a C/C++ program, all lines that start with ‘#’ are processed by preporcessor which is a special program invoked by the compiler. In a very basic term, preprocessor takes a C/C++ program and produces another C program without any ‘#’.
#include
When we use #include directive, the contents of included header file (after preprocessing) are copied to the current file.
Angular brackets < and > instruct the preprcessor to look in the standard folder where all header files are held. Double quotes “ and “ instruct the preprcessor to look into the current folder and if the file is not present in current folder, then in standard folder of all header files.
#define
When we use #define for a constant, the preprocessor produces a C program where the defined constant is searched and matching tokens are replaced with the given expression. For example in the following program max is defined as 100.
#include<stdio.h>
#define max 100
int main()
{
printf("max is %d", max);
return 0;
}
// Output: max is 100
// Note that the max inside "" is not replaced
Macro functions
The macros can take function like arguments, the arguments are not checked for data type. For example, the following macro INCREMENT(x) can be used for x of any data type.
#include <stdio.h>
#define INCREMENT(x) ++x
int main()
{
char *ptr = "firmcodes";
int x = 10;
printf("%s ", INCREMENT(ptr));
printf("%d", INCREMENT(x));
return 0;
}
// Output: firmcodes 11
Macro expansion
The macro arguments are not evaluated before macro expansion. For example consider the following program.
#include <stdio.h>
#define MULTIPLY(a, b) a*b
int main()
{
// The macro is expended as 2 + 3 * 3 + 5, not as 5*8
printf("%d", MULTIPLY(2+3, 3+5));
return 0;
}
// Output: 16
Macro concatenation
The tokens passed to macros can be concatenated using operator ## called Token-Pasting operator.
#include <stdio.h>
#define merge(a, b) a##b
int main()
{
printf("%d ", merge(12, 34));
}
// Output: 1234
Macro strings
A token passed to macro can be converted to a sting literal by using # before it.
#include <stdio.h>
#define get(a) #a
int main()
{
printf("%s", get(firmcodes));
}
// Output: firmcodes
Multiline Macros
The macros can be written in multiple lines using ‘\’. The last line doesn’t need to have ‘\’.
#include <stdio.h>
#define PRINT(i, limit) while (i < limit) \
{ \
printf("firmcodes"); \
i++; \
}
int main()
{
int i = 0;
PRINT(i, 3);
return 0;
}
// Output: firmcodes firmcodes firmcodes
Macro Argument Problems
The macros with arguments should be avoided as they cause problems sometimes. And Inline functions should be preferred as there is type checking parameter evaluation in inline functions. From C99 onward, inline functions are supported by C language also. For example consider the following program. From first look the output seems to be 1, but it produces 36 as output.
#define square(x) x*x
int main()
{
int x = 36/square(6); // Expended as 36/6*6
printf("%d", x);
return 0;
}
// Output: 36
If we use inline functions, we get the expected output. Also the program given above can be corrected using inline functions.
inline int square(int x) { return x*x; }
int main()
{
int x = 36/square(6);
printf("%d", x);
return 0;
}
// Output: 1
#if-else
Preprocessors also support if-else directives which are typically used for conditional compilation.
int main()
{
#if VERBOSE >= 2
printf("Trace Message");
#endif
}
#ifndef
A header file may be included more than one time directly or indirectly, this leads to problems of redeclaration of same variables/functions. To avoid this problem, directives like defined, ifdef and ifndef are used.
#ifndef __HEADERFILE_H #define __HEADERFILE_H //Do some coding stuff here #endif //This will check for if HEADERFILE.h not defined, then define HEADERFILE, and then do some coding stuff
Some standard MACROS
There are some standard macros which can be used to print program file (__FILE__), Date of compilation (__DATE__), Time of compilation (__TIME__) and Line Number in C code (__LINE__).
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
printf("Current File :%s\n", __FILE__ );
printf("Current Date :%s\n", __DATE__ );
printf("Current Time :%s\n", __TIME__ );
printf("Line Number :%d\n", __LINE__ );
return 0;
}
/* Output:
Current File :C:\Users\GfG\Downloads\deleteBST.c
Current Date :Feb 15 2014
Current Time :07:04:25
Line Number :8 */