CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++visual-c++command-linec-preprocessor
MaxVT
MaxVT

Reputation: 13234

How can I make a string preprocessor definition from command-line in VC 2005 (C++)?

The documentation tells me that /D command-line switch can be used to do this, like so:

CL /DDEBUG TEST.C

This would define a DEBUG symbol, and

CL /DDEBUG=2 TEST.C

would give it the value 2.

But what do I do if I would like to get the equivalent of a string define, such as the following?

#define DEBUG "abc"

Upvotes: 5

Views: 5869

Answers (5)

Richard Corden
Richard Corden

Reputation: 21721

I don't have VC to test this for you, however, in principle the following should work:

CL /DSTRINGIFY(X)=#X /DDEBUG=STRINGIFY(abc) TEST.C

As highlighted by Kuba hasn't forgotten Monica, VC doesn't seem to do the right thing here. Testing with a simple example, it generates:

const char * s = STRINGIFY(abc);

It may work with other compilers, for example the following g++ command line works:

g++ -D'STRINGIFY(X)=#X' -D'DEBUG=STRINGIFY(abc)' t.cc -E

# 1 "t.cc"
# 1 "<built-in>"
# 1 "<command line>"
# 1 "t.cc"

const char * s = "abc";

Upvotes: -1

Chaohsiung Huang
Chaohsiung Huang

Reputation: 154

This works for me in Visual Studio 2013:

/D_STRING="\"abc\""

Then it is equivalent to

#define _STRING "abc"

Note, if you do

/D_STRING="abc"

It will be equivalent to

#define _STRING abc

Upvotes: 2

MaxVT
MaxVT

Reputation: 13234

The second one could work on the command line, but the coworker I've asked this for eventually used this in the project definition (needing to escape the double-quotes and replace = with #):

/DDEBUG#\"abc\"

Upvotes: 1

Glen
Glen

Reputation: 22290

Try:

CL /DDEBUG=abc TEST.C

or

CL /DDEBUG="abc" TEST.C

Upvotes: 1

avakar
avakar

Reputation: 32635

Due to the way command line is parsed in Windows, you'll have to escape the quotes.

CL /DDEBUG=\"abc\" TEST.C

Upvotes: 5

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