CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c
Andrew
Andrew

Reputation: 239167

How to move C functions into separate file?

I'm getting started with C programming. I currently have a large file that contains a lot of functions. I would like to move these functions to a separate file so that the code is easier to read. However, I can't seem to figure out how to properly include/compile and can't find an example in any online tutorials that I've found. Here's a simplified example:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

void func1(void) {
  printf("Function 1!\n");
}

void func2(void) {
  printf("Function 2!\n");
}

int main(void) {
  func1();
  func2();
  return 0;
}

How do you move C functions into a separate file? FYI: I'm using gcc.

Update: These answers are very helpful, thank you. Now it seems that my simplified example is not good enough because I realized the reason my program failed to compile is because I'm using a global variable in my functions.

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int counter = 0;

void func1(void) {
  printf("Function 1!\n");
  counter++;
}

int main(void) {
  func1();
  return 0;
}

Moving these functions to an external file doesn't work because they need to reference this global variable:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "functions.c"

int counter = 0;

int main(void) {
  func1();
  counter = 100;
  return 0;
}

How can I get around this issue?

Upvotes: 27

Views: 41323

Answers (4)

Raju Kunde
Raju Kunde

Reputation: 982

Okay. Here we go.

Your main.c file 

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "functions.h"

int main(void) {
  func1();
  func2();
  return 0;
}

Your functions.h file 

void func1(void);
void func2(void);

Your functions.c file

#include "functions.h"

void func1(void) {
  printf("Function 1!\n");
}

void func2(void) {
  printf("Function 2!\n");
}

Compile it with:

gcc -o main.exe main.c functions.c

Upvotes: 38

David M. Syzdek
David M. Syzdek

Reputation: 15798

The most common way is to place your function prototypes in a header file and your function implementations in a source file. For example:

func1.h

#ifndef MY_FUNC1_H
#define MY_FUNC1_H
#include <stdio.h>

// declares a variable
extern int var1;

// declares a function
void func1(void);
#endif

func1.c

#include "func1.h"

// defines a variable
int var1 = 512;

// defines a function
void func1(void) {
    printf("Function 1!\n");
}

func2.h:

#ifndef MY_FUNC2_H
#define MY_FUNC2_H
#include <stdio.h>
void func2(void);
#endif

func2.c:

#include "func1.h" // included in order to use var1
#include "func2.h"
void func2(void) {
    printf("Function 2 with var1 == %i\n", var1);
}

main.c:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "func1.h"
#include "func2.h"

int main(void) {
    var1 += 512;
    func1();
    func2();
    return 0;
}

You would then compile using the following:

gcc -c -o func1.o func1.c
gcc -c -o func2.o func2.c
gcc -c -o main.o  main.c
gcc -o myprog main.o func1.o func2.o
./myprog

I only placed one function in each source/header pair for illustration. You could create just one header which includes the prototypes for all of the source files, or you could create multiple header files for each source file. The key is that any source file which will call the function, needs to include a header file which includes the function's prototype.

As a general rule, you only want a header file included once, this is the purpose of the #ifndef #define #endif macros in the header files.

Upvotes: 12

Douglas Franco
Douglas Franco

Reputation: 601

You can do something like this.

    /* func1.c */
    void func1(void) {
      printf("Function 1!\n");
    }

    /* func2.c */
    void func2(void) {
      printf("Function 2!\n");
    }

    /* main.c */
    #include "func1.c"
    #include "func2.c"

    int main ( void )
    {
    func1();
    func2();
    return 0;
    }

Upvotes: -2

Some programmer dude
Some programmer dude

Reputation: 409482

First you have to learn the difference between a declaration and definition. A declaration tells the compiler that something, like a function, exists. A definition is, for the case of functions, the actual function implementation.

So what you do is move the definition to another file, but add a declaration in the file where the function is to be called. You then build both files together, and the compiler and linker will take care of the rest.

Upvotes: 6

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