CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c
Kain
Kain

Reputation: 359

A function to print out the name of a variable in C

I'm trying to create a function that takes in a variable and print out it name

It'd look something like this

#include <stdio.h>

void print_name(int a);

int main()
{
  int a_random_name;
  print_name(a_random_name);

  return 0;
}

The output:

a_random_name

How would i be able to do this in c ?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 238

Answers (1)

Ulysse BN
Ulysse BN

Reputation: 11386

As discussed in the comments, you cannot use a function to do so, but a macro:

#include <stdio.h>

#define print_name(x) (sizeof (x), printf("%s\n", #x))

void foo() {}

int main()
{
    int a_random_name;
    print_name(a_random_name);
    print_name(foo);

    return 0;
}
// Prints:
// a_random_name
// foo

Note that the (sizeof (x), part of the macro is here to make sure that the variable exists.

More information on macros manipulation:

C11 macros specifications:

Upvotes: 8

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