CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xcodeterminal
William Sham
William Sham

Reputation: 13239

What does ./outputfile mean in Terminal

I'm new to using Terminal for compiling code. In the following

 gcc inputfile.m -o outputfile  

 ./outputfile

What does the ./ mean?

Thanks

Upvotes: 0

Views: 88

Answers (2)

nacho4d
nacho4d

Reputation: 45118

./outputfile tells Bash (the program that runs the Terminal) to run the file outputfile which is located in the current directory (./)

Bash can run any file, whether is a compiled file (like you case) or a script.

Upvotes: 1

CHawk
CHawk

Reputation: 1356

That is your compiled program. The line ./outputfile is calling the executable you created. It may seem a little strange that you have to do this in your case because you are only using 1 input file, but imagine that you are creating a bigger program with a many files that all need to be compiled together.

gcc inputfile1.m inputfile2.m class1.m class2.m main.m -o outputfile

All those files would be compiled and put into outputfile.

Upvotes: 0

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