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Solved
c++ preprocess directives
Posted on 2006-11-16
Hello,
I was trying to use #define directives to make a base directory for all my include files. So the idea was:
Compile the program with a flag -D__BASE__=/some/path/to/b
So basically:
#include __BASE__ "Foo.h"
This does not work (of course), but I searched the internet and found some information about directives and I came up with this:
#define CONCAT(a, b) a b
#define STRINGIFY(x) #x
#define TOSTRING(x) STRINGIFY(x)
#define ROOT TOSTRING(__BASE__)
#include CONCAT(ROOT, "Foo.h")
But this does not work either. I think the problem lies in the fact that I do not precisely know how this is processed (although it looks very simple), anyway there are 'tokens' and 'strings' and it just seems I cannot concat two strings.
For example I get things like
"/some/path/" "Foo.h"
or sometimes I even get /some/path/Foo.h, but when using it on the #include it says: /some/path/: No such file or directory, in other words, it only took the first part. So I guess the preprocessor just replaces everything and does not really DO anything.
Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Mark
I was trying to use #define directives to make a base directory for all my include files. So the idea was:
Compile the program with a flag -D__BASE__=/some/path/to/b
So basically:
#include __BASE__ "Foo.h"
This does not work (of course), but I searched the internet and found some information about directives and I came up with this:
#define CONCAT(a, b) a b
#define STRINGIFY(x) #x
#define TOSTRING(x) STRINGIFY(x)
#define ROOT TOSTRING(__BASE__)
#include CONCAT(ROOT, "Foo.h")
But this does not work either. I think the problem lies in the fact that I do not precisely know how this is processed (although it looks very simple), anyway there are 'tokens' and 'strings' and it just seems I cannot concat two strings.
For example I get things like
"/some/path/" "Foo.h"
or sometimes I even get /some/path/Foo.h, but when using it on the #include it says: /some/path/: No such file or directory, in other words, it only took the first part. So I guess the preprocessor just replaces everything and does not really DO anything.
Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Mark
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12 Comments
try #include "__BASE__/./foo.h"
or try #include "__BASE__##foo.h"
You may have better luck passing in the include directory with -I
Ok, well that did not work, but I found something else.
If you want to concat a '/' with something then you get an error. For example:
#define BASE path
#define SLASH /
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#define PATH TOCONCAT(BASE,SLASH)
>> pasting "path" and "/" does not give a valid preprocessing token
Is there someone who knows the solution to this?
Mark
If you want to concat a '/' with something then you get an error. For example:
#define BASE path
#define SLASH /
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#define PATH TOCONCAT(BASE,SLASH)
>> pasting "path" and "/" does not give a valid preprocessing token
Is there someone who knows the solution to this?
Mark
Ok, i have this really stupid solution now:
#define BASE /some/pa
#define STR(x) #x
#define TOSTR(x) STR(x)
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#include TOSTR(TOCONCAT(__BASE__,th
Since i pass the BASE variable through the command line when compiling, i will not use the full path in the #include (that was the whole idea). So now i split halfway a word, of course i could make some nicer split, but this is kinda weird solution (though it works).
I would love to see other solutions which allow me to make a separation between BASE and FILE, ie. BASE=some/path and FILE=/Foo.h
Mark
#define BASE /some/pa
#define STR(x) #x
#define TOSTR(x) STR(x)
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#include TOSTR(TOCONCAT(__BASE__,th
Since i pass the BASE variable through the command line when compiling, i will not use the full path in the #include (that was the whole idea). So now i split halfway a word, of course i could make some nicer split, but this is kinda weird solution (though it works).
I would love to see other solutions which allow me to make a separation between BASE and FILE, ie. BASE=some/path and FILE=/Foo.h
Mark
Why not just use
-I/some/path/to/base/
(or whatever your compiler's option is to set an include directory)?
-I/some/path/to/base/
(or whatever your compiler's option is to set an include directory)?
>The system is going to be pretty big so -I won't do (in this case).
Any particular reason it won't do? There are programs that encompass hundreds of source files and they use -I
Not that -I is a particularly good solution, but it's there, and does the job.
Any particular reason it won't do? There are programs that encompass hundreds of source files and they use -I
Not that -I is a particularly good solution, but it's there, and does the job.
Ok, whatever, I won't use it. I want to use it in the way I sketched. If you are not ok with that, fine.
Let me rephrase the question for you:
How can i add a special character?
For example:
#define FOO /foo
#define BAR /bar
#define STR(x) #x
#define TOSTR(x) STR(x)
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#define ANSWER TOSTR(TOCONCAT(FOO, BAR))
I want ANSWER to be /foo/bar and the first character of BAR is ALWAYS a / (might be a ., but that comes down to the same problem).
Any idea?
Let me rephrase the question for you:
How can i add a special character?
For example:
#define FOO /foo
#define BAR /bar
#define STR(x) #x
#define TOSTR(x) STR(x)
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#define ANSWER TOSTR(TOCONCAT(FOO, BAR))
I want ANSWER to be /foo/bar and the first character of BAR is ALWAYS a / (might be a ., but that comes down to the same problem).
Any idea?
I followed the code you posted with
#include ANSWER
and the compiler complained that it couldn't find the file /foo/bar. When I created this file, the compiler opened it and compiled it. So it seems that you have solved the problem you originally stated. What special character do you want to add where and why?
#include ANSWER
and the compiler complained that it couldn't find the file /foo/bar. When I created this file, the compiler opened it and compiled it. So it seems that you have solved the problem you originally stated. What special character do you want to add where and why?
I truly get the error:
test.cpp:12:1: pasting "foo" and "/" does not give a valid preprocessing token
I used "g++ test.cpp" which sounds as simple as it can get.
My test environment looks like this:
-- test.cpp
#define FOO /path/to/ans
#define BAR /ans.h
#define STR(x) #x
#define TOSTR(x) STR(x)
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#define ANSWER TOSTR(TOCONCAT(FOO, BAR))
#include ANSWER
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** args)
{
std::cout << ANS << std::endl;
return 0;
}
-- ans.h
#define ANS 1234
Maybe i should use a different compiler?
Mark
test.cpp:12:1: pasting "foo" and "/" does not give a valid preprocessing token
I used "g++ test.cpp" which sounds as simple as it can get.
My test environment looks like this:
-- test.cpp
#define FOO /path/to/ans
#define BAR /ans.h
#define STR(x) #x
#define TOSTR(x) STR(x)
#define CONCAT(x,y) x##y
#define TOCONCAT(x,y) CONCAT(x,y)
#define ANSWER TOSTR(TOCONCAT(FOO, BAR))
#include ANSWER
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char** args)
{
std::cout << ANS << std::endl;
return 0;
}
-- ans.h
#define ANS 1234
Maybe i should use a different compiler?
Mark
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