1 @c Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
2 @c Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 @c This is part of the CPP and GCC manuals.
4 @c For copying conditions, see the file gcc.texi.
6 @c ---------------------------------------------------------------------
7 @c Options affecting the preprocessor
8 @c ---------------------------------------------------------------------
10 @c If this file is included with the flag ``cppmanual'' set, it is
11 @c formatted for inclusion in the CPP manual; otherwise the main GCC manual.
16 Predefine @var{name} as a macro, with definition @code{1}.
18 @item -D @var{name}=@var{definition}
19 The contents of @var{definition} are tokenized and processed as if
20 they appeared during translation phase three in a @samp{#define}
21 directive. In particular, the definition will be truncated by
22 embedded newline characters.
24 If you are invoking the preprocessor from a shell or shell-like
25 program you may need to use the shell's quoting syntax to protect
26 characters such as spaces that have a meaning in the shell syntax.
28 If you wish to define a function-like macro on the command line, write
29 its argument list with surrounding parentheses before the equals sign
30 (if any). Parentheses are meaningful to most shells, so you will need
31 to quote the option. With @command{sh} and @command{csh},
32 @option{-D'@var{name}(@var{args@dots{}})=@var{definition}'} works.
34 @option{-D} and @option{-U} options are processed in the order they
35 are given on the command line. All @option{-imacros @var{file}} and
36 @option{-include @var{file}} options are processed after all
37 @option{-D} and @option{-U} options.
41 Cancel any previous definition of @var{name}, either built in or
42 provided with a @option{-D} option.
46 Do not predefine any system-specific or GCC-specific macros. The
47 standard predefined macros remain defined.
49 @xref{Standard Predefined Macros}.
54 Add the directory @var{dir} to the list of directories to be searched
59 Directories named by @option{-I} are searched before the standard
60 system include directories. If the directory @var{dir} is a standard
61 system include directory, the option is ignored to ensure that the
62 default search order for system directories and the special treatment
63 of system headers are not defeated
65 (@pxref{System Headers})
71 Write output to @var{file}. This is the same as specifying @var{file}
72 as the second non-option argument to @command{cpp}. @command{gcc} has a
73 different interpretation of a second non-option argument, so you must
74 use @option{-o} to specify the output file.
78 Turns on all optional warnings which are desirable for normal code.
79 At present this is @option{-Wcomment}, @option{-Wtrigraphs},
80 @option{-Wmultichar} and a warning about integer promotion causing a
81 change of sign in @code{#if} expressions. Note that many of the
82 preprocessor's warnings are on by default and have no options to
89 Warn whenever a comment-start sequence @samp{/*} appears in a @samp{/*}
90 comment, or whenever a backslash-newline appears in a @samp{//} comment.
91 (Both forms have the same effect.)
96 Most trigraphs in comments cannot affect the meaning of the program.
97 However, a trigraph that would form an escaped newline (@samp{??/} at
98 the end of a line) can, by changing where the comment begins or ends.
99 Therefore, only trigraphs that would form escaped newlines produce
100 warnings inside a comment.
102 This option is implied by @option{-Wall}. If @option{-Wall} is not
103 given, this option is still enabled unless trigraphs are enabled. To
104 get trigraph conversion without warnings, but get the other
105 @option{-Wall} warnings, use @samp{-trigraphs -Wall -Wno-trigraphs}.
108 @opindex Wtraditional
109 Warn about certain constructs that behave differently in traditional and
110 ISO C@. Also warn about ISO C constructs that have no traditional C
111 equivalent, and problematic constructs which should be avoided.
113 @xref{Traditional Mode}.
118 Warn the first time @samp{#import} is used.
122 Warn whenever an identifier which is not a macro is encountered in an
123 @samp{#if} directive, outside of @samp{defined}. Such identifiers are
126 @item -Wunused-macros
127 @opindex Wunused-macros
128 Warn about macros defined in the main file that are unused. A macro
129 is @dfn{used} if it is expanded or tested for existence at least once.
130 The preprocessor will also warn if the macro has not been used at the
131 time it is redefined or undefined.
133 Built-in macros, macros defined on the command line, and macros
134 defined in include files are not warned about.
136 @emph{Note:} If a macro is actually used, but only used in skipped
137 conditional blocks, then CPP will report it as unused. To avoid the
138 warning in such a case, you might improve the scope of the macro's
139 definition by, for example, moving it into the first skipped block.
140 Alternatively, you could provide a dummy use with something like:
143 #if defined the_macro_causing_the_warning
148 @opindex Wendif-labels
149 Warn whenever an @samp{#else} or an @samp{#endif} are followed by text.
150 This usually happens in code of the form
161 The second and third @code{FOO} should be in comments, but often are not
162 in older programs. This warning is on by default.
166 Make all warnings into hard errors. Source code which triggers warnings
169 @item -Wsystem-headers
170 @opindex Wsystem-headers
171 Issue warnings for code in system headers. These are normally unhelpful
172 in finding bugs in your own code, therefore suppressed. If you are
173 responsible for the system library, you may want to see them.
177 Suppress all warnings, including those which GNU CPP issues by default.
181 Issue all the mandatory diagnostics listed in the C standard. Some of
182 them are left out by default, since they trigger frequently on harmless
185 @item -pedantic-errors
186 @opindex pedantic-errors
187 Issue all the mandatory diagnostics, and make all mandatory diagnostics
188 into errors. This includes mandatory diagnostics that GCC issues
189 without @samp{-pedantic} but treats as warnings.
194 @cindex dependencies, make
195 Instead of outputting the result of preprocessing, output a rule
196 suitable for @command{make} describing the dependencies of the main
197 source file. The preprocessor outputs one @command{make} rule containing
198 the object file name for that source file, a colon, and the names of all
199 the included files, including those coming from @option{-include} or
200 @option{-imacros} command line options.
202 Unless specified explicitly (with @option{-MT} or @option{-MQ}), the
203 object file name consists of the basename of the source file with any
204 suffix replaced with object file suffix. If there are many included
205 files then the rule is split into several lines using @samp{\}-newline.
206 The rule has no commands.
208 This option does not suppress the preprocessor's debug output, such as
209 @option{-dM}. To avoid mixing such debug output with the dependency
210 rules you should explicitly specify the dependency output file with
211 @option{-MF}, or use an environment variable like
212 @env{DEPENDENCIES_OUTPUT} (@pxref{Environment Variables}). Debug output
213 will still be sent to the regular output stream as normal.
215 Passing @option{-M} to the driver implies @option{-E}, and suppresses
216 warnings with an implicit @option{-w}.
220 Like @option{-M} but do not mention header files that are found in
221 system header directories, nor header files that are included,
222 directly or indirectly, from such a header.
224 This implies that the choice of angle brackets or double quotes in an
225 @samp{#include} directive does not in itself determine whether that
226 header will appear in @option{-MM} dependency output. This is a
227 slight change in semantics from GCC versions 3.0 and earlier.
232 When used with @option{-M} or @option{-MM}, specifies a
233 file to write the dependencies to. If no @option{-MF} switch is given
234 the preprocessor sends the rules to the same place it would have sent
237 When used with the driver options @option{-MD} or @option{-MMD},
238 @option{-MF} overrides the default dependency output file.
242 In conjunction with an option such as @option{-M} requesting
243 dependency generation, @option{-MG} assumes missing header files are
244 generated files and adds them to the dependency list without raising
245 an error. The dependency filename is taken directly from the
246 @code{#include} directive without prepending any path. @option{-MG}
247 also suppresses preprocessed output, as a missing header file renders
250 This feature is used in automatic updating of makefiles.
254 This option instructs CPP to add a phony target for each dependency
255 other than the main file, causing each to depend on nothing. These
256 dummy rules work around errors @command{make} gives if you remove header
257 files without updating the @file{Makefile} to match.
259 This is typical output:
262 test.o: test.c test.h
267 @item -MT @var{target}
270 Change the target of the rule emitted by dependency generation. By
271 default CPP takes the name of the main input file, including any path,
272 deletes any file suffix such as @samp{.c}, and appends the platform's
273 usual object suffix. The result is the target.
275 An @option{-MT} option will set the target to be exactly the string you
276 specify. If you want multiple targets, you can specify them as a single
277 argument to @option{-MT}, or use multiple @option{-MT} options.
279 For example, @option{@w{-MT '$(objpfx)foo.o'}} might give
282 $(objpfx)foo.o: foo.c
285 @item -MQ @var{target}
288 Same as @option{-MT}, but it quotes any characters which are special to
289 Make. @option{@w{-MQ '$(objpfx)foo.o'}} gives
292 $$(objpfx)foo.o: foo.c
295 The default target is automatically quoted, as if it were given with
300 @option{-MD} is equivalent to @option{-M -MF @var{file}}, except that
301 @option{-E} is not implied. The driver determines @var{file} based on
302 whether an @option{-o} option is given. If it is, the driver uses its
303 argument but with a suffix of @file{.d}, otherwise it take the
304 basename of the input file and applies a @file{.d} suffix.
306 If @option{-MD} is used in conjunction with @option{-E}, any
307 @option{-o} switch is understood to specify the dependency output file
308 (but @pxref{dashMF,,-MF}), but if used without @option{-E}, each @option{-o}
309 is understood to specify a target object file.
311 Since @option{-E} is not implied, @option{-MD} can be used to generate
312 a dependency output file as a side-effect of the compilation process.
316 Like @option{-MD} except mention only user header files, not system
322 When using precompiled headers (@pxref{Precompiled Headers}), this flag
323 will cause the dependency-output flags to also list the files from the
324 precompiled header's dependencies. If not specified only the
325 precompiled header would be listed and not the files that were used to
326 create it because those files are not consulted when a precompiled
329 @item -fpch-preprocess
330 @opindex fpch-preprocess
331 This option allows use of a precompiled header (@pxref{Precompiled
332 Headers}) together with @option{-E}. It inserts a special @code{#pragma},
333 @code{#pragma GCC pch_preprocess "<filename>"} in the output to mark
334 the place where the precompiled header was found, and its filename. When
335 @option{-fpreprocessed} is in use, GCC recognizes this @code{#pragma} and
338 This option is off by default, because the resulting preprocessed output
339 is only really suitable as input to GCC@. It is switched on by
340 @option{-save-temps}.
342 You should not write this @code{#pragma} in your own code, but it is
343 safe to edit the filename if the PCH file is available in a different
344 location. The filename may be absolute or it may be relative to GCC's
350 @itemx -x objective-c
351 @itemx -x assembler-with-cpp
353 Specify the source language: C, C++, Objective-C, or assembly. This has
354 nothing to do with standards conformance or extensions; it merely
355 selects which base syntax to expect. If you give none of these options,
356 cpp will deduce the language from the extension of the source file:
357 @samp{.c}, @samp{.cc}, @samp{.m}, or @samp{.S}. Some other common
358 extensions for C++ and assembly are also recognized. If cpp does not
359 recognize the extension, it will treat the file as C; this is the most
362 @emph{Note:} Previous versions of cpp accepted a @option{-lang} option
363 which selected both the language and the standards conformance level.
364 This option has been removed, because it conflicts with the @option{-l}
367 @item -std=@var{standard}
371 Specify the standard to which the code should conform. Currently CPP
372 knows about C and C++ standards; others may be added in the future.
379 The ISO C standard from 1990. @samp{c89} is the customary shorthand for
380 this version of the standard.
382 The @option{-ansi} option is equivalent to @option{-std=c89}.
385 The 1990 C standard, as amended in 1994.
391 The revised ISO C standard, published in December 1999. Before
392 publication, this was known as C9X@.
395 The 1990 C standard plus GNU extensions. This is the default.
399 The 1999 C standard plus GNU extensions.
402 The 1998 ISO C++ standard plus amendments.
405 The same as @option{-std=c++98} plus GNU extensions. This is the
406 default for C++ code.
411 Split the include path. Any directories specified with @option{-I}
412 options before @option{-I-} are searched only for headers requested with
413 @code{@w{#include "@var{file}"}}; they are not searched for
414 @code{@w{#include <@var{file}>}}. If additional directories are
415 specified with @option{-I} options after the @option{-I-}, those
416 directories are searched for all @samp{#include} directives.
418 In addition, @option{-I-} inhibits the use of the directory of the current
419 file directory as the first search directory for @code{@w{#include
424 This option has been deprecated.
428 Do not search the standard system directories for header files.
429 Only the directories you have specified with @option{-I} options
430 (and the directory of the current file, if appropriate) are searched.
434 Do not search for header files in the C++-specific standard directories,
435 but do still search the other standard directories. (This option is
436 used when building the C++ library.)
438 @item -include @var{file}
440 Process @var{file} as if @code{#include "file"} appeared as the first
441 line of the primary source file. However, the first directory searched
442 for @var{file} is the preprocessor's working directory @emph{instead of}
443 the directory containing the main source file. If not found there, it
444 is searched for in the remainder of the @code{#include "@dots{}"} search
447 If multiple @option{-include} options are given, the files are included
448 in the order they appear on the command line.
450 @item -imacros @var{file}
452 Exactly like @option{-include}, except that any output produced by
453 scanning @var{file} is thrown away. Macros it defines remain defined.
454 This allows you to acquire all the macros from a header without also
455 processing its declarations.
457 All files specified by @option{-imacros} are processed before all files
458 specified by @option{-include}.
460 @item -idirafter @var{dir}
462 Search @var{dir} for header files, but do it @emph{after} all
463 directories specified with @option{-I} and the standard system directories
464 have been exhausted. @var{dir} is treated as a system include directory.
466 @item -iprefix @var{prefix}
468 Specify @var{prefix} as the prefix for subsequent @option{-iwithprefix}
469 options. If the prefix represents a directory, you should include the
472 @item -iwithprefix @var{dir}
473 @itemx -iwithprefixbefore @var{dir}
475 @opindex iwithprefixbefore
476 Append @var{dir} to the prefix specified previously with
477 @option{-iprefix}, and add the resulting directory to the include search
478 path. @option{-iwithprefixbefore} puts it in the same place @option{-I}
479 would; @option{-iwithprefix} puts it where @option{-idirafter} would.
481 @item -isysroot @var{dir}
483 This option is like the @option{--sysroot} option, but applies only to
484 header files. See the @option{--sysroot} option for more information.
486 @item -isystem @var{dir}
488 Search @var{dir} for header files, after all directories specified by
489 @option{-I} but before the standard system directories. Mark it
490 as a system directory, so that it gets the same special treatment as
491 is applied to the standard system directories.
493 @xref{System Headers}.
496 @item -cxx-isystem @var{dir}
498 Search @var{dir} for C++ header files, after all directories specified by
499 @option{-I} but before the standard system directories. Mark it
500 as a system directory, so that it gets the same special treatment as
501 is applied to the standard system directories.
503 @xref{System Headers}.
506 @item -iquote @var{dir}
508 Search @var{dir} only for header files requested with
509 @code{@w{#include "@var{file}"}}; they are not searched for
510 @code{@w{#include <@var{file}>}}, before all directories specified by
511 @option{-I} and before the standard system directories.
516 @item -iremap @var{src}:@var{dst}
518 Replace the prefix @var{src} in __FILE__ with @var{dst} at expansion time.
519 This option can be specified more than once. Processing stops at the first
522 @item -fdollars-in-identifiers
523 @opindex fdollars-in-identifiers
524 @anchor{fdollars-in-identifiers}
525 Accept @samp{$} in identifiers.
527 @xref{Identifier characters}.
530 @item -fextended-identifiers
531 @opindex fextended-identifiers
532 Accept universal character names in identifiers. This option is
533 experimental; in a future version of GCC, it will be enabled by
534 default for C99 and C++.
537 @opindex fpreprocessed
538 Indicate to the preprocessor that the input file has already been
539 preprocessed. This suppresses things like macro expansion, trigraph
540 conversion, escaped newline splicing, and processing of most directives.
541 The preprocessor still recognizes and removes comments, so that you can
542 pass a file preprocessed with @option{-C} to the compiler without
543 problems. In this mode the integrated preprocessor is little more than
544 a tokenizer for the front ends.
546 @option{-fpreprocessed} is implicit if the input file has one of the
547 extensions @samp{.i}, @samp{.ii} or @samp{.mi}. These are the
548 extensions that GCC uses for preprocessed files created by
549 @option{-save-temps}.
551 @item -ftabstop=@var{width}
553 Set the distance between tab stops. This helps the preprocessor report
554 correct column numbers in warnings or errors, even if tabs appear on the
555 line. If the value is less than 1 or greater than 100, the option is
556 ignored. The default is 8.
558 @item -fexec-charset=@var{charset}
559 @opindex fexec-charset
560 @cindex character set, execution
561 Set the execution character set, used for string and character
562 constants. The default is UTF-8. @var{charset} can be any encoding
563 supported by the system's @code{iconv} library routine.
565 @item -fwide-exec-charset=@var{charset}
566 @opindex fwide-exec-charset
567 @cindex character set, wide execution
568 Set the wide execution character set, used for wide string and
569 character constants. The default is UTF-32 or UTF-16, whichever
570 corresponds to the width of @code{wchar_t}. As with
571 @option{-fexec-charset}, @var{charset} can be any encoding supported
572 by the system's @code{iconv} library routine; however, you will have
573 problems with encodings that do not fit exactly in @code{wchar_t}.
575 @item -finput-charset=@var{charset}
576 @opindex finput-charset
577 @cindex character set, input
578 Set the input character set, used for translation from the character
579 set of the input file to the source character set used by GCC@. If the
580 locale does not specify, or GCC cannot get this information from the
581 locale, the default is UTF-8. This can be overridden by either the locale
582 or this command line option. Currently the command line option takes
583 precedence if there's a conflict. @var{charset} can be any encoding
584 supported by the system's @code{iconv} library routine.
586 @item -fworking-directory
587 @opindex fworking-directory
588 @opindex fno-working-directory
589 Enable generation of linemarkers in the preprocessor output that will
590 let the compiler know the current working directory at the time of
591 preprocessing. When this option is enabled, the preprocessor will
592 emit, after the initial linemarker, a second linemarker with the
593 current working directory followed by two slashes. GCC will use this
594 directory, when it's present in the preprocessed input, as the
595 directory emitted as the current working directory in some debugging
596 information formats. This option is implicitly enabled if debugging
597 information is enabled, but this can be inhibited with the negated
598 form @option{-fno-working-directory}. If the @option{-P} flag is
599 present in the command line, this option has no effect, since no
600 @code{#line} directives are emitted whatsoever.
602 @item -fno-show-column
603 @opindex fno-show-column
604 Do not print column numbers in diagnostics. This may be necessary if
605 diagnostics are being scanned by a program that does not understand the
606 column numbers, such as @command{dejagnu}.
608 @item -A @var{predicate}=@var{answer}
610 Make an assertion with the predicate @var{predicate} and answer
611 @var{answer}. This form is preferred to the older form @option{-A
612 @var{predicate}(@var{answer})}, which is still supported, because
613 it does not use shell special characters.
618 @item -A -@var{predicate}=@var{answer}
619 Cancel an assertion with the predicate @var{predicate} and answer
623 @var{CHARS} is a sequence of one or more of the following characters,
624 and must not be preceded by a space. Other characters are interpreted
625 by the compiler proper, or reserved for future versions of GCC, and so
626 are silently ignored. If you specify characters whose behavior
627 conflicts, the result is undefined.
632 Instead of the normal output, generate a list of @samp{#define}
633 directives for all the macros defined during the execution of the
634 preprocessor, including predefined macros. This gives you a way of
635 finding out what is predefined in your version of the preprocessor.
636 Assuming you have no file @file{foo.h}, the command
639 touch foo.h; cpp -dM foo.h
643 will show all the predefined macros.
647 Like @samp{M} except in two respects: it does @emph{not} include the
648 predefined macros, and it outputs @emph{both} the @samp{#define}
649 directives and the result of preprocessing. Both kinds of output go to
650 the standard output file.
654 Like @samp{D}, but emit only the macro names, not their expansions.
658 Output @samp{#include} directives in addition to the result of
664 Inhibit generation of linemarkers in the output from the preprocessor.
665 This might be useful when running the preprocessor on something that is
666 not C code, and will be sent to a program which might be confused by the
669 @xref{Preprocessor Output}.
674 Do not discard comments. All comments are passed through to the output
675 file, except for comments in processed directives, which are deleted
676 along with the directive.
678 You should be prepared for side effects when using @option{-C}; it
679 causes the preprocessor to treat comments as tokens in their own right.
680 For example, comments appearing at the start of what would be a
681 directive line have the effect of turning that line into an ordinary
682 source line, since the first token on the line is no longer a @samp{#}.
685 Do not discard comments, including during macro expansion. This is
686 like @option{-C}, except that comments contained within macros are
687 also passed through to the output file where the macro is expanded.
689 In addition to the side-effects of the @option{-C} option, the
690 @option{-CC} option causes all C++-style comments inside a macro
691 to be converted to C-style comments. This is to prevent later use
692 of that macro from inadvertently commenting out the remainder of
695 The @option{-CC} option is generally used to support lint comments.
697 @item -traditional-cpp
698 @opindex traditional-cpp
699 Try to imitate the behavior of old-fashioned C preprocessors, as
700 opposed to ISO C preprocessors.
702 @xref{Traditional Mode}.
707 Process trigraph sequences.
709 @xref{Initial processing}.
712 These are three-character sequences, all starting with @samp{??}, that
713 are defined by ISO C to stand for single characters. For example,
714 @samp{??/} stands for @samp{\}, so @samp{'??/n'} is a character
715 constant for a newline. By default, GCC ignores trigraphs, but in
716 standard-conforming modes it converts them. See the @option{-std} and
717 @option{-ansi} options.
719 The nine trigraphs and their replacements are
722 Trigraph: ??( ??) ??< ??> ??= ??/ ??' ??! ??-
723 Replacement: [ ] @{ @} # \ ^ | ~
729 Enable special code to work around file systems which only permit very
730 short file names, such as MS-DOS@.
736 Print text describing all the command line options instead of
737 preprocessing anything.
741 Verbose mode. Print out GNU CPP's version number at the beginning of
742 execution, and report the final form of the include path.
746 Print the name of each header file used, in addition to other normal
747 activities. Each name is indented to show how deep in the
748 @samp{#include} stack it is. Precompiled header files are also
749 printed, even if they are found to be invalid; an invalid precompiled
750 header file is printed with @samp{...x} and a valid one with @samp{...!} .
755 Print out GNU CPP's version number. With one dash, proceed to
756 preprocess as normal. With two dashes, exit immediately.