This is Info file gcc.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.54 from the input file gcc.texi. This file documents the use and the internals of the GNU compiler. Published by the Free Software Foundation 675 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1992, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the sections entitled "GNU General Public License" and "Protect Your Freedom--Fight `Look And Feel'" are included exactly as in the original, and provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that the sections entitled "GNU General Public License" and "Protect Your Freedom--Fight `Look And Feel'", and this permission notice, may be included in translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the original English. File: gcc.info, Node: VMS Install, Next: Collect2, Prev: Sun Install, Up: Installation Installing GNU CC on VMS ======================== The VMS version of GNU CC is distributed in a backup saveset containing both source code and precompiled binaries. To install the `gcc' command so you can use the compiler easily, in the same manner as you use the VMS C compiler, you must install the VMS CLD file for GNU CC as follows: 1. Define the VMS logical names `GNU_CC' and `GNU_CC_INCLUDE' to point to the directories where the GNU CC executables (`gcc-cpp.exe', `gcc-cc1.exe', etc.) and the C include files are kept respectively. This should be done with the commands: $ assign /system /translation=concealed - disk:[gcc.] gnu_cc $ assign /system /translation=concealed - disk:[gcc.include.] gnu_cc_include with the appropriate disk and directory names. These commands can be placed in your system startup file so they will be executed whenever the machine is rebooted. You may, if you choose, do this via the `GCC_INSTALL.COM' script in the `[GCC]' directory. 2. Install the `GCC' command with the command line: $ set command /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables - /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables gnu_cc:[000000]gcc $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables 3. To install the help file, do the following: $ library/help sys$library:helplib.hlb gcc.hlp Now you can invoke the compiler with a command like `gcc /verbose file.c', which is equivalent to the command `gcc -v -c file.c' in Unix. If you wish to use GNU C++ you must first install GNU CC, and then perform the following steps: 1. Define the VMS logical name `GNU_GXX_INCLUDE' to point to the directory where the preprocessor will search for the C++ header files. This can be done with the command: $ assign /system /translation=concealed - disk:[gcc.gxx_include.] gnu_gxx_include with the appropriate disk and directory name. If you are going to be using libg++, this is where the libg++ install procedure will install the libg++ header files. 2. Obtain the file `gcc-cc1plus.exe', and place this in the same directory that `gcc-cc1.exe' is kept. The GNU C++ compiler can be invoked with a command like `gcc /plus /verbose file.cc', which is equivalent to the command `g++ -v -c file.cc' in Unix. We try to put corresponding binaries and sources on the VMS distribution tape. But sometimes the binaries will be from an older version than the sources, because we don't always have time to update them. (Use the `/version' option to determine the version number of the binaries and compare it with the source file `version.c' to tell whether this is so.) In this case, you should use the binaries you get to recompile the sources. If you must recompile, here is how: 1. Execute the command procedure `vmsconfig.com' to set up the files `tm.h', `config.h', `aux-output.c', and `md.', and to create files `tconfig.h' and `hconfig.h'. This procedure also creates several linker option files used by `make-cc1.com' and a data file used by `make-l2.com'. $ @vmsconfig.com 2. Setup the logical names and command tables as defined above. In addition, define the VMS logical name `GNU_BISON' to point at the to the directories where the Bison executable is kept. This should be done with the command: $ assign /system /translation=concealed - disk:[bison.] gnu_bison You may, if you choose, use the `INSTALL_BISON.COM' script in the `[BISON]' directory. 3. Install the `BISON' command with the command line: $ set command /table=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables - /output=sys$common:[syslib]dcltables - gnu_bison:[000000]bison $ install replace sys$common:[syslib]dcltables 4. Type `@make-gcc' to recompile everything (alternatively, submit the file `make-gcc.com' to a batch queue). If you wish to build the GNU C++ compiler as well as the GNU CC compiler, you must first edit `make-gcc.com' and follow the instructions that appear in the comments. 5. In order to use GCC, you need a library of functions which GCC compiled code will call to perform certain tasks, and these functions are defined in the file `libgcc2.c'. To compile this you should use the command procedure `make-l2.com', which will generate the library `libgcc2.olb'. `libgcc2.olb' should be built using the compiler built from the same distribution that `libgcc2.c' came from, and `make-gcc.com' will automatically do all of this for you. To install the library, use the following commands: $ library gnu_cc:[000000]gcclib/delete=(new,eprintf) $ library gnu_cc:[000000]gcclib/delete=L_* $ library libgcc2/extract=*/output=libgcc2.obj $ library gnu_cc:[000000]gcclib libgcc2.obj The first command simply removes old modules that will be replaced with modules from `libgcc2' under different module names. The modules `new' and `eprintf' may not actually be present in your `gcclib.olb'--if the VMS librarian complains about those modules not being present, simply ignore the message and continue on with the next command. The second command removes the modules that came from the previous version of the library `libgcc2.c'. Whenever you update the compiler on your system, you should also update the library with the above procedure. 6. You may wish to build GCC in such a way that no files are written to the directory where the source files reside. An example would be the when the source files are on a read-only disk. In these cases, execute the following DCL commands (substituting your actual path names): $ assign dua0:[gcc.build_dir.]/translation=concealed, - dua1:[gcc.source_dir.]/translation=concealed gcc_build $ set default gcc_build:[000000] where the directory `dua1:[gcc.source_dir]' contains the source code, and the directory `dua0:[gcc.build_dir]' is meant to contain all of the generated object files and executables. Once you have done this, you can proceed building GCC as described above. (Keep in mind that `gcc_build' is a rooted logical name, and thus the device names in each element of the search list must be an actual physical device name rather than another rooted logical name). 7. *If you are building GNU CC with a previous version of GNU CC, you also should check to see that you have the newest version of the assembler*. In particular, GNU CC version 2 treats global constant variables slightly differently from GNU CC version 1, and GAS version 1.38.1 does not have the patches required to work with GCC version 2. If you use GAS 1.38.1, then `extern const' variables will not have the read-only bit set, and the linker will generate warning messages about mismatched psect attributes for these variables. These warning messages are merely a nuisance, and can safely be ignored. If you are compiling with a version of GNU CC older than 1.33, specify `/DEFINE=("inline=")' as an option in all the compilations. This requires editing all the `gcc' commands in `make-cc1.com'. (The older versions had problems supporting `inline'.) Once you have a working 1.33 or newer GNU CC, you can change this file back. 8. If you want to build GNU CC with the VAX C compiler, you will need to make minor changes in `make-cccp.com' and `make-cc1.com' to choose alternate definitions of `CC', `CFLAGS', and `LIBS'. See comments in those files. However, you must also have a working version of the GNU assembler (GNU as, aka GAS) as it is used as the back-end for GNU CC to produce binary object modules and is not included in the GNU CC sources. GAS is also needed to compile `libgcc2' in order to build `gcclib' (see above); `make-l2.com' expects to be able to find it operational in `gnu_cc:[000000]gnu-as.exe'. To use GNU CC on VMS, you need the VMS driver programs `gcc.exe', `gcc.com', and `gcc.cld'. They are distributed with the VMS binaries (`gcc-vms') rather than the GNU CC sources. GAS is also included in `gcc-vms', as is Bison. Once you have successfully built GNU CC with VAX C, you should use the resulting compiler to rebuild itself. Before doing this, be sure to restore the `CC', `CFLAGS', and `LIBS' definitions in `make-cccp.com' and `make-cc1.com'. The second generation compiler will be able to take advantage of many optimizations that must be suppressed when building with other compilers. Under previous versions of GNU CC, the generated code would occasionally give strange results when linked with the sharable `VAXCRTL' library. Now this should work. Even with this version, however, GNU CC itself should not be linked with the sharable `VAXCRTL'. The version of `qsort' in `VAXCRTL' has a bug (known to be present in VMS versions V4.6 through V5.5) which causes the compiler to fail. The executables are generated by `make-cc1.com' and `make-cccp.com' use the object library version of `VAXCRTL' in order to make use of the `qsort' routine in `gcclib.olb'. If you wish to link the compiler executables with the shareable image version of `VAXCRTL', you should edit the file `tm.h' (created by `vmsconfig.com') to define the macro `QSORT_WORKAROUND'. `QSORT_WORKAROUND' is always defined when GNU CC is compiled with VAX C, to avoid a problem in case `gcclib.olb' is not yet available. File: gcc.info, Node: Collect2, Next: Header Dirs, Prev: VMS Install, Up: Installation `collect2' ========== Many target systems do not have support in the assembler and linker for "constructors"--initialization functions to be called before the official "start" of `main'. On such systems, GNU CC uses a utility called `collect2' to arrange to call these functions at start time. The program `collect2' works by linking the program once and looking through the linker output file for symbols with particular names indicating they are constructor functions. If it finds any, it creates a new temporary `.c' file containing a table of them, compiles it, and links the program a second time including that file. The actual calls to the constructors are carried out by a subroutine called `__main', which is called (automatically) at the beginning of the body of `main' (provided `main' was compiled with GNU CC). Calling `__main' is necessary, even when compiling C code, to allow linking C and C++ object code together. (If you use `-nostdlib', you get an unresolved reference to `__main', since it's defined in the standard GCC library. Include `-lgcc' at the end of your compiler command line to resolve this reference.) The program `collect2' is installed as `ld' in the directory where the passes of the compiler are installed. When `collect2' needs to find the *real* `ld', it tries the following file names: * `real-ld' in the directories listed in the compiler's search directories. * `real-ld' in the directories listed in the environment variable `PATH'. * The file specified in the `REAL_LD_FILE_NAME' configuration macro, if specified. * `ld' in the compiler's search directories, except that `collect2' will not execute itself recursively. * `ld' in `PATH'. "The compiler's search directories" means all the directories where `gcc' searches for passes of the compiler. This includes directories that you specify with `-B'. Cross-compilers search a little differently: * `real-ld' in the compiler's search directories. * `TARGET-real-ld' in `PATH'. * The file specified in the `REAL_LD_FILE_NAME' configuration macro, if specified. * `ld' in the compiler's search directories. * `TARGET-ld' in `PATH'. `collect2' explicitly avoids running `ld' using the file name under which `collect2' itself was invoked. In fact, it remembers up a list of such names--in case one copy of `collect2' finds another copy (or version) of `collect2' installed as `ld' in a second place in the search path. `collect2' searches for the utilities `nm' and `strip' using the same algorithm as above for `ld'. File: gcc.info, Node: Header Dirs, Prev: Collect2, Up: Installation Standard Header File Directories ================================ `GCC_INCLUDE_DIR' means the same thing for native and cross. It is where GNU CC stores its private include files, and also where GNU CC stores the fixed include files. A cross compiled GNU CC runs `fixincludes' on the header files in `$(tooldir)/include'. (If the cross compilation header files need to be fixed, they must be installed before GNU CC is built. If the cross compilation header files are already suitable for ANSI C and GNU CC, nothing special need be done). `GPLUS_INCLUDE_DIR' means the same thing for native and cross. It is where `g++' looks first for header files. `libg++' installs only target independent header files in that directory. `LOCAL_INCLUDE_DIR' is used only for a native compiler. It is normally `/usr/local/include'. GNU CC searches this directory so that users can install header files in `/usr/local/include'. `CROSS_INCLUDE_DIR' is used only for a cross compiler. GNU CC doesn't install anything there. `TOOL_INCLUDE_DIR' is used for both native and cross compilers. It is the place for other packages to install header files that GNU CC will use. For a cross-compiler, this is the equivalent of `/usr/include'. When you build a cross-compiler, `fixincludes' processes any header files in this directory. File: gcc.info, Node: C Extensions, Next: C++ Extensions, Prev: Installation, Up: Top Extensions to the C Language Family *********************************** GNU C provides several language features not found in ANSI standard C. (The `-pedantic' option directs GNU CC to print a warning message if any of these features is used.) To test for the availability of these features in conditional compilation, check for a predefined macro `__GNUC__', which is always defined under GNU CC. These extensions are available in C and in the languages derived from it, C++ and Objective C. *Note Extensions to the C++ Language: C++ Extensions, for extensions that apply *only* to C++. * Menu: * Statement Exprs:: Putting statements and declarations inside expressions. * Local Labels:: Labels local to a statement-expression. * Labels as Values:: Getting pointers to labels, and computed gotos. * Nested Functions:: As in Algol and Pascal, lexical scoping of functions. * Constructing Calls:: Dispatching a call to another function. * Naming Types:: Giving a name to the type of some expression. * Typeof:: `typeof': referring to the type of an expression. * Lvalues:: Using `?:', `,' and casts in lvalues. * Conditionals:: Omitting the middle operand of a `?:' expression. * Long Long:: Double-word integers--`long long int'. * Complex:: Data types for complex numbers. * Zero Length:: Zero-length arrays. * Variable Length:: Arrays whose length is computed at run time. * Macro Varargs:: Macros with variable number of arguments. * Subscripting:: Any array can be subscripted, even if not an lvalue. * Pointer Arith:: Arithmetic on `void'-pointers and function pointers. * Initializers:: Non-constant initializers. * Constructors:: Constructor expressions give structures, unions or arrays as values. * Labeled Elements:: Labeling elements of initializers. * Cast to Union:: Casting to union type from any member of the union. * Case Ranges:: `case 1 ... 9' and such. * Function Attributes:: Declaring that functions have no side effects, or that they can never return. * Function Prototypes:: Prototype declarations and old-style definitions. * Dollar Signs:: Dollar sign is allowed in identifiers. * Character Escapes:: `\e' stands for the character ESC. * Variable Attributes:: Specifying attributes of variables. * Alignment:: Inquiring about the alignment of a type or variable. * Inline:: Defining inline functions (as fast as macros). * Extended Asm:: Assembler instructions with C expressions as operands. (With them you can define "built-in" functions.) * Asm Labels:: Specifying the assembler name to use for a C symbol. * Explicit Reg Vars:: Defining variables residing in specified registers. * Alternate Keywords:: `__const__', `__asm__', etc., for header files. * Incomplete Enums:: `enum foo;', with details to follow. * Function Names:: Printable strings which are the name of the current function. File: gcc.info, Node: Statement Exprs, Next: Local Labels, Up: C Extensions Statements and Declarations in Expressions ========================================== A compound statement enclosed in parentheses may appear as an expression in GNU C. This allows you to use loops, switches, and local variables within an expression. Recall that a compound statement is a sequence of statements surrounded by braces; in this construct, parentheses go around the braces. For example: ({ int y = foo (); int z; if (y > 0) z = y; else z = - y; z; }) is a valid (though slightly more complex than necessary) expression for the absolute value of `foo ()'. The last thing in the compound statement should be an expression followed by a semicolon; the value of this subexpression serves as the value of the entire construct. (If you use some other kind of statement last within the braces, the construct has type `void', and thus effectively no value.) This feature is especially useful in making macro definitions "safe" (so that they evaluate each operand exactly once). For example, the "maximum" function is commonly defined as a macro in standard C as follows: #define max(a,b) ((a) > (b) ? (a) : (b)) But this definition computes either A or B twice, with bad results if the operand has side effects. In GNU C, if you know the type of the operands (here let's assume `int'), you can define the macro safely as follows: #define maxint(a,b) \ ({int _a = (a), _b = (b); _a > _b ? _a : _b; }) Embedded statements are not allowed in constant expressions, such as the value of an enumeration constant, the width of a bit field, or the initial value of a static variable. If you don't know the type of the operand, you can still do this, but you must use `typeof' (*note Typeof::.) or type naming (*note Naming Types::.). File: gcc.info, Node: Local Labels, Next: Labels as Values, Prev: Statement Exprs, Up: C Extensions Locally Declared Labels ======================= Each statement expression is a scope in which "local labels" can be declared. A local label is simply an identifier; you can jump to it with an ordinary `goto' statement, but only from within the statement expression it belongs to. A local label declaration looks like this: __label__ LABEL; __label__ LABEL1, LABEL2, ...; Local label declarations must come at the beginning of the statement expression, right after the `({', before any ordinary declarations. The label declaration defines the label *name*, but does not define the label itself. You must do this in the usual way, with `LABEL:', within the statements of the statement expression. The local label feature is useful because statement expressions are often used in macros. If the macro contains nested loops, a `goto' can be useful for breaking out of them. However, an ordinary label whose scope is the whole function cannot be used: if the macro can be expanded several times in one function, the label will be multiply defined in that function. A local label avoids this problem. For example: #define SEARCH(array, target) \ ({ \ __label__ found; \ typeof (target) _SEARCH_target = (target); \ typeof (*(array)) *_SEARCH_array = (array); \ int i, j; \ int value; \ for (i = 0; i < max; i++) \ for (j = 0; j < max; j++) \ if (_SEARCH_array[i][j] == _SEARCH_target) \ { value = i; goto found; } \ value = -1; \ found: \ value; \ }) File: gcc.info, Node: Labels as Values, Next: Nested Functions, Prev: Local Labels, Up: C Extensions Labels as Values ================ You can get the address of a label defined in the current function (or a containing function) with the unary operator `&&'. The value has type `void *'. This value is a constant and can be used wherever a constant of that type is valid. For example: void *ptr; ... ptr = &&foo; To use these values, you need to be able to jump to one. This is done with the computed goto statement(1), `goto *EXP;'. For example, goto *ptr; Any expression of type `void *' is allowed. One way of using these constants is in initializing a static array that will serve as a jump table: static void *array[] = { &&foo, &&bar, &&hack }; Then you can select a label with indexing, like this: goto *array[i]; Note that this does not check whether the subscript is in bounds--array indexing in C never does that. Such an array of label values serves a purpose much like that of the `switch' statement. The `switch' statement is cleaner, so use that rather than an array unless the problem does not fit a `switch' statement very well. Another use of label values is in an interpreter for threaded code. The labels within the interpreter function can be stored in the threaded code for super-fast dispatching. You can use this mechanism to jump to code in a different function. If you do that, totally unpredictable things will happen. The best way to avoid this is to store the label address only in automatic variables and never pass it as an argument. ---------- Footnotes ---------- (1) The analogous feature in Fortran is called an assigned goto, but that name seems inappropriate in C, where one can do more than simply store label addresses in label variables. File: gcc.info, Node: Nested Functions, Next: Constructing Calls, Prev: Labels as Values, Up: C Extensions Nested Functions ================ A "nested function" is a function defined inside another function. (Nested functions are not supported for GNU C++.) The nested function's name is local to the block where it is defined. For example, here we define a nested function named `square', and call it twice: foo (double a, double b) { double square (double z) { return z * z; } return square (a) + square (b); } The nested function can access all the variables of the containing function that are visible at the point of its definition. This is called "lexical scoping". For example, here we show a nested function which uses an inherited variable named `offset': bar (int *array, int offset, int size) { int access (int *array, int index) { return array[index + offset]; } int i; ... for (i = 0; i < size; i++) ... access (array, i) ... } Nested function definitions are permitted within functions in the places where variable definitions are allowed; that is, in any block, before the first statement in the block. It is possible to call the nested function from outside the scope of its name by storing its address or passing the address to another function: hack (int *array, int size) { void store (int index, int value) { array[index] = value; } intermediate (store, size); } Here, the function `intermediate' receives the address of `store' as an argument. If `intermediate' calls `store', the arguments given to `store' are used to store into `array'. But this technique works only so long as the containing function (`hack', in this example) does not exit. If you try to call the nested function through its address after the containing function has exited, all hell will break loose. If you try to call it after a containing scope level has exited, and if it refers to some of the variables that are no longer in scope, you may be lucky, but it's not wise to take the risk. If, however, the nested function does not refer to anything that has gone out of scope, you should be safe. GNU CC implements taking the address of a nested function using a technique called "trampolines". A paper describing them is available from `maya.idiap.ch' in directory `pub/tmb', file `usenix88-lexic.ps.Z'. A nested function can jump to a label inherited from a containing function, provided the label was explicitly declared in the containing function (*note Local Labels::.). Such a jump returns instantly to the containing function, exiting the nested function which did the `goto' and any intermediate functions as well. Here is an example: bar (int *array, int offset, int size) { __label__ failure; int access (int *array, int index) { if (index > size) goto failure; return array[index + offset]; } int i; ... for (i = 0; i < size; i++) ... access (array, i) ... ... return 0; /* Control comes here from `access' if it detects an error. */ failure: return -1; } A nested function always has internal linkage. Declaring one with `extern' is erroneous. If you need to declare the nested function before its definition, use `auto' (which is otherwise meaningless for function declarations). bar (int *array, int offset, int size) { __label__ failure; auto int access (int *, int); ... int access (int *array, int index) { if (index > size) goto failure; return array[index + offset]; } ... } File: gcc.info, Node: Constructing Calls, Next: Naming Types, Prev: Nested Functions, Up: C Extensions Constructing Function Calls =========================== Using the built-in functions described below, you can record the arguments a function received, and call another function with the same arguments, without knowing the number or types of the arguments. You can also record the return value of that function call, and later return that value, without knowing what data type the function tried to return (as long as your caller expects that data type). `__builtin_apply_args ()' This built-in function returns a pointer of type `void *' to data describing how to perform a call with the same arguments as were passed to the current function. The function saves the arg pointer register, structure value address, and all registers that might be used to pass arguments to a function into a block of memory allocated on the stack. Then it returns the address of that block. `__builtin_apply (FUNCTION, ARGUMENTS, SIZE)' This built-in function invokes FUNCTION (type `void (*)()') with a copy of the parameters described by ARGUMENTS (type `void *') and SIZE (type `int'). The value of ARGUMENTS should be the value returned by `__builtin_apply_args'. The argument SIZE specifies the size of the stack argument data, in bytes. This function returns a pointer of type `void *' to data describing how to return whatever value was returned by FUNCTION. The data is saved in a block of memory allocated on the stack. It is not always simple to compute the proper value for SIZE. The value is used by `__builtin_apply' to compute the amount of data that should be pushed on the stack and copied from the incoming argument area. `__builtin_return (RESULT)' This built-in function returns the value described by RESULT from the containing function. You should specify, for RESULT, a value returned by `__builtin_apply'. File: gcc.info, Node: Naming Types, Next: Typeof, Prev: Constructing Calls, Up: C Extensions Naming an Expression's Type =========================== You can give a name to the type of an expression using a `typedef' declaration with an initializer. Here is how to define NAME as a type name for the type of EXP: typedef NAME = EXP; This is useful in conjunction with the statements-within-expressions feature. Here is how the two together can be used to define a safe "maximum" macro that operates on any arithmetic type: #define max(a,b) \ ({typedef _ta = (a), _tb = (b); \ _ta _a = (a); _tb _b = (b); \ _a > _b ? _a : _b; }) The reason for using names that start with underscores for the local variables is to avoid conflicts with variable names that occur within the expressions that are substituted for `a' and `b'. Eventually we hope to design a new form of declaration syntax that allows you to declare variables whose scopes start only after their initializers; this will be a more reliable way to prevent such conflicts. File: gcc.info, Node: Typeof, Next: Lvalues, Prev: Naming Types, Up: C Extensions Referring to a Type with `typeof' ================================= Another way to refer to the type of an expression is with `typeof'. The syntax of using of this keyword looks like `sizeof', but the construct acts semantically like a type name defined with `typedef'. There are two ways of writing the argument to `typeof': with an expression or with a type. Here is an example with an expression: typeof (x[0](1)) This assumes that `x' is an array of functions; the type described is that of the values of the functions. Here is an example with a typename as the argument: typeof (int *) Here the type described is that of pointers to `int'. If you are writing a header file that must work when included in ANSI C programs, write `__typeof__' instead of `typeof'. *Note Alternate Keywords::. A `typeof'-construct can be used anywhere a typedef name could be used. For example, you can use it in a declaration, in a cast, or inside of `sizeof' or `typeof'. * This declares `y' with the type of what `x' points to. typeof (*x) y; * This declares `y' as an array of such values. typeof (*x) y[4]; * This declares `y' as an array of pointers to characters: typeof (typeof (char *)[4]) y; It is equivalent to the following traditional C declaration: char *y[4]; To see the meaning of the declaration using `typeof', and why it might be a useful way to write, let's rewrite it with these macros: #define pointer(T) typeof(T *) #define array(T, N) typeof(T [N]) Now the declaration can be rewritten this way: array (pointer (char), 4) y; Thus, `array (pointer (char), 4)' is the type of arrays of 4 pointers to `char'. File: gcc.info, Node: Lvalues, Next: Conditionals, Prev: Typeof, Up: C Extensions Generalized Lvalues =================== Compound expressions, conditional expressions and casts are allowed as lvalues provided their operands are lvalues. This means that you can take their addresses or store values into them. For example, a compound expression can be assigned, provided the last expression in the sequence is an lvalue. These two expressions are equivalent: (a, b) += 5 a, (b += 5) Similarly, the address of the compound expression can be taken. These two expressions are equivalent: &(a, b) a, &b A conditional expression is a valid lvalue if its type is not void and the true and false branches are both valid lvalues. For example, these two expressions are equivalent: (a ? b : c) = 5 (a ? b = 5 : (c = 5)) A cast is a valid lvalue if its operand is an lvalue. A simple assignment whose left-hand side is a cast works by converting the right-hand side first to the specified type, then to the type of the inner left-hand side expression. After this is stored, the value is converted back to the specified type to become the value of the assignment. Thus, if `a' has type `char *', the following two expressions are equivalent: (int)a = 5 (int)(a = (char *)(int)5) An assignment-with-arithmetic operation such as `+=' applied to a cast performs the arithmetic using the type resulting from the cast, and then continues as in the previous case. Therefore, these two expressions are equivalent: (int)a += 5 (int)(a = (char *)(int) ((int)a + 5)) You cannot take the address of an lvalue cast, because the use of its address would not work out coherently. Suppose that `&(int)f' were permitted, where `f' has type `float'. Then the following statement would try to store an integer bit-pattern where a floating point number belongs: *&(int)f = 1; This is quite different from what `(int)f = 1' would do--that would convert 1 to floating point and store it. Rather than cause this inconsistency, we think it is better to prohibit use of `&' on a cast. If you really do want an `int *' pointer with the address of `f', you can simply write `(int *)&f'. File: gcc.info, Node: Conditionals, Next: Long Long, Prev: Lvalues, Up: C Extensions Conditionals with Omitted Operands ================================== The middle operand in a conditional expression may be omitted. Then if the first operand is nonzero, its value is the value of the conditional expression. Therefore, the expression x ? : y has the value of `x' if that is nonzero; otherwise, the value of `y'. This example is perfectly equivalent to x ? x : y In this simple case, the ability to omit the middle operand is not especially useful. When it becomes useful is when the first operand does, or may (if it is a macro argument), contain a side effect. Then repeating the operand in the middle would perform the side effect twice. Omitting the middle operand uses the value already computed without the undesirable effects of recomputing it. File: gcc.info, Node: Long Long, Next: Complex, Prev: Conditionals, Up: C Extensions Double-Word Integers ==================== GNU C supports data types for integers that are twice as long as `long int'. Simply write `long long int' for a signed integer, or `unsigned long long int' for an unsigned integer. To make an integer constant of type `long long int', add the suffix `LL' to the integer. To make an integer constant of type `unsigned long long int', add the suffix `ULL' to the integer. You can use these types in arithmetic like any other integer types. Addition, subtraction, and bitwise boolean operations on these types are open-coded on all types of machines. Multiplication is open-coded if the machine supports fullword-to-doubleword a widening multiply instruction. Division and shifts are open-coded only on machines that provide special support. The operations that are not open-coded use special library routines that come with GNU CC. There may be pitfalls when you use `long long' types for function arguments, unless you declare function prototypes. If a function expects type `int' for its argument, and you pass a value of type `long long int', confusion will result because the caller and the subroutine will disagree about the number of bytes for the argument. Likewise, if the function expects `long long int' and you pass `int'. The best way to avoid such problems is to use prototypes. File: gcc.info, Node: Complex, Next: Zero Length, Prev: Long Long, Up: C Extensions Complex Numbers =============== GNU C supports complex data types. You can declare both complex integer types and complex floating types, using the keyword `__complex__'. For example, `__complex__ double x;' declares `x' as a variable whose real part and imaginary part are both of type `double'. `__complex__ short int y;' declares `y' to have real and imaginary parts of type `short int'; this is not likely to be useful, but it shows that the set of complex types is complete. To write a constant with a complex data type, use the suffix `i' or `j' (either one; they are equivalent). For example, `2.5fi' has type `__complex__ float' and `3i' has type `__complex__ int'. Such a constant always has a pure imaginary value, but you can form any complex value you like by adding one to a real constant. To extract the real part of a complex-valued expression EXP, write `__real__ EXP'. Likewise, use `__imag__' to extract the imaginary part. The operator `~' performs complex conjugation when used on a value with a complex type. GNU CC can allocate complex automatic variables in a noncontiguous fashion; it's even possible for the real part to be in a register while the imaginary part is on the stack (or vice-versa). None of the supported debugging info formats has a way to represent noncontiguous allocation like this, so GNU CC describes a noncontiguous complex variable as if it were two separate variables of noncomplex type. If the variable's actual name is `foo', the two fictitious variables are named `foo$real' and `foo$imag'. You can examine and set these two fictitious variables with your debugger. A future version of GDB will know how to recognize such pairs and treat them as a single variable with a complex type. File: gcc.info, Node: Zero Length, Next: Variable Length, Prev: Complex, Up: C Extensions Arrays of Length Zero ===================== Zero-length arrays are allowed in GNU C. They are very useful as the last element of a structure which is really a header for a variable-length object: struct line { int length; char contents[0]; }; { struct line *thisline = (struct line *) malloc (sizeof (struct line) + this_length); thisline->length = this_length; } In standard C, you would have to give `contents' a length of 1, which means either you waste space or complicate the argument to `malloc'. File: gcc.info, Node: Variable Length, Next: Macro Varargs, Prev: Zero Length, Up: C Extensions Arrays of Variable Length ========================= Variable-length automatic arrays are allowed in GNU C. These arrays are declared like any other automatic arrays, but with a length that is not a constant expression. The storage is allocated at the point of declaration and deallocated when the brace-level is exited. For example: FILE * concat_fopen (char *s1, char *s2, char *mode) { char str[strlen (s1) + strlen (s2) + 1]; strcpy (str, s1); strcat (str, s2); return fopen (str, mode); } Jumping or breaking out of the scope of the array name deallocates the storage. Jumping into the scope is not allowed; you get an error message for it. You can use the function `alloca' to get an effect much like variable-length arrays. The function `alloca' is available in many other C implementations (but not in all). On the other hand, variable-length arrays are more elegant. There are other differences between these two methods. Space allocated with `alloca' exists until the containing *function* returns. The space for a variable-length array is deallocated as soon as the array name's scope ends. (If you use both variable-length arrays and `alloca' in the same function, deallocation of a variable-length array will also deallocate anything more recently allocated with `alloca'.) You can also use variable-length arrays as arguments to functions: struct entry tester (int len, char data[len][len]) { ... } The length of an array is computed once when the storage is allocated and is remembered for the scope of the array in case you access it with `sizeof'. If you want to pass the array first and the length afterward, you can use a forward declaration in the parameter list--another GNU extension. struct entry tester (int len; char data[len][len], int len) { ... } The `int len' before the semicolon is a "parameter forward declaration", and it serves the purpose of making the name `len' known when the declaration of `data' is parsed. You can write any number of such parameter forward declarations in the parameter list. They can be separated by commas or semicolons, but the last one must end with a semicolon, which is followed by the "real" parameter declarations. Each forward declaration must match a "real" declaration in parameter name and data type. File: gcc.info, Node: Macro Varargs, Next: Subscripting, Prev: Variable Length, Up: C Extensions Macros with Variable Numbers of Arguments ========================================= In GNU C, a macro can accept a variable number of arguments, much as a function can. The syntax for defining the macro looks much like that used for a function. Here is an example: #define eprintf(format, args...) \ fprintf (stderr, format , ## args) Here `args' is a "rest argument": it takes in zero or more arguments, as many as the call contains. All of them plus the commas between them form the value of `args', which is substituted into the macro body where `args' is used. Thus, we have this expansion: eprintf ("%s:%d: ", input_file_name, line_number) ==> fprintf (stderr, "%s:%d: " , input_file_name, line_number) Note that the comma after the string constant comes from the definition of `eprintf', whereas the last comma comes from the value of `args'. The reason for using `##' is to handle the case when `args' matches no arguments at all. In this case, `args' has an empty value. In this case, the second comma in the definition becomes an embarrassment: if it got through to the expansion of the macro, we would get something like this: fprintf (stderr, "success!\n" , ) which is invalid C syntax. `##' gets rid of the comma, so we get the following instead: fprintf (stderr, "success!\n") This is a special feature of the GNU C preprocessor: `##' before a rest argument that is empty discards the preceding sequence of non-whitespace characters from the macro definition. (If another macro argument precedes, none of it is discarded.) It might be better to discard the last preprocessor token instead of the last preceding sequence of non-whitespace characters; in fact, we may someday change this feature to do so. We advise you to write the macro definition so that the preceding sequence of non-whitespace characters is just a single token, so that the meaning will not change if we change the definition of this feature. File: gcc.info, Node: Subscripting, Next: Pointer Arith, Prev: Macro Varargs, Up: C Extensions Non-Lvalue Arrays May Have Subscripts ===================================== Subscripting is allowed on arrays that are not lvalues, even though the unary `&' operator is not. For example, this is valid in GNU C though not valid in other C dialects: struct foo {int a[4];}; struct foo f(); bar (int index) { return f().a[index]; } File: gcc.info, Node: Pointer Arith, Next: Initializers, Prev: Subscripting, Up: C Extensions Arithmetic on `void'- and Function-Pointers =========================================== In GNU C, addition and subtraction operations are supported on pointers to `void' and on pointers to functions. This is done by treating the size of a `void' or of a function as 1. A consequence of this is that `sizeof' is also allowed on `void' and on function types, and returns 1. The option `-Wpointer-arith' requests a warning if these extensions are used. File: gcc.info, Node: Initializers, Next: Constructors, Prev: Pointer Arith, Up: C Extensions Non-Constant Initializers ========================= The elements of an aggregate initializer for an automatic variable are not required to be constant expressions in GNU C. Here is an example of an initializer with run-time varying elements: foo (float f, float g) { float beat_freqs[2] = { f-g, f+g }; ... } File: gcc.info, Node: Constructors, Next: Labeled Elements, Prev: Initializers, Up: C Extensions Constructor Expressions ======================= GNU C supports constructor expressions. A constructor looks like a cast containing an initializer. Its value is an object of the type specified in the cast, containing the elements specified in the initializer. Usually, the specified type is a structure. Assume that `struct foo' and `structure' are declared as shown: struct foo {int a; char b[2];} structure; Here is an example of constructing a `struct foo' with a constructor: structure = ((struct foo) {x + y, 'a', 0}); This is equivalent to writing the following: { struct foo temp = {x + y, 'a', 0}; structure = temp; } You can also construct an array. If all the elements of the constructor are (made up of) simple constant expressions, suitable for use in initializers, then the constructor is an lvalue and can be coerced to a pointer to its first element, as shown here: char **foo = (char *[]) { "x", "y", "z" }; Array constructors whose elements are not simple constants are not very useful, because the constructor is not an lvalue. There are only two valid ways to use it: to subscript it, or initialize an array variable with it. The former is probably slower than a `switch' statement, while the latter does the same thing an ordinary C initializer would do. Here is an example of subscripting an array constructor: output = ((int[]) { 2, x, 28 }) [input]; Constructor expressions for scalar types and union types are is also allowed, but then the constructor expression is equivalent to a cast. File: gcc.info, Node: Labeled Elements, Next: Cast to Union, Prev: Constructors, Up: C Extensions Labeled Elements in Initializers ================================ Standard C requires the elements of an initializer to appear in a fixed order, the same as the order of the elements in the array or structure being initialized. In GNU C you can give the elements in any order, specifying the array indices or structure field names they apply to. To specify an array index, write `[INDEX]' or `[INDEX] =' before the element value. For example, int a[6] = { [4] 29, [2] = 15 }; is equivalent to int a[6] = { 0, 0, 15, 0, 29, 0 }; The index values must be constant expressions, even if the array being initialized is automatic. To initialize a range of elements to the same value, write `[FIRST ... LAST] = VALUE'. For example, int widths[] = { [0 ... 9] = 1, [10 ... 99] = 2, [100] = 3 }; Note that the length of the array is the highest value specified plus In a structure initializer, specify the name of a field to initialize with `FIELDNAME:' before the element value. For example, given the following structure, struct point { int x, y; }; the following initialization struct point p = { y: yvalue, x: xvalue }; is equivalent to struct point p = { xvalue, yvalue }; Another syntax which has the same meaning is `.FIELDNAME ='., as shown here: struct point p = { .y = yvalue, .x = xvalue }; You can also use an element label (with either the colon syntax or the period-equal syntax) when initializing a union, to specify which element of the union should be used. For example, union foo { int i; double d; }; union foo f = { d: 4 }; will convert 4 to a `double' to store it in the union using the second element. By contrast, casting 4 to type `union foo' would store it into the union as the integer `i', since it is an integer. (*Note Cast to Union::.) You can combine this technique of naming elements with ordinary C initialization of successive elements. Each initializer element that does not have a label applies to the next consecutive element of the array or structure. For example, int a[6] = { [1] = v1, v2, [4] = v4 }; is equivalent to int a[6] = { 0, v1, v2, 0, v4, 0 }; Labeling the elements of an array initializer is especially useful when the indices are characters or belong to an `enum' type. For example: int whitespace[256] = { [' '] = 1, ['\t'] = 1, ['\h'] = 1, ['\f'] = 1, ['\n'] = 1, ['\r'] = 1 };