Swallowing-the-Semicolon.html 6.5 KB

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  68. <a name="Swallowing-the-Semicolon-1"></a>
  69. <h4 class="subsection">3.10.3 Swallowing the Semicolon</h4>
  70. <a name="index-semicolons-_0028after-macro-calls_0029"></a>
  71. <p>Often it is desirable to define a macro that expands into a compound
  72. statement. Consider, for example, the following macro, that advances a
  73. pointer (the argument <code>p</code> says where to find it) across whitespace
  74. characters:
  75. </p>
  76. <div class="smallexample">
  77. <pre class="smallexample">#define SKIP_SPACES(p, limit) \
  78. { char *lim = (limit); \
  79. while (p &lt; lim) { \
  80. if (*p++ != ' ') { \
  81. p--; break; }}}
  82. </pre></div>
  83. <p>Here backslash-newline is used to split the macro definition, which must
  84. be a single logical line, so that it resembles the way such code would
  85. be laid out if not part of a macro definition.
  86. </p>
  87. <p>A call to this macro might be <code>SKIP_SPACES (p, lim)</code>. Strictly
  88. speaking, the call expands to a compound statement, which is a complete
  89. statement with no need for a semicolon to end it. However, since it
  90. looks like a function call, it minimizes confusion if you can use it
  91. like a function call, writing a semicolon afterward, as in
  92. <code>SKIP_SPACES (p, lim);</code>
  93. </p>
  94. <p>This can cause trouble before <code>else</code> statements, because the
  95. semicolon is actually a null statement. Suppose you write
  96. </p>
  97. <div class="smallexample">
  98. <pre class="smallexample">if (*p != 0)
  99. SKIP_SPACES (p, lim);
  100. else &hellip;
  101. </pre></div>
  102. <p>The presence of two statements&mdash;the compound statement and a null
  103. statement&mdash;in between the <code>if</code> condition and the <code>else</code>
  104. makes invalid C code.
  105. </p>
  106. <p>The definition of the macro <code>SKIP_SPACES</code> can be altered to solve
  107. this problem, using a <code>do &hellip; while</code> statement. Here is how:
  108. </p>
  109. <div class="smallexample">
  110. <pre class="smallexample">#define SKIP_SPACES(p, limit) \
  111. do { char *lim = (limit); \
  112. while (p &lt; lim) { \
  113. if (*p++ != ' ') { \
  114. p--; break; }}} \
  115. while (0)
  116. </pre></div>
  117. <p>Now <code>SKIP_SPACES (p, lim);</code> expands into
  118. </p>
  119. <div class="smallexample">
  120. <pre class="smallexample">do {&hellip;} while (0);
  121. </pre></div>
  122. <p>which is one statement. The loop executes exactly once; most compilers
  123. generate no extra code for it.
  124. </p>
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