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- <a name="Variadic-Macros"></a>
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- Next: <a href="Predefined-Macros.html#Predefined-Macros" accesskey="n" rel="next">Predefined Macros</a>, Previous: <a href="Concatenation.html#Concatenation" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Concatenation</a>, Up: <a href="Macros.html#Macros" accesskey="u" rel="up">Macros</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index-of-Directives.html#Index-of-Directives" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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- <a name="Variadic-Macros-1"></a>
- <h3 class="section">3.6 Variadic Macros</h3>
- <a name="index-variable-number-of-arguments"></a>
- <a name="index-macros-with-variable-arguments"></a>
- <a name="index-variadic-macros"></a>
- <p>A macro can be declared to accept a variable number of arguments much as
- a function can. The syntax for defining the macro is similar to that of
- a function. Here is an example:
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">#define eprintf(…) fprintf (stderr, __VA_ARGS__)
- </pre></div>
- <p>This kind of macro is called <em>variadic</em>. When the macro is invoked,
- all the tokens in its argument list after the last named argument (this
- macro has none), including any commas, become the <em>variable
- argument</em>. This sequence of tokens replaces the identifier
- <code><span class="nolinebreak">__VA_ARGS__</span><!-- /@w --></code> in the macro body wherever it appears. Thus, we
- have this expansion:
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">eprintf ("%s:%d: ", input_file, lineno)
- → fprintf (stderr, "%s:%d: ", input_file, lineno)
- </pre></div>
- <p>The variable argument is completely macro-expanded before it is inserted
- into the macro expansion, just like an ordinary argument. You may use
- the ‘<samp>#</samp>’ and ‘<samp>##</samp>’ operators to stringize the variable argument
- or to paste its leading or trailing token with another token. (But see
- below for an important special case for ‘<samp>##</samp>’.)
- </p>
- <p>If your macro is complicated, you may want a more descriptive name for
- the variable argument than <code><span class="nolinebreak">__VA_ARGS__</span><!-- /@w --></code>. CPP permits
- this, as an extension. You may write an argument name immediately
- before the ‘<samp>…</samp>’; that name is used for the variable argument.
- The <code>eprintf</code> macro above could be written
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">#define eprintf(args…) fprintf (stderr, args)
- </pre></div>
- <p>using this extension. You cannot use <code><span class="nolinebreak">__VA_ARGS__</span><!-- /@w --></code> and this
- extension in the same macro.
- </p>
- <p>You can have named arguments as well as variable arguments in a variadic
- macro. We could define <code>eprintf</code> like this, instead:
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">#define eprintf(format, …) fprintf (stderr, format, __VA_ARGS__)
- </pre></div>
- <p>This formulation looks more descriptive, but unfortunately it is less
- flexible: you must now supply at least one argument after the format
- string. In standard C, you cannot omit the comma separating the named
- argument from the variable arguments. Furthermore, if you leave the
- variable argument empty, you will get a syntax error, because
- there will be an extra comma after the format string.
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">eprintf("success!\n", );
- → fprintf(stderr, "success!\n", );
- </pre></div>
- <p>GNU CPP has a pair of extensions which deal with this problem. First,
- you are allowed to leave the variable argument out entirely:
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">eprintf ("success!\n")
- → fprintf(stderr, "success!\n", );
- </pre></div>
- <p>Second, the ‘<samp>##</samp>’ token paste operator has a special meaning when
- placed between a comma and a variable argument. If you write
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">#define eprintf(format, …) fprintf (stderr, format, ##__VA_ARGS__)
- </pre></div>
- <p>and the variable argument is left out when the <code>eprintf</code> macro is
- used, then the comma before the ‘<samp>##</samp>’ will be deleted. This does
- <em>not</em> happen if you pass an empty argument, nor does it happen if
- the token preceding ‘<samp>##</samp>’ is anything other than a comma.
- </p>
- <div class="smallexample">
- <pre class="smallexample">eprintf ("success!\n")
- → fprintf(stderr, "success!\n");
- </pre></div>
- <p>The above explanation is ambiguous about the case where the only macro
- parameter is a variable arguments parameter, as it is meaningless to
- try to distinguish whether no argument at all is an empty argument or
- a missing argument.
- CPP retains the comma when conforming to a specific C
- standard. Otherwise the comma is dropped as an extension to the standard.
- </p>
- <p>The C standard
- mandates that the only place the identifier <code><span class="nolinebreak">__VA_ARGS__</span><!-- /@w --></code>
- can appear is in the replacement list of a variadic macro. It may not
- be used as a macro name, macro argument name, or within a different type
- of macro. It may also be forbidden in open text; the standard is
- ambiguous. We recommend you avoid using it except for its defined
- purpose.
- </p>
- <p>Variadic macros became a standard part of the C language with C99.
- GNU CPP previously supported them
- with a named variable argument
- (‘<samp>args…</samp>’, not ‘<samp>…</samp>’ and <code><span class="nolinebreak">__VA_ARGS__</span><!-- /@w --></code>), which
- is still supported for backward compatibility.
- </p>
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- <p>
- Next: <a href="Predefined-Macros.html#Predefined-Macros" accesskey="n" rel="next">Predefined Macros</a>, Previous: <a href="Concatenation.html#Concatenation" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Concatenation</a>, Up: <a href="Macros.html#Macros" accesskey="u" rel="up">Macros</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index-of-Directives.html#Index-of-Directives" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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