C preprocessor library

Question

I have a task of developing source analysis tool for C programs, and I need to pre-process code before the analysis itself. I was wondering what is the best library for this. I need something light-weight and portable.

rid · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-26 19:58:12Z

5

Instead of rolling out your own, why not use cpp that's part of the gcc suite: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.6.1/cpp/

CPP(1)                                GNU                               CPP(1)

NAME
       cpp - The C Preprocessor

SYNOPSIS
       cpp [-Dmacro[=defn]...] [-Umacro]
           [-Idir...] [-iquotedir...]
           [-Wwarn...]
           [-M|-MM] [-MG] [-MF filename]
           [-MP] [-MQ target...]
           [-MT target...]
           [-P] [-fno-working-directory]
           [-x language] [-std=standard]
           infile outfile

       Only the most useful options are listed here; see below for the
       remainder.

DESCRIPTION
       The C preprocessor, often known as cpp, is a macro processor that is
       used automatically by the C compiler to transform your program before
       compilation.  It is called a macro processor because it allows you to
       define macros, which are brief abbreviations for longer constructs.

edited Jul 26, 2011 at 19:58

rid

64k31 gold badges159 silver badges201 bronze badges

answered Jul 26, 2011 at 19:55

NPE

503k114 gold badges970 silver badges1k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Kijan Over a year ago

This was also my basic idea, but i was wondering if there was any way to do it, without using cpp.

Brian Gerard Over a year ago

I guess I'm left wondering why you would need to do it without using cpp. Ie - there exists a mature solution for the problem you posed. What is it about that solution that is insufficient to the task?

Kijan Over a year ago

I was just wondering if there was a way to do it, other than cpp, maybe something more efficient. Anyway, i will probably use cpp, because of its portability.

sigjuice Over a year ago

@Kijan what part of your cpp did you find inefficient?

Jordan Over a year ago

Regardless of efficiency, using a C preprocessor as a library from inside another application is a legitimate use-case. Let's say I get a C file as a buffer and I want to preprocess it. Writing it to a file and calling a command-line tool on it is way overkill.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

C preprocessor library

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related