When compiling C in VScode, launch: program '' does not exist - c

Question

I am a beginner in C.
When I pressed F5(which execute (Windows) Launch) to run the code, I have got this error.
Here are what my explorer looks like and my launch.json and tasks.json.
├─.vscode
│ ├─launch.json
│ ├─tasks.json
├─hello.c
├─hello.exe
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "echo",
"type": "shell",
"command": "gcc",
"args": [
"-g",
"${file}",
"-o",
"${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
"-fexec-charset=GBK"
]
}
],
"presentation": {
"echo": true,
"reveal": "always",
"focus": false,
"panel": "new",
"showReuseMessage": true,
"clear": false
}
}
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "(Windows) Launch",
"type": "cppvsdbg",
"request": "launch",
"program": "cmd",
"preLaunchTask": "echo",
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"args": [
"${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
"&",
"echo.",
],
"stopAtEntry": false,
"environment": [],
"externalConsole":true,
},
{
"name": "(gdb) Launch",
"type": "cppdbg",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${workspaceFolder}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
"args": [],
"stopAtEntry": false,
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"environment": [],
"externalConsole":true,
"MIMode": "gdb",
"miDebuggerPath": "C:\\mingw64\\bin\\gdb.exe",// 自己电脑的gdb
"preLaunchTask": "echo",//这里和task.json的label相对应
"setupCommands": [
{
"description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
"text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
"ignoreFailures": true
}
]
}
]
}
I was confused, I have no idea why no content in quotation marks "" because the .exe file does exist and I assumed the path is correct, I have also tried to compile and run the code by cmd.
C:\Users\***>gcc -g d:\workspace\hi.c -o hi.exe -fexec-charset=GBK
C:\Users\***>D:
D:\>cd workspace
D:\workspace>hi.exe & echo.
hello,world!
It works fine,
does anyone know what is going on here? Thanks!

Answer 1

To answer directly to your question about your (Windows) Launch) launch target, you need to add the /C to pass arguments to cmd.exe. Your arg value should look like this:
"args": [
"/C",
"${fileBasenameNoExtension}.exe",
"&",
"echo.",
"&",
"pause",
],
Notes:
I added the pause to keep the external window open.
externalConsole is deprecated. It can be replaced with "console": "newExternalWindow"