I have a test.c file which contains main() function and some test cases and it cannot be modified it(such as adding "include *.h"). Then I have a foo.c file which contains some functions(no main() function). These functions will be tested through test cases in test.c file. What I'm going to do is use foo.c as a library and link it to test.c file. And here is the simple code.
test.c
//cannot modify
int main(){
...
bar();
...
}
foo.c
#include "foo.h" //I will explain this below.
int bar(){
...
}
I'm trying to implement an interface using .h file, such as
foo.h
#ifndef _FOO_H_
#define _FOO_H_
extern int bar();
#endif
Then using cmd line
gcc -c foo.c
gcc -o output test.c foo.o
./output
You may guess the result. There is a warning that "implicit declaration of function 'bar' is invalid in C99 [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]". And the test.c file cannot run correctly.
Could someone help me about this? Thank you so much!
Your problem is:
test.c has a call to bar() in it.
test.c doesn't have any declaration for bar, nor does it have an #include for a .h file that declares bar.
You are not allowed to change test.c in any way to add either a declaration or an #include.
This is a hard problem. The C language requires there be a prototype/declaration for bar in test.c! It can be written directly in the test.c file (write extern int bar(); before you call it), or the declaration can come in from another file with an #include statement, but you must have it.
Luckily, GCC has a way to force an #include statement into a file while it's compiling the file. You don't have to change test.c in order to make it start with #include "foo.h". This will solve your problem:
gcc -c -include foo.h test.c
You need to include the declaration of bar in the test.c file:
#include "foo.h"
So that the compiler have the prototype in the translation unit, of test.c.
Related
I'm new to C programming and encounter this question:
Three files: main.c, foo.h, foo.c are in the same directory.
main.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "foo.h"
int main(){
printf("%d",func(1));
}
foo.h declares function func:
int func(int);
foo.c defines function func:
#include "foo.h"
int func(int a){
return a+1;
}
This code works as expected, but when I rename the definition file foo.c into something else, say bar.c, then main.c throw an error during compilation saying:
LLVM ERROR: Program used external function _func which could not be resolved!
I know that the definition file doesn't need to have the same name as the header file. Why the linker can't find the appropriate definition after I renamed foo.c into bar.c?
More generally, how does the linker search for function definition? Search every .c files in the same directory, one by one? Only search for definition in the .c file, which has the same file name as header file?
EDIT:
I was using code-runner IDE on MacBook, don't know how the IDE actually compiles the source files.
Add the file name in the compilation command:
$ gcc -o main main.c foo.c && ./main
^^^^^
I'm pretty sure this is a simple question but I've searched online for about half an hour.
I have 3 files:
02_01.c
#include <stdio.h> // Notice the library included in the header of this file
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "myLibrary.h" // Notice that myLibrary.h uses different include syntax
#define MAX_LENGTH 21.8
#define WORK_WEEK 5
int main(void) {
function1();
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
myLibrary.c
void function1(void){
puts("It works :)");
}
void function2(void){
//This function does nothing as well
}
myLibrary.h
#ifndef MYLIBRARY_H_
#define MYLIBRARY_H_
void function1(void);
void function2(void);
#endif /* MYLIBRARY_H_ */
First, I navigate to my working directory.
Normally in a file with no local headers I would type:
gcc -o 02_01 02_01.c
./02_01
and it would work.
I've tried a variety of things like:
gcc -o 02_01 02_01.c myLibrary.c
which gives me an error "implicit declaration of function 'puts'
gcc -o myLibrary myLibrary.c which also gives the same error.
What should I be typing in the terminal in ubuntu?
So I'm assuming that the puts() function in myLibrary.c is not connected to 02_01.c which is where I include stdio.h.
You must include required headers in every file, where you using included functions. In your case, you must include #include <stdio.h> in beginning of your myLibrary.c file.
Also, you probably want to build .a library and link with it later.
So, finally:
Compile lib:
gcc -c -o mylib myLibrary.c
Make static lib:
ar rcs libMyLib.a mylib
Compile app and link together:
gcc -o 02_01 02_01.c -L. -lMyLib
I have this block of code. I have to move the given function display_name() into another .c file, compile it, and find the error that was caused due to the migration of the function and correct it by creating a header file with a prototype. How can I do it?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
char student[]="Rasmus Lerdorf";
void display_name()
{
printf("Student Name : %s",student);
}
int main()
{
display_name();
}
these are the changes i made but again i still get an error in the main.cpp. it doesnt allow me to include the displayname.h file.
displayname.h
void display_name(void);
displayname.cpp
#include <stdio.h>
#include "displayname.h"
char student[] = "Rasmus Lerdorf";
void display_name()
{
printf("Student Name : %s", student);
}
main.cpp
#include <stdio.h>
#include "displayname.h"
int main()
{
display_name();
}
errors are:
3 IntelliSense: identifier "display_name" is undefined c:\Users\konstantinos\Desktop\main\main.cpp 7 2 Cproject
2 IntelliSense: cannot open source file "displayname.h" c:\Users\konstantinos\Desktop\main\main.cpp 2 1 Cproject
Error 1 error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'displayname.h': No such file or directory c:\users\konstantinos\desktop\main\main.cpp 2 1 Cproject
Prototype functions work like this: for each set of functions that you write (except main) you need a definition and an implementation. Definitions are usually stored in header files (extension .h) whereas implementations are stored in source files (extension .c).
Here is an example of how you could arrange your code to solve your problem.
Definition: display.h
// This file contains the definitions of the functions which you want to call from another file
void display_name(void);
Implementation: display.c
#include "display.h"
#include <stdio.h>
static char student[]="Rasmus Lerdorf";
void display_name()
{ printf("Student Name : %s",student);
}
With both the definition defined and the desired implemented, now you can call the function from your main source file.
Implementation: main.c
#include "display.h"
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
display_name();
}
This is how you link together a prototype of a function and the implementation of a function. You can expand this by adding more prototypes to display.h, implementing those prototyped functions in display.c, and then calling them throughout your code.
To build, both of these .c files must be included in your build phase. If you build from the command line, you need to do something like this (I'm assuming that your compiler is gcc):
cc display.c main.c -o program
Hope this helps.
Your header file, let's call it displayname.h should contain the declaration:
void display_name(void);
It's usually also best to create an include guard, which avoids causing problems if a header is included more than once:
#ifndef DISPLAYNAME_H
#define DISPLAYNAME_H
void display_name(void);
#endif /* DISPLAYNAME_H */
Then, in your displayname.c, you would include that header plus any others needed by the function, and define your constant and the function:
#include <stdio.h>
#include "displayname.h"
char student[]="Rasmus Lerdorf";
void display_name()
{
printf("Student Name : %s",student);
}
And in your main.c, you would also include that header:
#include "displayname.h"
int main()
{
display_name();
return 0;
}
I don't know what compiler you are using, but if you're on a Unix-like system (Linux, Mac OS X, or something like msys or Cygwin under Windows), you would compile and link them as follows (you can replace cc with your specific compiler, such as gcc or clang, though on most systems cc should exist and point to the default compiler for that system):
cc -c -o displayname.o displayname.c
cc -c -o main.o main.c
cc -o myprogram main.o displayname.o
You could also abbreviate this as:
cc -o myprogram main.c displayname.c
I also recommend, when you are learning, to use the -Wall -Wextra -Werror flags, to give you as many warnings as possible, and not allow compilation to proceed if there are any warnings. To make this more convenient, so you don't have to type the whole command every time, you can define a simple Makefile; the following uses GNU make syntax, if you don't have GNU make let me know and I'll edit it to use a more portable syntax:
CFLAGS=-Wall -Wextra -Werror
myprogram: main.o displayname.o
cc -o $# $^
%.o: %.c
cc -c $(CFLAGS) -o $# $<
main.o: displayname.h
displayname.o: displayname.h
If you have this set up, you can just type make and it will recompile everything that it needs to.
edit: I see now from your comments that you are using Visual Studio, so the above tips on how to compile and link using cc and make are not relevant to you. It has been too long since I have used Visual Studio to walk you through that myself, but Microsoft has a reasonable walkthrough of how to create and build a project that you can follow. The tutorial is for C++, but it should work similarly for C, just keep in mind that files should be named .c if they are written in C, and only .cpp if they are written in C++.
i did what you said! i created the 3 specific files displayname.h for the prototype , displayname.cpp in which the function display_name() stays and main.cpp in which i call the function display_name(). the problem again is that when i include the file displayname.h in the displayname.cpp it works fine, but when i include it in the main.cpp i have an underline error in the include. what is wrong?
Every time I compile I get the following error message:
Undefined reference to ( function name )
Let's say I have three files: Main.c, printhello.h, printhello.c. Main.c calls function print_hello(), which returns "Hello World". The function is defined in printhello.c.
Now, here's the following code of printhello.h:
#ifndef PRINTHELLO_H
#define PRINTHELLO_H
void print_hello();
#endif
I am sure this code is fine. I still don't know why is it giving me the error, though. Can you help me?
Undefined references are the linker errors. Are you compiling and linking all the source files ? Since the main.c calls print_hello(), linker should see the definition of it.
gcc Main.c printhello.c -o a.out
The error is, I think, a linker error rather than a compiler error; it is trying to tell you that you've not provided all the functions that are needed to make a complete program.
You need to compile the program like this:
gcc -o printhello Main.c printhello.c
This assumes that your file Main.c is something like:
#include "printhello.h"
int main(void)
{
print_hello();
return 0;
}
and that your file printhello.c is something like:
#include "printhello.h"
#include <stdio.h>
void print_hello(void)
{
puts("Hello World");
}
Your declaration in printhello.h should be:
void print_hello(void);
This explicitly says that the function takes no parameters. The declaration with the empty brackets means "there is a function print_hello() which returns no value and takes an indeterminate (but not variadic) list of arguments", which is quite different. In particular, you could call print_hello() with any number of arguments and the compiler could not reject the program.
Note that C++ treats the empty argument list the same as void print_hello(void); (so it would ensure that calls to print_hello() include no arguments), but C++ is not the same as C.
Another way to do it is to explicitly build object files for the printhello:
gcc -c printhello.c -o printhello.o
gcc -o Main main.c printhello.o
This has the added benefit of allowing other programs to use the print_hello method
It seems that the error is from the linker and not the compiler. You need to compile and link both the source files. I think what you are doing is simply including the header file in Main.c and you are not compiling the printhello.c
You need to :
gcc Main.c printhello.c -o myprog
or
construct the object files first
gcc -c printhello.c
gcc -c Main.c
then link them
gcc Main.o printhello.o
I'm writing a simple application in ANSI C. I am using GCC in a Unix environment.
I have the following sample application:
//main.c
#include "foo.h"
int main()
{
int result;
result = add(1,5);
return0;
}
Header:
//foo.h
#ifndef FOO_H_INCLUDED
#define FF_H_INCLUDED
int add(int a, int b);
#endif
Implementation:
//foo.c
int add(int a, int b)
{
return a+b;
}
I am compiling my program with the following command:
cc main.c -o main.o
The compiler complains that 'reference to add is undefined'. Is this a linking problem? How do properly make use of my header?
Thanks!
You need to compile both your source files together:
cc main.c foo.c -o main
Also, in this case, -o produces an executable, so calling it main.o can be misleading.
Yet another tidbit, though unrelated to the question: the #ifndef and #define in foo.h don't match.
The header is not your current problem. Your current problem is that you're not compiling the add function definition in foo.c.
Try
cc main.c foo.c -o main.o
If you are trying to compile main.c into an assembled object file, you need to prevent gcc from trying to link. This is done via
cc -c main.c -o main.o
You can compile all other object files, then when you have all of your object files ready, you simply do
cc main.o obj1.o anotherOBJ.o -o myExecutableBinary
"undefined reference" is a linker error, not a compiler error.
The compiler sees the declaration in the header, but you have not compiled or linked the definition in foo.c. Your title uses the term definition incorrectly.