How to include helper functions in C? - c

Question

There are 4 files:
helper.h //contains the signatures of functions in helper.c
helper.c //implements the signatures in helper.h
file.h //has all the includes needed to run file.h
file.c //this file includes file.h and helper.h
In file.c, I need to use the function that is defined in helper.c in my main function. However, file.c is saying that there is an undefined reference to 'func_found_in_helper.c'
Is this structure correct?

Answer 1

Yes, provided file.c contains
#include "helper.h"
and when building your program you link together helper.o and file.o.
You also need to ensure you compile each of the files with -c so that the compiler only compiles (and not links); do the link later with all the object files.
Here's a working example (I don't actually need a main.h but if you have one of those, #include it from main.c):
main.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "helper.h"
int
main (int argc, char **argv)
{
test ();
exit (0);
}
helper.c
#include <stdio.h>
void
test ()
{
printf ("Hello world\n");
}
helper.h
void test ();
To compile
gcc -Wall -Werror -c -o main.o main.c
gcc -Wall -Werror -c -o helper.o helper.c
To link
gcc -Wall -Werror -o test main.o helper.o
In a Makefile
test: main.o helper.o
gcc -Wall -Werror -o test main.o helper.o
%.o: %.c
gcc -c -Wall -Werror -o $# $<
clean:
rm -f *.o test
To run
$ ./test
Hello world
It's a bit difficult to tell what else might be wrong without the program; my guess is you simply forgot the -c flag to gcc, or forgot to link in helper.o.

Answer 2

undefined reference to 'func_found_in_helper.c'
That's a little odd, as it suggests you have tried to call the function using the '.c' extension, rather than just the function name. Maybe the '.' is just a typo in the question ?
Also a linker will flag an undefined symbol, so it may also be that you have not told the linker where to find helper.o ( the helper.c file compiled to the an object file ). The compiler will start the linker automatically. Did you compile helper.c first ?