How to pass arguments to a variadic macro? - c

I have a variadic function:
LogWrite(FILE * fp, int level, const char * filename, const char * function, ...)
It should be called like this:
LogWrite(fp, int Level, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, "Message: %s", message)
However, I want to write a variadic macro to make it easier to call:
1: #define LOGWRITE_L1(...) LogWrite(file, 1, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, ...)
or
2: #define LOGWRITE_L1(file, ...) LogWrite(file, 1, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, ...)
This is so that a developer can call it using:
LOGWRITE_L1(myfile, "Hello!");
instead of
LogWrite(myfile, 1, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, "Hello!")
However, both those methods give me a compiler error.
1: expected expression before '...'
2:'file' undeclared (first use in this function)
Is this possible or am I wasting my time? I have never used variadic functions before, so not sure. My function works...I called it using the complete declaration and it wrote to the files that I wanted it to.

You have to put __VA_ARGS__ as the replacement for the variadic arguments:
#define LOGWRITE_L1(file, ...) LogWrite(file, 1, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, __VA_ARGS__)
This is only part of C99, C11 and C++11 standards. Some compilers offer extensions pertaining to the handling of variadic macros; check your manual.

Use __VA_ARGS__ instead of ...
#define LOGWRITE_L1(file, ...) LogWrite(file, 1, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, __VA_ARGS__)

Related

how to create a macro from variable length function? where macro value is another variable length function

I am trying to create a log function which will print file name, function name, line number and error msg.
Is there a way to create macro for a small function which only takes the log type ,msg and macro value will add FILE, func, LINE and call the actual function
it might be something like this:
#define func(int type,const char *msg, ...) \
func(int type,char *__FILE__,char *__func__,char *__LINE__,const *msg,...)
If you want create a macro that during invocation replaces or adds some parameters, you don't have to write it as a prototype, but, because C preprocessor is a simple text replacement processor, you can write it as the invocation itself.
So your macro definition becomes:
#define func(type, msg, ...) \
func(type, __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__, msg, __VA_ARGS__)
The C preprocessor assign to the symbol __VA_ARGS__ the sequence of parameters, included the colon, that starts from elipsis (...) on.
Now using the macro as in the example below:
func(MYTYPE, "Info function called with stack: '%s' size %ld", bIsPrivilegedStack(stack) ? "Privileged" : "User", StackSize);
Will translate in:
func(MYTYPE, __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__, "Infofunction called with stack: '%s' size %ld", bIsPrivilegedStack(stack) ? "Privileged" : "User", StackSize);
The function prototype isn't in the macro and should be write once only, preferably contained in an header file, and appear in the compiling process before any invocation. It will contain all parameters types as in:
void func(int type, char *__FILE__, char *__func__, int _LINE__, const *msg, ...);
Note: the preprocessor symbol __LINE__ is defined as an int, not a char *.
Your file layout will be more or less:
//Prototype
void func(int type, char * file, char *fnc, int line, const *msg, ...);
//Macro definition
#define func(type, msg, ...) \
func(type, __FILE__, __func__, __LINE__, msg, __VA_ARGS__)
//Usage
void foo(void)
{
.....
func(MYTYPE, "Info function called with stack: '%s' size %ld", bIsPrivilegedStack(stack) ? "Privileged" : "User", StackSize);
.....
}

Variadic Macro calling fprintf: how to add arguments to __VA_ARGS__?

I have two macros:
#define LogFunction(str) fprintf(stdout, "%s: %s\n",__FUNCTION__,(str))
#define LogPrintf(f_, ...) fprintf(stdout, (f_), ##__VA_ARGS__)
So i can use them this way:
void MyFunction()
{
int N=4;
LogFunction("START"); // Outputs "MyFunction: START"
LogPrintf("N=%d\n", N); // Outputs "N=4"
}
What I would like to change is to
add FUNCTION at the start of the LogPrintf as it is in LogFunction
add "\n" at the end of the LogPrintf without having to remember to put it in myself
so in the end i could have just one macro for my outputs.
I've tried to understand if Appending to __VA_ARGS__ could've been useful, but i admit that i've not understood if it is related to my case :(
Thanks.
why not doing it in 3 steps?
#define LogPrintf(f_, ...) do { fprintf(stdout, "%s: ",__FUNCTION__); \
fprintf(stdout, (f_), ##__VA_ARGS__); \
fprintf(stdout,"\n"); } while(0)
this does 3 prints, but at least it's simple and does what you want. the do while(0) trick makes sure this is one only block (when using if without braces) and requires semicolon.
If you're willing to rely on the first argument to LogPrintf being a string literal, then you should be able to use string concatenation to achieve your objective:
// Assumes f_ always corresponds to a string literal:
#define LogPrintf(f_, ...) fprintf(stdout, "%s: " f_ "\n", __FUNCTION__, ##__VA_ARGS__)
Note, however, that in standard C, the LogPrintf macro requires at least two arguments, and the ## has no place. I keep it here only because you use it in your original code.
If you must accept format string expressions other than string literals, however, then your simplest alternative is to perform multiple I/O calls, as another answer also suggests:
#define LogPrintf(f_, ...) do { \
fprintf(stdout, "%s: ", __FUNCTION__); \
fprintf(stdout, (f_), ##__VA_ARGS__); \
fputc('\n', stdout); \
} while (0)
Note that in this case, the macro expands to a statement (sans trailing semicolon), whereas in the other, the macro expands to an expression. If you want the return value(s) of any of the I/O functions, then you'll have to make special provisions for that in this case.
If that doesn't work for you either, then the ultimate alternative is to write and use a helper function, as was suggested in comments:
#define LogPrintf(f_, ...) log_printf_impl(stdout, __FUNCTION__, (f_), ##__VA_ARGS__)
int log_printf_impl(FILE *f, const char *func, const char *fmt, ...) {
static const char prefix[] = "%s: ";
size_t flen = strlen(fmt);
va_list args;
int result = -1;
char *aug_fmt = malloc(sizeof(prefix) + strlen(fmt) + 1);
if (aug_fmt) {
va_start(args, fmt);
sprintf(aug_fmt, "%s%s\n", prefix, fmt);
result = vfprintf(f, aug_fmt, func, args);
va_end(args);
free(aug_fmt);
}
return result;
}

Unable to call one #define macro from another [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
#define macro for debug printing in C?
(14 answers)
Is there a way to do a #define inside of another #define?
(6 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I have these lines
#define LOG(fp, fmt, ...) fprintf(fp, "%s:%d: "fmt, __FILE__, __LINE__, ## __VA_ARGS__)
#define OUT(fmt, ...) LOG(stdout, fmt, __VA_ARGS__)
Compiler shows OUT to be erroneous. How do I call LOG from within OUT?
Error messages:
expected expression before ‘)’ token in LOG
expansion error when I use it as OUT("Hello world");
Short explanation because I take from the comments that this was cargo-culted into the code: The ## in ##__VA_ARGS__ is a non-standard extension of the preprocessor (originally from gcc, now also supported by clang). Its effect is that if a variadic macro is called with no variadic parameters, a superfluous preceding comma is removed. That is to say, where
#define FOO(bar, ...) foo(bar, __VA_ARGS__)
cannot be called with one argument because it would expand to foo(argument,),
#define FOO(bar, ...) foo(bar, ##__VA_ARGS__)
can because the comma is silently removed and the expansion is foo(argument).
Therefore, the solution to your problem is to use
// vv--- these are important here
#define OUT(fmt, ...) LOG(stdout, fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
Otherwise in an expansion of OUT with only one argument, the __VA_ARGS__ in LOG will not be empty because it is expanded from
LOG(stdout, "Hello, world.",)
instead of
LOG(stdout, "Hello, world.")
...and the ## before __VA_ARGS__ in LOG will then have no effect. You get the compiler message because there's an extra comma in the expansion of LOG (the fprintf call ends with ,)).
Link to specifics.
The ... in OUT(fmt, ..) implies the need to pass at least one more argument then just fmt. Like for example:
OUT("%s", "Hello World");
If doing so the ## is useless and the macros should look like:
#define LOG(fp, fmt, ...) fprintf((fp), "%s:%d: "fmt, __FILE__, __LINE__, __VA_ARGS__)
#define OUT(fmt, ...) LOG(stdout, fmt, __VA_ARGS__)

"##" in printk, what does ## mean

#define ext4_debug(f, a...) \
do { \
printk(KERN_DEBUG "EXT4-fs DEBUG (%s, %d): %s:", \
__FILE__, __LINE__, __func__); \
printk(KERN_DEBUG f, ## a); \
} while (0)
what I dont understand is this
printk(KERN_DEBUG f, ## a);
Could anybody help me to understand what is ## in this line?
thank you
Its a token for variadic macros(macros with multiple, variable arguments). Its gcc specific directive that allows 0 or more arguments as an input to, after f in ext4_debug(). Which means, f argument is mandatory, a may or maynot exist.
This is same as printf(const char *fmt,...) where, fmt is mandatory, other arguments are optional and dependent on the fmt. See the last statement in this doc: http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/Variadic-Macros.html
It is there to make the variadic macro (macro which can take multiple arguments) work if you pass in 0 arguments.
From the Variadic Macros section in the GCC manual:
Second, the ## token paste operator has a special meaning when placed between a comma and a variable argument. If you write
#define eprintf(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, ##__VA_ARGS__)
and the variable argument is left out when the eprintf macro is used, then the comma before the ## will be deleted. This does not happen if you pass an empty argument, nor does it happen if the token preceding ## is anything other than a comma.
eprintf ("success!\n")
==> fprintf(stderr, "success!\n");
If you did not use this, then that would expand to frpintf(stderr, "success!\n",), which is a syntax error.

Standard alternative to GCC's ##__VA_ARGS__ trick?

There is a well-known problem with empty args for variadic macros in C99.
example:
#define FOO(...) printf(__VA_ARGS__)
#define BAR(fmt, ...) printf(fmt, __VA_ARGS__)
FOO("this works fine");
BAR("this breaks!");
The use of BAR() above is indeed incorrect according to the C99 standard, since it will expand to:
printf("this breaks!",);
Note the trailing comma - not workable.
Some compilers (eg: Visual Studio 2010) will quietly get rid of that trailing comma for you. Other compilers (eg: GCC) support putting ## in front of __VA_ARGS__, like so:
#define BAR(fmt, ...) printf(fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
But is there a standards-compliant way to get this behavior?
Perhaps using multiple macros?
Right now, the ## version seems fairly well-supported (at least on my platforms), but I'd really rather use a standards-compliant solution.
Pre-emptive: I know I could just write a small function. I'm trying to do this using macros.
Edit: Here is an example (though simple) of why I would want to use BAR():
#define BAR(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "\n", ##__VA_ARGS__)
BAR("here is a log message");
BAR("here is a log message with a param: %d", 42);
This automatically adds a newline to my BAR() logging statements, assuming fmt is always a double-quoted C-string. It does NOT print the newline as a separate printf(), which is advantageous if the logging is line-buffered and coming from multiple sources asynchronously.
There is an argument counting trick that you can use.
Here is one standard-compliant way to implement the second BAR() example in jwd's question:
#include <stdio.h>
#define BAR(...) printf(FIRST(__VA_ARGS__) "\n" REST(__VA_ARGS__))
/* expands to the first argument */
#define FIRST(...) FIRST_HELPER(__VA_ARGS__, throwaway)
#define FIRST_HELPER(first, ...) first
/*
* if there's only one argument, expands to nothing. if there is more
* than one argument, expands to a comma followed by everything but
* the first argument. only supports up to 9 arguments but can be
* trivially expanded.
*/
#define REST(...) REST_HELPER(NUM(__VA_ARGS__), __VA_ARGS__)
#define REST_HELPER(qty, ...) REST_HELPER2(qty, __VA_ARGS__)
#define REST_HELPER2(qty, ...) REST_HELPER_##qty(__VA_ARGS__)
#define REST_HELPER_ONE(first)
#define REST_HELPER_TWOORMORE(first, ...) , __VA_ARGS__
#define NUM(...) \
SELECT_10TH(__VA_ARGS__, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE,\
TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, ONE, throwaway)
#define SELECT_10TH(a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, a8, a9, a10, ...) a10
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
BAR("first test");
BAR("second test: %s", "a string");
return 0;
}
This same trick is used to:
count the number of arguments
expand differently depending on the number of arguments
append to __VA_ARGS__
Explanation
The strategy is to separate __VA_ARGS__ into the first argument and the rest (if any). This makes it possible to insert stuff after the first argument but before the second (if present).
FIRST()
This macro simply expands to the first argument, discarding the rest.
The implementation is straightforward. The throwaway argument ensures that FIRST_HELPER() gets two arguments, which is required because the ... needs at least one. With one argument, it expands as follows:
FIRST(firstarg)
FIRST_HELPER(firstarg, throwaway)
firstarg
With two or more, it expands as follows:
FIRST(firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg)
FIRST_HELPER(firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg, throwaway)
firstarg
REST()
This macro expands to everything but the first argument (including the comma after the first argument, if there is more than one argument).
The implementation of this macro is far more complicated. The general strategy is to count the number of arguments (one or more than one) and then expand to either REST_HELPER_ONE() (if only one argument given) or REST_HELPER_TWOORMORE() (if two or more arguments given). REST_HELPER_ONE() simply expands to nothing -- there are no arguments after the first, so the remaining arguments is the empty set. REST_HELPER_TWOORMORE() is also straightforward -- it expands to a comma followed by everything except the first argument.
The arguments are counted using the NUM() macro. This macro expands to ONE if only one argument is given, TWOORMORE if between two and nine arguments are given, and breaks if 10 or more arguments are given (because it expands to the 10th argument).
The NUM() macro uses the SELECT_10TH() macro to determine the number of arguments. As its name implies, SELECT_10TH() simply expands to its 10th argument. Because of the ellipsis, SELECT_10TH() needs to be passed at least 11 arguments (the standard says that there must be at least one argument for the ellipsis). This is why NUM() passes throwaway as the last argument (without it, passing one argument to NUM() would result in only 10 arguments being passed to SELECT_10TH(), which would violate the standard).
Selection of either REST_HELPER_ONE() or REST_HELPER_TWOORMORE() is done by concatenating REST_HELPER_ with the expansion of NUM(__VA_ARGS__) in REST_HELPER2(). Note that the purpose of REST_HELPER() is to ensure that NUM(__VA_ARGS__) is fully expanded before being concatenated with REST_HELPER_.
Expansion with one argument goes as follows:
REST(firstarg)
REST_HELPER(NUM(firstarg), firstarg)
REST_HELPER2(SELECT_10TH(firstarg, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, ONE, throwaway), firstarg)
REST_HELPER2(ONE, firstarg)
REST_HELPER_ONE(firstarg)
(empty)
Expansion with two or more arguments goes as follows:
REST(firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg)
REST_HELPER(NUM(firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg), firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg)
REST_HELPER2(SELECT_10TH(firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, TWOORMORE, ONE, throwaway), firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg)
REST_HELPER2(TWOORMORE, firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg)
REST_HELPER_TWOORMORE(firstarg, secondarg, thirdarg)
, secondarg, thirdarg
It is possible to avoid the use of GCC's ,##__VA_ARGS__ extension if you are willing to accept some hardcoded upper limit on the number of arguments you can pass to your variadic macro, as described in Richard Hansen's answer to this question. If you do not want to have any such limit, however, to the best of my knowledge it is not possible using only C99-specified preprocessor features; you must use some extension to the language. clang and icc have adopted this GCC extension, but MSVC has not.
Back in 2001 I wrote up the GCC extension for standardization (and the related extension that lets you use a name other than __VA_ARGS__ for the rest-parameter) in document N976, but that received no response whatsoever from the committee; I don't even know if anyone read it. In 2016 it was proposed again in N2023, and I encourage anyone who knows how that proposal is going to let us know in the comments.
Not a general solution, but in the case of printf you could append a newline like:
#define BAR_HELPER(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "\n%s", __VA_ARGS__)
#define BAR(...) BAR_HELPER(__VA_ARGS__, "")
I believe it ignores any extra args that aren't referenced in the format string. So you could probably even get away with:
#define BAR_HELPER(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "\n", __VA_ARGS__)
#define BAR(...) BAR_HELPER(__VA_ARGS__, 0)
I can't believe C99 was approved without a standard way to do this. AFAICT the problem exists in C++11 too.
There is a way to handle this specific case using something like Boost.Preprocessor. You can use BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE to check the size of the argument list, and then conditionaly expand to another macro. The one shortcoming of this is that it can't distinguish between 0 and 1 argument, and the reason for this becomes clear once you consider the following:
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE() // expands to 1
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(,) // expands to 2
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(,,) // expands to 3
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(a) // expands to 1
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(a,) // expands to 2
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(,b) // expands to 2
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(a,b) // expands to 2
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(a, ,c) // expands to 3
The empty macro argument list actually consists of one argument that happens to be empty.
In this case, we are lucky since your desired macro always has at least 1 argument, we can implement it as two "overload" macros:
#define BAR_0(fmt) printf(fmt "\n")
#define BAR_1(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "\n", __VA_ARGS__)
And then another macro to switch between them, such as:
#define BAR(...) \
BOOST_PP_CAT(BAR_, BOOST_PP_GREATER(
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(__VA_ARGS__), 1))(__VA_ARGS__) \
/**/
or
#define BAR(...) BOOST_PP_IIF( \
BOOST_PP_GREATER(BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(__VA_ARGS__), 1), \
BAR_1, BAR_0)(__VA_ARGS__) \
/**/
Whichever you find more readable (I prefer the first as it gives you a general form for overloading macros on the number of arguments).
It is also possible to do this with a single macro by accessing and mutating the variable arguments list, but it is way less readable, and is very specific to this problem:
#define BAR(...) printf( \
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_ELEM(0, __VA_ARGS__) "\n" \
BOOST_PP_COMMA_IF( \
BOOST_PP_GREATER(BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(__VA_ARGS__), 1)) \
BOOST_PP_ARRAY_ENUM(BOOST_PP_ARRAY_POP_FRONT( \
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_TO_ARRAY(__VA_ARGS__)))) \
/**/
Also, why is there no BOOST_PP_ARRAY_ENUM_TRAILING? It would make this solution much less horrible.
Edit: Alright, here is a BOOST_PP_ARRAY_ENUM_TRAILING, and a version that uses it (this is now my favourite solution):
#define BOOST_PP_ARRAY_ENUM_TRAILING(array) \
BOOST_PP_COMMA_IF(BOOST_PP_ARRAY_SIZE(array)) BOOST_PP_ARRAY_ENUM(array) \
/**/
#define BAR(...) printf( \
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_ELEM(0, __VA_ARGS__) "\n" \
BOOST_PP_ARRAY_ENUM_TRAILING(BOOST_PP_ARRAY_POP_FRONT( \
BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_TO_ARRAY(__VA_ARGS__)))) \
/**/
A very simple macro I'm using for debug printing:
#define DBG__INT(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "%s", __VA_ARGS__);
#define DBG(...) DBG__INT(__VA_ARGS__, "\n")
int main() {
DBG("No warning here");
DBG("and we can add as many arguments as needed. %s", "nice!");
return 0;
}
No matter how many arguments are passed to DBG there are no c99 warning.
The trick is DBG__INT adding a dummy param so ... will always have at least one argument and c99 is satisfied.
I ran into a similar problem recently, and I do believe there's a solution.
The key idea is that there's a way to write a macro NUM_ARGS to count the number of arguments which a variadic macro is given. You can use a variation of NUM_ARGS to build NUM_ARGS_CEILING2, which can tell you whether a variadic macro is given 1 argument or 2-or-more arguments. Then you can write your Bar macro so that it uses NUM_ARGS_CEILING2 and CONCAT to send its arguments to one of two helper macros: one which expects exactly 1 argument, and another which expects a variable number of arguments greater than 1.
Here's an example where I use this trick to write the macro UNIMPLEMENTED, which is very similar to BAR:
STEP 1:
/**
* A variadic macro which counts the number of arguments which it is
* passed. Or, more precisely, it counts the number of commas which it is
* passed, plus one.
*
* Danger: It can't count higher than 20. If it's given 0 arguments, then it
* will evaluate to 1, rather than to 0.
*/
#define NUM_ARGS(...) \
NUM_ARGS_COUNTER(__VA_ARGS__, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, \
12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)
#define NUM_ARGS_COUNTER(a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7, \
a8, a9, a10, a11, a12, a13, \
a14, a15, a16, a17, a18, a19, a20, \
N, ...) \
N
STEP 1.5:
/*
* A variant of NUM_ARGS that evaluates to 1 if given 1 or 0 args, or
* evaluates to 2 if given more than 1 arg. Behavior is nasty and undefined if
* it's given more than 20 args.
*/
#define NUM_ARGS_CEIL2(...) \
NUM_ARGS_COUNTER(__VA_ARGS__, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, \
2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1)
Step 2:
#define _UNIMPLEMENTED1(msg) \
log("My creator has forsaken me. %s:%s:%d." msg, __FILE__, \
__func__, __LINE__)
#define _UNIMPLEMENTED2(msg, ...) \
log("My creator has forsaken me. %s:%s:%d." msg, __FILE__, \
__func__, __LINE__, __VA_ARGS__)
STEP 3:
#define UNIMPLEMENTED(...) \
CONCAT(_UNIMPLEMENTED, NUM_ARGS_CEIL2(__VA_ARGS__))(__VA_ARGS__)
Where CONCAT is implemented in the usual way. As a quick hint, if the above seems confusing: the goal of CONCAT there is to expand to another macro "call".
Note that NUM_ARGS itself isn't used. I just included it to illustrate the basic trick here. See Jens Gustedt's P99 blog for a nice treatment of it.
Two notes:
NUM_ARGS is limited in the number of arguments that it handles. Mine
can only handle up to 20, although the number is totally arbitrary.
NUM_ARGS, as shown, has a pitfall in that it returns 1 when given 0 arguments. The gist of it is that NUM_ARGS is technically counting [commas + 1], and not args. In this
particular case, it actually works to our
advantage. _UNIMPLEMENTED1 will handle an empty token just fine
and it saves us from having to write _UNIMPLEMENTED0. Gustedt has a
workaround for that as well, although I haven't used it and I'm not sure if it would work for what we're doing here.
If you are using gcc 8+, clang 6+ or MSVC 2019 (source), then you can also use the (newer) __VA_OPT__ macro, which conditionally expands if __VA_ARGS__ is non-empty.
So, we can convert the two FOO and BAR macros into one:
#define FOO(s, ...) printf(s __VA_OPT__(,) __VA_ARGS__)
and so, FOO("hello!") will expand to printf("hello!"), and FOO("x = %d", 5) will expand to printf("x = %d", 5).
This is a relatively new feature (introduced in C++2a) so your compiler might not support it yet.
This is the simplified version that I use. It is based upon the great techniques of the other answers here, so many props to them:
#define _SELECT(PREFIX,_5,_4,_3,_2,_1,SUFFIX,...) PREFIX ## _ ## SUFFIX
#define _BAR_1(fmt) printf(fmt "\n")
#define _BAR_N(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "\n", __VA_ARGS__);
#define BAR(...) _SELECT(_BAR,__VA_ARGS__,N,N,N,N,1)(__VA_ARGS__)
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
BAR("here is a log message");
BAR("here is a log message with a param: %d", 42);
return 0;
}
That's it.
As with other solutions this is limited to the number of arguments the macro. To support more, add more parameters to _SELECT, and more N arguments. The argument names count down (instead of up) to serve as a reminder that the count-based SUFFIX argument is provided in reverse order.
This solution treats 0 arguments as though it is 1 argument. So BAR() nominally "works", because it expands to _SELECT(_BAR,,N,N,N,N,1)(), which expands to _BAR_1()(), which expands to printf("\n").
If you want, you can get creative with the use of _SELECT and provide different macros for different number of arguments. For example, here we have a LOG macro that takes a 'level' argument before the format. If format is missing, it logs "(no message)", if there is just 1 argument, it will log it through "%s", otherwise it will treat the format argument as a printf format string for the remaining arguments.
#define _LOG_1(lvl) printf("[%s] (no message)\n", #lvl)
#define _LOG_2(lvl,fmt) printf("[%s] %s\n", #lvl, fmt)
#define _LOG_N(lvl,fmt, ...) printf("[%s] " fmt "\n", #lvl, __VA_ARGS__)
#define LOG(...) _SELECT(_LOG,__VA_ARGS__,N,N,N,2,1)(__VA_ARGS__)
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
LOG(INFO);
LOG(DEBUG, "here is a log message");
LOG(WARN, "here is a log message with param: %d", 42);
return 0;
}
/* outputs:
[INFO] (no message)
[DEBUG] here is a log message
[WARN] here is a log message with param: 42
*/
if c++11 or above is available, and the macro is intended to be expanded to a function call, you can make a wrapper for it, for example:
#define BAR(fmt, ...) printf(fmt, __VA_ARGS__)
can be converted to
#define BAR(fmt, ...) BAR_wrapper(fmt)(__VA_ARGS__)
where BAR_wrapper can be defined as:
struct BAR_wrapper_t {
BAR_wrapper_t(const char* fmt) : fmt(fmt) {}
const char* fmt;
int operator()() const { return printf(fmt); }
template <typename... Args>
int operator()(Args&& args) const { return printf(fmt, std::forward<Args>(args)...); }
};
inline BAR_wrapper_t BAR_wrapper(const char* fmt) { return BAR_wrapper_t(fmt); }
In your situation (at least 1 argument present, never 0), you can define BAR as BAR(...), use Jens Gustedt's HAS_COMMA(...) to detect a comma and then dispatch to BAR0(Fmt) or BAR1(Fmt,...) accordingly.
This:
#define HAS_COMMA(...) HAS_COMMA_16__(__VA_ARGS__, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
#define HAS_COMMA_16__(_0, _1, _2, _3, _4, _5, _6, _7, _8, _9, _10, _11, _12, _13, _14, _15, ...) _15
#define CAT_(X,Y) X##Y
#define CAT(X,Y) CAT_(X,Y)
#define BAR(.../*All*/) CAT(BAR,HAS_COMMA(__VA_ARGS__))(__VA_ARGS__)
#define BAR0(X) printf(X "\n")
#define BAR1(X,...) printf(X "\n",__VA_ARGS__)
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
BAR("here is a log message");
BAR("here is a log message with a param: %d", 42);
}
compiles with -pedantic without a warning.
C (gcc), 762 bytes
#define EMPTYFIRST(x,...) A x (B)
#define A(x) x()
#define B() ,
#define EMPTY(...) C(EMPTYFIRST(__VA_ARGS__) SINGLE(__VA_ARGS__))
#define C(...) D(__VA_ARGS__)
#define D(x,...) __VA_ARGS__
#define SINGLE(...) E(__VA_ARGS__, B)
#define E(x,y,...) C(y(),)
#define NONEMPTY(...) F(EMPTY(__VA_ARGS__) D, B)
#define F(...) G(__VA_ARGS__)
#define G(x,y,...) y()
#define STRINGIFY(...) STRINGIFY2(__VA_ARGS__)
#define STRINGIFY2(...) #__VA_ARGS__
#define BAR(fmt, ...) printf(fmt "\n" NONEMPTY(__VA_ARGS__) __VA_ARGS__)
int main() {
puts(STRINGIFY(NONEMPTY()));
puts(STRINGIFY(NONEMPTY(1)));
puts(STRINGIFY(NONEMPTY(,2)));
puts(STRINGIFY(NONEMPTY(1,2)));
BAR("here is a log message");
BAR("here is a log message with a param: %d", 42);
}
Try it online!
Assumes:
No arg contain comma or bracket
No arg contain A~G (can rename to hard_collide ones)
The standard solution is to use FOO instead of BAR. There are a few weird cases of argument reordering it probably can't do for you (though I bet someone can come up with clever hacks to disassemble and reassemble __VA_ARGS__ conditionally based on the number of arguments in it!) but in general using FOO "usually" just works.

Resources