Determining C executable name - c

When we are compiling a C program the output is stored in a.out. How can we redirect the compiled output to another file?

Most C compilers provide an option for this, such as the -o option for gcc and some others:
gcc -o gentext gentext.c
cc -o mainprog -Llib -lmymath firstbit.c secondbit.o
xlc -o coredump coredump.c

-ofilename will make filename instead of a.out.

According to the manual:
-o <file> Place the output into <file>

In Unix, where C originated from, C programs are usually compiled module-by-module, and then the compiled modules are linked into an executable. For a project that consists of modules foo.c and bar.c, the commands would be like this:
cc -c foo.c
cc -c bar.c
cc -o myprog foo.o bar.o
(With -c, the output filename becomes the source file with the suffix replaced with .o.)
This allows you to also re-compile only those modules that have changed, which can be a big time saver for big programs, but can also become pretty tricky. (This part is usually automated using make.)
For a single-module program there's not really any point in first compiling to a .o file, and then linking, so a single command suffices:
cc -o foo foo.c
For single-module programs, it is customary to call the resulting executable program the same as the C source file without the .c suffix. For multi-module programs, there is no hard custom on whether the output is named after the file with the main function or not, so you're free to invent whatever strikes your fancy.

With the -o option.
gcc main.c -o myCoolExecutable.o
This is ok if your program consists of a single file. If you have more files I suggest using make: create a Makefile and then run the command make.
A Makefile is a file containing some rules for compilation.
An example can be the following (# means the line is a comment):
CXX = gcc
#CXXFLAGS = -std=c++11
#INC_PATH = ...
#LIBS = ...
SOURCEDIR := yourSourceFolder
SOURCES := $(wildcard $(SOURCEDIR)/*.c)
OBJDIR=$(SOURCEDIR)/obj
OBJECTS := $(patsubst $(SOURCEDIR)/%.c,$(OBJDIR)/%.o, $(SOURCES))
DEPENDS := $(patsubst $(SOURCEDIR)/%.c,$(OBJDIR)/%.d, $(SOURCES))
# ADD MORE WARNINGS!
WARNING := -Wall -Wextra
# .PHONY means these rules get executed even if
# files of those names exist.
.PHONY: all clean
# The first rule is the default, ie. "make",
# "make all" and "make parking" mean the same
all: yourExecutableName
clean:
$(RM) $(OBJECTS) $(DEPENDS) yourExecutableName
# Linking the executable from the object files
# $^ # "src.c src.h" (all prerequisites)
yourExecutableName: $(OBJECTS)
$(CXX) $(WARNING) $^ -o $#
#$(CXX) $(WARNING) $(CXXFLAGS) $(INC_PATH) $^ -o $# $(LIBS)
-include $(DEPENDS)
$(OBJDIR):
mkdir -p $(OBJDIR)
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: $(SOURCEDIR)/%.c Makefile | $(OBJDIR)
$(CXX) $(WARNING) -MMD -MP -c $< -o $#
Shortly CXX variable defines your compiler (gcc, g++), with CXXFLAGS you can define flags for your compilation (i.e. -std=c++11). Then you can include and define custom (INC_PATH and LIBS: not set in the example). With SOURCEDIR you can specify your source code directory (where *.c files are).Then SOURCES is basically telling that the source files for the compilation are all the files having extension *.c.
The Makefile contains a set of rules whose structure is the following:
output: inputs
commandToExecute
The rule to generate your executable file is
yourExecutableName: $(OBJECTS)
$(CXX) $(WARNING) $^ -o $#
which is equivalent to gcc -Wall -Wextra $(OBJECTS) -o yourExecutableName.
$(OBJECTS) are the object file resulting from the compilation. When the above rule is executed, if they are not found make will continue scanning the file to find a rule to generate them. In this case the rule to generate these files is:
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: $(SOURCEDIR)/%.c Makefile | $(OBJDIR)
$(CXX) $(WARNING) -MMD -MP -c $< -o $#
If further information is needed let me know.

If foo will be your executable and bar.c is your source file then the command is:
gcc -o foo bar.c

Compile using:
cc -o <opfilename> <filename.c>
Execute using:
./<opfilename>

gcc filename.c -o outputfile
This command will directly create an outputfile.exe OR outputfile.out according to operating system. In place of filename.c OR outputfile we can enter path, as shown below.
gcc ./home/user/filename.c -o ./home/outputfile

The format of giving the Name of .exe file according to the User Choice in C Language
step 1 :- Run the gcc (or the compiler you have) in the below format on the Terminal
gcc -o put_your_name_you_want_to_give (space) your_file_name_you_want_to_execute
NB:- If you are Running "Vs Code" Use the 'Tab' key for the Auto completion.
step 2 :- Write down the name of the program in format
.\the_name_you_have_given.exe
you are done!

Assuming you are in ubuntu
step-1: run gcc with these commands to compile filename.c
gcc filename.c -o filename.out
filename.out will be created, (it might or might not be shown where the other files are stored)
step-2: execute the filename.out by
./filename.out
step-3: wait for the output
thats it , you are done

Related

Using makefile with multiple C programs

I've written multiple C programs in different files and I want to run all three of them in the same time, on the same argv:
That's what I tried so far but its only running the last program digcmp.c:
CC=gcc
a_OBJS=lexcmp.o
b_OBJS=lencmp.o
c_OBJS=digcmp.o
EXEC=lex len dig
DEBUG = -g
CFLAGS = -std=c99 -Wall -Werror $(DEBUG) #if you have CFLAGS you do not have to write for each file $(CC) -c $*.c!!!
lex: $(b_OBJS)
$(CC) $(a_OBJS) -o $#
len: $(b_OBJS)
$(CC) $(b_OBJS) -o $#
dig: $(c_OBJS)
$(CC) $(c_OBJS) -o $#
lexcmp.o: lexcmp.c
lencmp.o: lencmp.c
digcmp.o: digcmp.c
clean:
rm -f lex $(a_OBJS)
rm -f len $(b_OBJS)
rm -f dig $(c_OBJS)
The make program have many implicit rules. In fact they are what makes your lexcmp.o: lexcmp.c (etc.) rules work.
All you need is to list the rules to make the executable programs themselves:
lexcmp: lexcmp.o
lencmp: lencmp.o
digcmp: digcmp.o
The above is a perfectly fine Makefile on its own, and if you run e.g.
$ make lencmp
then the lencmp.c source file will be built into the object file lencmp.o which will then be linked into the executable lencmp program.
If you want specific compilation flags when building just set the CFLAGS variable and it will be used automatically. I also recommend a default target which might list all executable targets as dependencies to build all of them:
CFLAGS = -Wall -Wextra
.PHONY: all
all: lexcmp lencmp digcmp
This should really be enough to build all your executable files (skipping the object-file intermediate stage) with the flags you want.
The .PHONY target tells make that it's not supposed to generate a file with the name all.

Why am I getting this error Makefile: No rule to make target 'timer.c', needed by 'timer.o'. Stop

My working directory looks like this:
main.c
Makefile
my_memmove.h
my_memmove.c
c-timer-lib
timer.c
timer.h
My makefile looks like this:
CC := gcc
CFLAGS := -std=gnu99 -g -Wall -Wextra -Ic-timer-lib
TARGET := output
output: main.o my_memmove.o timer.o
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) main.o my_memmove.o timer.o -o $(TARGET)
main.o: main.c
gcc -c main.c
my_memmove.o: my_memmove.c my_memmove.h
gcc -c my_memmove.c
timer.o: c-timer-lib/timer.c c-timer-lib/timer.h
gcc -c c-timer-lib/timer.c -o $#
clean:
rm *.o $(TARGET)
I don't understand why I keep getting the "Makefile: No rule to make target 'timer.c', needed by 'timer.o'. Stop." error. I believe that it's because the timer.c and timer.h files can't be found.
So much confusion here! :)
First, this is definitely wrong:
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -I main.o ...
The -I main.o tells the compiler that it should use main.o as the name of a directory to search for include files. That clearly won't work. You should remove the -I here.
On to your problem: you have to realize that there are two completely different programs at play here: make which figures out how to run commands, and the commands that are being run, in this case the compiler gcc.
The -I option is an option to the compiler so that the compiler knows where to look for header files that are included by your source code with #include.
That option means nothing to make; it doesn't understand that option. It's just some text to pass to the compiler. Make is looking for the source file timer.c and it can't find it because you haven't told make where it is.
You have to write your rule to look in the correct place, like this:
timer.o: c-timer-lib/timer.c c-timer-lib/timer.h
gcc -c c-timer-lib/timer.c -o $#
(you should always use -o $# so that your compile line puts the output file where make expects to find it, which will be put into the $# variable by make before it evaluates your recipe.)
ETA
Also, are you sure that -DUNITS="ms" is right? We can't tell without seeing how UNITS is used in the source, but I suspect you probably need an extra level of quotes here, like -DUNITS='"ms"'
Really, you are trying to do too much in this makefile. Make already knows how to correctly build object files from source files. If you don't force the issue by writing your own rules, then make's built-in rules will do the job for you. Your makefile can be written like this:
CC := gcc
CFLAGS := -std=gnu99 -g -Wall -Wextra -Ic-timer-lib -DUNITS='"ms"'
TARGET := output
$(TARGET): main.o my_memmove.o c-timer-lib/timer.o
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $# $^ $(LDLIBS)
my_memmove.o: my_memmove.h
c-timer-lib/timer.o: c-timer-lib/timer.h
clean:
rm *.o $(TARGET)
make doesn't know which headers your source requires so you have to add the prerequisites by hand, although you can add extra rules to allow it to figure that out for itself.

Compiling multiple C and header files with 1 main

[Files in my directory][1]
Need help compiling in a make file.
So I have this link list assignment i'm doing and the directions were.
stringlist.h is supposed to contain the node and the function prototypes
stringlist.c is supposed to have the functions completed that are defined in stringlist.h. BUT stringlist.c is not supposed to contain main at all. Then, namelist.c is supposed to contain main and just have the I/O and its just supposed to call the command functions that are in stringlist.c.
So to compile this we are supposed to create a make file. Whenever I try to I get an error because main doesn't exit in one of the c files. Throughout the term we compiled code like this "gcc -std=gnu99 -m32 -Wall -g -o file file.c"
But it doesn't work.
How would I create the make file? Been spending hours and can't figure it out.
As stated by Jonathan Leffler, the sample Makefile I provided had a few bad ideas. Here's an improvement:
# compiler:
CC = gcc
# compiler flags:
CFLAGS = -g -Wall
# the build target executable:
TARGET = executable
# object files to build:
OBJ = namelist.o stringlist.o
all: $(TARGET)
$(TARGET): $(OBJ)
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $(TARGET) $(OBJ)
Try this:
OBJ := namelist.c stringlist.c
GCC := gcc -g
CFLAGS := -std=gnu99 -m32 -Wall
compile: $(OBJ)
$(GCC) $(CFLAGS) $(OBJ) -o executable

When I use "gcc" in makefile, after making it, I got a "cc" output

For example:
There are 3 source files {main.c test1.c test2.c} in the directory
and a directory file named test3,
and there is a source file named test.c in the directory of test3.
Now I want to create a makefile to compile and link these four source files.
And this is my Makefile:
# Cancel statement "CC=gcc"
src:=$(wildcard *.c) test3.c
obj:=$(patsubst %.c,%.o,$(src))
main:$(obj)
gcc -o main $(obj)
.PHONY:clean
clean:
rm *.o *~
When I called make to compile them, I got a output like this:
cc -c -o main.o main.c
cc -c -o test1.o test1.c
cc -c -o test2.o test2.c
cc -c -o test3.o test3/test3.c
gcc -o main main.o test1.o test2.o test3.o
I know 'cc' is linked to 'gcc' in Linux.
What I don't understand is why did Make call cc to compile these four source files, but call gcc to link the object files?
You changed one rule: the one that links the program main from the object files. And when make did that link, you can see it used gcc.
You didn't do anything to change the built-in rules that make is using to compile the object files, so they use the default (the value of the variable CC) which is cc.
You wrote only the rule to link the object files, and allowed Make to use its default rule to decide how to build the object files from the source files.
GNU Make will expose its rules if you ask it with --print-data-base. In this case, it tells us
%.o: %.c
# recipe to execute (built-in):
$(COMPILE.c) $(OUTPUT_OPTION) $<
and
COMPILE.c = $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) $(TARGET_ARCH) -c
and finally
CC = cc
This explains why Make uses cc to compile your C sources. To change that, simply set CC = gcc. Here's a complete Makefile which does that and also makes best use of Make's built-in rules, to help when you need to extend it:
src := $(wildcard *.c) test3.c
obj := $(patsubst %.c,%.o,$(src))
CC = gcc
main: $(obj)
$(LINK.c) -o $# $^ $(LDLIBS)
.PHONY: clean
clean:
$(RM) *.o *~

How can I write Makefile (with sub Makfile ) more concise

When I do practice , I have a practice path.
Under this path , I have an Include path named myInclude (I have some useful function is this folder and I always use it.)
And a code path named symbol_try.I always make add new folder (with a c file and main function in it) in symbol_try and compile it.
Each time I have to compile it by gcc in terminal .Its a boring work , so I write a Makefile.
Here is an example:
the main Makefile in practice path:
FOBJS=
include myInclude/Rule.mk
include symbol_try/codeList_13.1/Rule.mk
symbol:$(FOBJS) <==What exactly I what . A executable file.
gcc -o symbol $(FOBJS) -pthread -lpthread
subsystem:
cd myInclude/ && $(MAKE)
cd symbol_try/codeList_13.1/ &&$(MAKE)
clean:
rm -rf symbol
In the myInclude/Rule.mk
FOBJS+=myInclude/otherFunction.o myInclude/error.o \
myInclude/unit.o myInclude/unitTest.o\
In the symbol_try/codeList_13.1/Rule.mk
FOBJS+=symbol_try/codeList_13.1/codeList_13.1.o
In myInclude/Makefile:
OBJS=otherFunction.o error.o unit.o unitTest.o
ALL:$(OBJS)
.PHONY:ALL
$(OBJS):%.o:%.c
gcc -c $< -o $#
clean :
otherFunction.o error.o unit.o
In symbol_try/codeList_13.1/Makefile:
codeList_13.1.o:codeList_13.1.c
gcc -c codeList_13.1.c
Well.That can work. But as you see , I have to write a Rule.mk(to initialize the FOBJS) and a Makefile for each folder.
I am new for make , I want find a way more concise , witch I only need write one Makefile for each folder and a main Makefile.No Rule.mk any more.
PS: I always change the code in myInclude ,so I don't want to build it a library.
Thanks for any help.
Here's one way you can do it with just one Makefile:
CC = gcc
CPPFLAGS += -I myInclude/ (1)
CFLAGS += -std=c99 -Wall (2)
VPATH = myInclude/ \ (3)
symbol_try/codeList_13.1/
symbol: otherFunction.o error.o unit.o unitTest.o codeList_13.1.o (4)
$(CC) -o $# $^ (5)
.PHONY : clean
clean:
rm -f symbol *.o
Note that make knows how to build C files and has some standard macros: CC, CPPFLGAS, CFLAGS
Add the include paths of your headers. You presumably have some headers for the individual object files in the myInclude directory.
Put the compiler flags here.
Add the paths to the source files you want to build.
List the object files that the executable depends upon
As there is no file called symbol.c you need to tell make how to create symbol.o with a rule. $# means the target ('symbol', here), and $^ means all of the prerequisites (the object files listed).
Here's a list of all of the files in my test directories for this:
$ find . -type f
.
./Makefile
./myInclude/error.c
./myInclude/header.h
./myInclude/otherFunction.c
./myInclude/unit.c
./myInclude/unitTest.c
./symbol_try/codeList_13.1/codeList_13.1.c
And the build output:
$ make
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -I myInclude/ -c -o otherFunction.o myInclude/otherFunction.c
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -I myInclude/ -c -o error.o myInclude/error.c
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -I myInclude/ -c -o unit.o myInclude/unit.c
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -I myInclude/ -c -o unitTest.o myInclude/unitTest.c
gcc -std=c99 -Wall -I myInclude/ -c -o codeList_13.1.o symbol_try/codeList_13.1/codeList_13.1.c
gcc -o symbol otherFunction.o error.o unit.o unitTest.o codeList_13.1.o
Why don't you create a library from the objects in myInclude and do the linking in the Makefile in your code path (symbol_try/codeList_13.1). The latter is better anyway because the needed libraries (-pthread -lpthread in your case) might change as well for some other code.
The main Makefile now would have got nothing to do but call make in all needed subdirectories.
In each folder have a makefile with
SOURCES=sample.c sampletest.c
OBJECTS=$(SOURCES:%.c=$(OBJDIR)/%.o)
all: $(OBJECTS)
$(OBJDIR)/%.o: %.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $# $<
In the root directory of a project, create a makefile with a rule to compile every sub-folder like the below.
Dirs= path-to-rootdir
objs:
set -e ; \
for i in $(Dirs) ; do \
$(MAKE) CC="$(CC)" CFLAGS="$(CFLAGS_MODULE)" LDFLAGS="$(LDFLAGS)" OBJDIR="$(OBJDIR)" -C $$i; \
done
And then you could use it build the executable by adding a rule
EXE: objs
$(CC) -L./Path1 $(LIB_PATH) -llib1 -o $(EXE_NAME) $(wildcard $(OBJDIR)/*.o)
Hope this helps!!!

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