LANGUAGE » C

Compile

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Reference:web.mit.edu

Single file ​

Most basic command for compiling:

shell
gcc -o myapp main.c

Adding some options may help debugging for development:

shell
gcc -o myapp -Wall -Wextra -Werror main.c

Multiple files ​

When creating header files, the structure of the files is like this:

txt
main.c
mylib.h
mylib.c

Contents of mylib.h

c
#ifndef MYLIB_H
#define MYLIB_H

void custom_function(char text[]);

#endif

Contents of mylib.c

c
#include <stdio.h>

void custom_function(char text[]) {
    printf("Custom function was called with '%s'!\n", text);
}

Import mylib.h from main.c

c
#include "mylib.h"

int main() {
    char text[] = "Hello World!";
    custom_function(text);
    return 0;
}

Makefile ​

Single file, compile direct to executable.

shell
build:
	gcc -o myapp -Wall -Wextra -Werror main.c

Multiple files, generating object files before executable.

shell
CC = gcc
OBJ = main.o mylib.o
CFLAGS = -Wall -Wextra -Werror $(EXTRA_CFLAGS)

build: $(OBJ)
	$(CC) -o myapp $(CFLAGS) $(OBJ)

mylib.o: mylib.h

.PHONY: clean
clean:
	-rm -f myapp $(OBJ)

Build with make EXTRA_CFLAGS='-g -O0' to enable debugging with gdb.