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Compiling A C Program: at A Command Prompt Type Then Hit Return To See A List of All Compiler Options

The document provides instructions for compiling and running a simple "Hello World" C program on Windows and Linux systems. It explains that the C source code file should be saved in a directory like C:\MyPrograms on Windows or /home/MyPrograms on Linux. It then outlines the steps to compile the program using the gcc compiler at the command prompt, which will create an executable file, and how to specify a custom name for the executable file. Finally, it describes how to run the executable file on each system by typing the file name at the command prompt.

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Happa1
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48 views

Compiling A C Program: at A Command Prompt Type Then Hit Return To See A List of All Compiler Options

The document provides instructions for compiling and running a simple "Hello World" C program on Windows and Linux systems. It explains that the C source code file should be saved in a directory like C:\MyPrograms on Windows or /home/MyPrograms on Linux. It then outlines the steps to compile the program using the gcc compiler at the command prompt, which will create an executable file, and how to specify a custom name for the executable file. Finally, it describes how to run the executable file on each system by typing the file name at the command prompt.

Uploaded by

Happa1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Getting started

Compiling a C program
The C source code files for the examples in this book are stored in
a directory created expressly for that purpose. The directory
is named “MyPrograms” and its absolute address on Windows is
C:\MyPrograms, whereas on Linux it’s at /home/MyPrograms.
The hello.c source code file, created by following the steps on the
previous page, is saved in this directory awaiting compilation to
produce a version in executable byte code format.
At a command prompt
type gcc --help then hit
Return to see a list of all
compiler options.
l 1 At a command prompt issue a cd command with the path
to the MyPrograms directory to navigate there

l 2 At a command prompt in the MyPrograms directory type


gcc hello.c then hit Return to compile the program

When the compilation succeeds the compiler creates an executable


file alongside the original source code file. By default this file will
be named a.out on Linux systems and a.exe on Windows systems.
Compiling a different C source code file in the MyPrograms
directory would now overwrite the first executable file without
14

warning. This is obviously unsatisfactory so a custom name for the


executable file must be specified when compiling hello.c. This can
be achieved by including a -o option followed by a custom name
in the compiler command.

l 3 At a command prompt in the MyPrograms directory type


gcc hello.c -o hello.exe then hit Return to compile the
program once more

On both Linux and Windows systems an executable file named


hello.exe is now created alongside the C source code file:
…cont’d

If the compiler complains


that there is no new line

l 4 At a command prompt in Windows type the executable


filename then hit Return to run the program – the text
string is output and the print head moves to the next line
at the end of the file add
a carriage return to the
end of the source code,
then save and re-try.

15
Because Linux does not by default look in the current directory
for executable files, unless it is specifically directed to do so, it is
necessary to prefix the filename with ./ to execute the program.

l 5 At a command prompt in Linux type ./hello.exe then hit


Return to run the program – the text string is output and
the print head moves to the next line
Windows users can even
omit the file extension
to run programs. In this
case typing just hello is
sufficient.

You have now created, compiled, and executed the simple Hello
World program that is the starting point in C programming.
All other examples in this book will be created, compiled, and
executed in the same way.

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