C preprocessor - meaning and definition. What is C preprocessor
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What (who) is C preprocessor - definition

MACRO PREPROCESSOR USED IN THE C, C++, AND OBJECTIVE-C PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
C Preprocessor; C macro; Define directive; Stringification; Stringizing; Token pasting; Token concatenation; Conditional define

C preprocessor         
<tool, programming> (cpp) The standard Unix macro-expansion utility run as the first phase of the C compiler, cc. Cpp interprets lines beginning with "#" such as #define BUFFER_SIZE 256 as a textual assignment giving the symbol BUFFER_SIZE a value "256". Symbols defined with cpp are traditionally given upper case names to distinguish them from C identifiers. This symbol can be used later in the input, as in char input_buffer[BUFFER_SIZE]; This use of cpp to name constants, rather than writing these magic numbers inline, makes a program easier to read and maintain, especially if there is more than one occurrence of BUFFER_SIZE all of which must all have the same value. Cpp macros can have parameters: #define BIT(n) (1<<(n)) This can be used with any appropriate actual argument: msb = BIT(nbits-1); Note the parentheses around the "n" in the definition of BIT. Without these, operator precedence might mean that the expression substituted in place of n might not be interpreted correctly (though the example above would be OK). Cpp also supports conditional compilation with the use of #ifdef SYMBOL ... #else ... #endif and #if EXPR ... #else ... #endif constructs, where SYMBOL is a Cpp symbol which may or may not be defined and EXPR is an arithmetic expression involving only Cpp symbols, constants and C operators which Cpp can evaluate to a constant at compile time. Decus cpp is a free implementation for VMS. The most widely used C preprocessor today is the GNU CPP, distributed as part of GCC. (2001-12-31)
preprocess         
TYPE OF COMPUTER PROGRAM WHICH PROCESSES THE INPUT FOR ANOTHER PROGRAM
Preprocessing directive; Preprocessor (programming); Pre-processing; Pre-process; Condition out; .i; Precompiler; Preprocessor macro; Preprocess; Lexical preprocessor; Precompilation; Pre-processor; Pre-compiler
¦ verb subject to preliminary processing.
Derivatives
preprocessor noun
condition out         
TYPE OF COMPUTER PROGRAM WHICH PROCESSES THE INPUT FOR ANOTHER PROGRAM
Preprocessing directive; Preprocessor (programming); Pre-processing; Pre-process; Condition out; .i; Precompiler; Preprocessor macro; Preprocess; Lexical preprocessor; Precompilation; Pre-processor; Pre-compiler
To prevent a section of code from being compiled by surrounding it with a conditional compilation directive whose condition is always false. The canonical examples of these directives are "#if 0" (or "#ifdef notdef", though some find the latter bletcherous) and "#endif" in C. Compare comment out. [Jargon File] (1994-11-30)

Wikipedia

C preprocessor

The C preprocessor is the macro preprocessor for the C, Objective-C and C++ computer programming languages. The preprocessor provides the ability for the inclusion of header files, macro expansions, conditional compilation, and line control.

In many C implementations, it is a separate program invoked by the compiler as the first part of translation.

The language of preprocessor directives is only weakly related to the grammar of C, and so is sometimes used to process other kinds of text files.