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<h3 class="section">3.6 Variadic Macros</h3>

<p><a name="index-variable-number-of-arguments-56"></a><a name="index-macros-with-variable-arguments-57"></a><a name="index-variadic-macros-58"></a>
A macro can be declared to accept a variable number of arguments much as
a function can.  The syntax for defining the macro is similar to that of
a function.  Here is an example:

<pre class="smallexample">     #define eprintf(...) fprintf (stderr, __VA_ARGS__)
</pre>
   <p>This kind of macro is called <dfn>variadic</dfn>.  When the macro is invoked,
all the tokens in its argument list after the last named argument (this
macro has none), including any commas, become the <dfn>variable
argument</dfn>.  This sequence of tokens replaces the identifier
<code>__VA_ARGS__<!-- /@w --></code> in the macro body wherever it appears.  Thus, we
have this expansion:

<pre class="smallexample">     eprintf ("%s:%d: ", input_file, lineno)
          ==&gt;  fprintf (stderr, "%s:%d: ", input_file, lineno)
</pre>
   <p>The variable argument is completely macro-expanded before it is inserted
into the macro expansion, just like an ordinary argument.  You may use
the &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">#</span></samp>&rsquo; and &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">##</span></samp>&rsquo; operators to stringify the variable argument
or to paste its leading or trailing token with another token.  (But see
below for an important special case for &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">##</span></samp>&rsquo;.)

   <p>If your macro is complicated, you may want a more descriptive name for
the variable argument than <code>__VA_ARGS__<!-- /@w --></code>.  CPP permits
this, as an extension.  You may write an argument name immediately
before the &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">...</span></samp>&rsquo;; that name is used for the variable argument. 
The <code>eprintf</code> macro above could be written

<pre class="smallexample">     #define eprintf(args...) fprintf (stderr, args)
</pre>
   <p class="noindent">using this extension.  You cannot use <code>__VA_ARGS__<!-- /@w --></code> and this
extension in the same macro.

   <p>You can have named arguments as well as variable arguments in a variadic
macro.  We could define <code>eprintf</code> like this, instead:

<pre class="smallexample">     #define eprintf(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, __VA_ARGS__)
</pre>
   <p class="noindent">This formulation looks more descriptive, but unfortunately it is less
flexible: you must now supply at least one argument after the format
string.  In standard C, you cannot omit the comma separating the named
argument from the variable arguments.  Furthermore, if you leave the
variable argument empty, you will get a syntax error, because
there will be an extra comma after the format string.

<pre class="smallexample">     eprintf("success!\n", );
          ==&gt; fprintf(stderr, "success!\n", );
</pre>
   <p>GNU CPP has a pair of extensions which deal with this problem.  First,
you are allowed to leave the variable argument out entirely:

<pre class="smallexample">     eprintf ("success!\n")
          ==&gt; fprintf(stderr, "success!\n", );
</pre>
   <p class="noindent">Second, the &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">##</span></samp>&rsquo; token paste operator has a special meaning when
placed between a comma and a variable argument.  If you write

<pre class="smallexample">     #define eprintf(format, ...) fprintf (stderr, format, ##__VA_ARGS__)
</pre>
   <p class="noindent">and the variable argument is left out when the <code>eprintf</code> macro is
used, then the comma before the &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">##</span></samp>&rsquo; will be deleted.  This does
<em>not</em> happen if you pass an empty argument, nor does it happen if
the token preceding &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">##</span></samp>&rsquo; is anything other than a comma.

<pre class="smallexample">     eprintf ("success!\n")
          ==&gt; fprintf(stderr, "success!\n");
</pre>
   <p class="noindent">The above explanation is ambiguous about the case where the only macro
parameter is a variable arguments parameter, as it is meaningless to
try to distinguish whether no argument at all is an empty argument or
a missing argument.  In this case the C99 standard is clear that the
comma must remain, however the existing GCC extension used to swallow
the comma.  So CPP retains the comma when conforming to a specific C
standard, and drops it otherwise.

   <p>C99 mandates that the only place the identifier <code>__VA_ARGS__<!-- /@w --></code>
can appear is in the replacement list of a variadic macro.  It may not
be used as a macro name, macro argument name, or within a different type
of macro.  It may also be forbidden in open text; the standard is
ambiguous.  We recommend you avoid using it except for its defined
purpose.

   <p>Variadic macros are a new feature in C99.  GNU CPP has supported them
for a long time, but only with a named variable argument
(&lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">args...</span></samp>&rsquo;, not &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">...</span></samp>&rsquo; and <code>__VA_ARGS__<!-- /@w --></code>).  If you are
concerned with portability to previous versions of GCC, you should use
only named variable arguments.  On the other hand, if you are concerned
with portability to other conforming implementations of C99, you should
use only <code>__VA_ARGS__<!-- /@w --></code>.

   <p>Previous versions of CPP implemented the comma-deletion extension
much more generally.  We have restricted it in this release to minimize
the differences from C99.  To get the same effect with both this and
previous versions of GCC, the token preceding the special &lsquo;<samp><span class="samp">##</span></samp>&rsquo; must
be a comma, and there must be white space between that comma and
whatever comes immediately before it:

<pre class="smallexample">     #define eprintf(format, args...) fprintf (stderr, format , ##args)
</pre>
   <p class="noindent">See <a href="Differences-from-previous-versions.html#Differences-from-previous-versions">Differences from previous versions</a>, for the gory details.

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