To do this, multiple files need to be compiled into a single file
creating a single application, providing a Programmer to debug the
necessary file, recompile only the modified file, and execute the
application. 'C' Provides multiple file compilation to facilitate the
generation of a single application.
Solution 1. The 'C' Compiler, cc can be used
directly to compile multiple files into a single application. All a
programmer has to do is to specify the names of the file one after the
other as an argument to cc command and a single executable file will be
created.
Example
The above command will independently compile all four files, create
an object file, and then link all these object files into a single
executable file a.out.
The 'C' Compiler can also be used to compile only the files that were
modified and attach them to the executable file. The following example
illustrates this
Example
In the above example, only file1.c is compiled and is linked with the
other three object code files to make a single executable file a.out.
Solution 2. We can use the #include preprocessor
directive to instruct the 'C' compiler, to include the different files
in which we have created functions that are to be linked with the master
file program.
Consider the following source codes.
To compile the above four files into an application, we'll give the following command.
c cfile1.c. the above command will create a single executable file
that will contain all the different functions present in different
files.
Code Explanation
#include directive, instruct the 'C' compiler to search for the
function(s) in the specified files. The function could be the standards
'C' function or the user design function as used above. The compiler
automatically picks up all the files specified after the #include
directive, complies with them, and creates a single executive file
a.out.
Note. When we use the #include directive to include a
file containing functions, the file that contains functions, does not
have the main() function. Why....? this is because when the #include
directive is used, the functions are treated as part of itself, and
since only one main() function is allowed in the 'C' program, the file
containing functions does not have the main() function.
Precautions
The file used to be #include directive, having a function name
instead of the main() cannot be compiled independently. These can be
compiled only with the main function containing the main function.
Summary
Compiling multiple files in C allows a programmer to build a single
application by combining code from different source files. Using the C
compiler (cc), multiple files can be compiled either by listing all
files in a single command or by compiling each file separately into
object files and linking them together. This method helps in incremental
compilation, where only modified files are recompiled, improving
efficiency. Another approach involves using the #include preprocessor
directive to include additional source files within a main file. This
ensures all functions across files are compiled into a single
executable. However, only one file should contain the main() function,
and the included files should only define additional functions.
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