VC++ marco, getting raw text of parameter - c++

Question

How do I get the text of the data given to value, not the value of the executed expression?
#define PRINT_VALUE(value) std::cout << "Value " << __RAWTEXT(value) << " is " << value << "\n";
__RAWTEXT is something I made up. Is there really something out there that does this though?
int testVariable = 5;
PRINT_VALUE(testVariable);
The output of this should be
Value testVariable is 5

Answer 1

Use the "stringize" operator # for this:
#define PRINT_VALUE(value) std::cout << "Value " << #value << " is " << value << "\n";
It's pretty straightforward, #TTT in a macro converts TTT to "TTT", a string literal.
It's worth mentioning that when the parameter is itself a macro, you'll get the name of the macro. However, if the parameter is passed to a subsequent macro, it's "unpacked". So you see these sometimes:
#define STRINGIZE2(X) #X
#define STRINGIZE(X) STRINGIZE2(X)
Here they are in action:
#define TEST Bob
std::cout << #TEST; //results in "TEST"
std::cout << STRINGIZE2(TEST); //results in "TEST"
std::cout << STRINGIZE(TEST); //results in "Bob"
Not relevent to your question but also notable is the "concat" macro operator ## which "glues" two bits of text togeather. std::st ## ing results in std::string. Useful in macros:
#define make_thing(X) \
structX##_class {
static const char* const name=#X;
};
make_thing(Foo);
std::cout << Foo_class::name;
And again, if a parameter is a macro, you get the macro name. So here's the de-macro macros:
#define GLUE2(X,Y) (X##Y)
#define GLUE(X,Y) GLUE2(X,Y)
#define HEY "HELLO"
#define THERE "WORLD"
std::cout << GLUE(HEY,THERE); //"HELLOWORLD"