C/C++ line number - c++

Question

In the sake of debugging purposes, can I get the line number in C/C++ compilers?
(standard way or specific ways for certain compilers)
e.g
if(!Logical)
printf("Not logical value at line number %d \n",LineNumber);
// How to get LineNumber without writing it by my hand?(dynamic compilation)

Answer 1

You should use the preprocessor macro __LINE__ and __FILE__. They are predefined macros and part of the C/C++ standard. During preprocessing, they are replaced respectively by a constant string holding an integer representing the current line number and by the current file name.
Others preprocessor variables :
__func__ : function name (this is part of C99, not all C++ compilers support it)
__DATE__ : a string of form "Mmm dd yyyy"
__TIME__ : a string of form "hh:mm:ss"
Your code will be :
if(!Logical)
printf("Not logical value at line number %d in file %s\n", __LINE__, __FILE__);

Answer 2

As part of the C++ standard there exists some pre-defined macros that you can use. Section 16.8 of the C++ standard defines amongst other things, the __LINE__ macro.
__LINE__: The line number of the current source line (a decimal
constant).
__FILE__: The presumed name of the source file (a character string
literal).
__DATE__: The date of translation of the source file (a character string
literal...)
__TIME__: The time of translation of the source file (a character string
literal...)
__STDC__: Whether__STDC__ is predefined
__cplusplus: The name __cplusplus is defined to the value 199711L when
compiling a C ++ translation unit
So your code would be:
if(!Logical)
printf("Not logical value at line number %d \n",__LINE__);

Answer 3

You could use a macro with the same behavior as printf(),
except that it also includes debug information such as
function name, class, and line number:
#include <cstdio> //needed for printf
#define print(a, args...) printf("%s(%s:%d) " a, __func__,__FILE__, __LINE__, ##args)
#define println(a, args...) print(a "\n", ##args)
These macros should behave identically to printf(), while including java stacktrace-like information. Here's an example main:
void exampleMethod() {
println("printf() syntax: string = %s, int = %d", "foobar", 42);
}
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
print("Before exampleMethod()...\n");
exampleMethod();
println("Success!");
}
Which results in the following output:
main(main.cpp:11) Before exampleMethod()...
exampleMethod(main.cpp:7) printf() syntax: string = foobar, int = 42
main(main.cpp:13) Success!

Answer 4

C++20 offers a new way to achieve this by using std::source_location. This is currently accessible in gcc an clang as std::experimental::source_location with #include <experimental/source_location>.
The problem with macros like __LINE__ is that if you want to create for example a logging function that outputs the current line number along with a message, you always have to pass __LINE__ as a function argument, because it is expanded at the call site.
Something like this:
void log(const std::string msg) {
std::cout << __LINE__ << " " << msg << std::endl;
}
Will always output the line of the function declaration and not the line where log was actually called from.
On the other hand, with std::source_location you can write something like this:
#include <experimental/source_location>
using std::experimental::source_location;
void log(const std::string msg, const source_location loc = source_location::current())
{
std::cout << loc.line() << " " << msg << std::endl;
}
Here, loc is initialized with the line number pointing to the location where log was called.
You can try it online here.

Answer 5

Use __LINE__ (that's double-underscore LINE double-underscore), the preprocessor will replace it with the line number on which it is encountered.

Answer 6

Checkout __FILE__ and __LINE__ macros

Answer 7

Try __FILE__ and __LINE__.
You might also find __DATE__ and __TIME__ useful.
Though unless you have to debug a program on the clientside and thus need to log these informations you should use normal debugging.

Answer 8

For those who might need it, a "FILE_LINE" macro to easily print file and line:
#define STRINGIZING(x) #x
#define STR(x) STRINGIZING(x)
#define FILE_LINE __FILE__ ":" STR(__LINE__)

Answer 9

Since i'm also facing this problem now and i cannot add an answer to a different but also valid question asked here,
i'll provide an example solution for the problem of:
getting only the line number of where the function has been called in C++ using templates.
Background: in C++ one can use non-type integer values as a template argument. This is different than the typical usage of data types as template arguments.
So the idea is to use such integer values for a function call.
#include <iostream>
class Test{
public:
template<unsigned int L>
int test(){
std::cout << "the function has been called at line number: " << L << std::endl;
return 0;
}
int test(){ return this->test<0>(); }
};
int main(int argc, char **argv){
Test t;
t.test();
t.test<__LINE__>();
return 0;
}
Output:
the function has been called at line number: 0
the function has been called at line number: 16
One thing to mention here is that in C++11 Standard it's possible to give default template values for functions using template. In pre C++11 default values for non-type arguments seem to only work for class template arguments. Thus, in C++11, there would be no need to have duplicate function definitions as above. In C++11 its also valid to have const char* template arguments but its not possible to use them with literals like __FILE__ or __func__ as mentioned here.
So in the end if you're using C++ or C++11 this might be a very interesting alternative than using macro's to get the calling line.

Answer 10

Use __LINE__, but what is its type?
LINE The presumed line number (within the current source file) of the current source line (an integer constant).
As an integer constant, code can often assume the value is __LINE__ <= INT_MAX and so the type is int.
To print in C, printf() needs the matching specifier: "%d". This is a far lesser concern in C++ with cout.
Pedantic concern: If the line number exceeds INT_MAX1 (somewhat conceivable with 16-bit int), hopefully the compiler will produce a warning. Example:
format '%d' expects argument of type 'int', but argument 2 has type 'long int' [-Wformat=]
Alternatively, code could force wider types to forestall such warnings.
printf("Not logical value at line number %ld\n", (long) __LINE__);
//or
#include <stdint.h>
printf("Not logical value at line number %jd\n", INTMAX_C(__LINE__));
Avoid printf()
To avoid all integer limitations: stringify. Code could directly print without a printf() call: a nice thing to avoid in error handling2 .
#define xstr(a) str(a)
#define str(a) #a
fprintf(stderr, "Not logical value at line number %s\n", xstr(__LINE__));
fputs("Not logical value at line number " xstr(__LINE__) "\n", stderr);
1 Certainly poor programming practice to have such a large file, yet perhaps machine generated code may go high.
2 In debugging, sometimes code simply is not working as hoped. Calling complex functions like *printf() can itself incur issues vs. a simple fputs().