#line in c

The #line directive changes the contents of _ _LINE_ _ and _ _FILE_ _ , which are predefined identifiers in the compiler. The _ _LINE_ _ identifier contains the line number of the currently compiled line of code. The _ _FILE_ _ identifier is a string that contains the name of the source file being compiled. The general form for #line is

#line number "filename"

where number is any positive integer and becomes the new value of _ _LINE_ _ , and the optional filename is any valid file identifier, which becomes the new value of _ _FILE_ _. #line is primarily used for debugging and special applications.

For example, the following code specifies that the line count will begin with 100. The printf() statement displays the number 102 because it is the third line in the program after the #line 100 statement.

#include <stdio.h>

#line 100 /* reset the line counter */

int main(void) /* line 100 */

{ /* line 101 */

printf("%d\n",__LINE__); /* line 102 */

return 0;

}