Shell Script - (Compiling C)

Question

The second input argument($2) is a path to a c program. I need to check if that C program compiles or not.

I believe this is how to compile the C program:

   cc $2

How can the program tell if the C program file compiled or not?

Look at the return code and do what you need to do there. Check out a shell tutorial. — NG.
– NG., Commented Nov 26, 2012 at 18:51
Also cc $2 || echo "compilation failed", but then the compiler output would be more helpful. — Daniel Fischer
– Daniel Fischer, Commented Nov 26, 2012 at 18:54

ruakh · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-26 18:55:58Z

2

Assuming this is a POSIX shell (e.g. Bash), you can either write something like this:

cc "$2"
if [ $? = 0 ] ; then
    # . . . commands to run if it compiled O.K. . . .
else
    # . . . commands to run if it failed to compile . . .
fi

or a bit more tersely:

if cc "$2" ; then
    # . . . commands to run if it compiled O.K. . . .
else
    # . . . commands to run if it failed to compile . . .
fi

In the special case that you simply want to run a certain command if compilation failed, e.g. exit 1, you can write something like:

cc "$2" || exit 1

answered Nov 26, 2012 at 18:55

ruakh

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2 Comments

will be = or -eq ? I am bit confused

@Omkant: Either way. = is string-equality, -eq is numeric-equality. In this case they both amount to the same thing.

Omkant · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-26 19:26:18Z

0

In Bash - shell You can directly use the following , no need of if

    cc $2
    [ $? -ne 0 ] && exit 1

    # rest of code

or you can use,

cc $2
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
# code for true
else
# code for false
fi

answered Nov 26, 2012 at 19:12

Omkant

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