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# and ## Operators in C

The # operator in C encloses the actual argument passed to a macro in double quotes, turning it into a string. The ## operator concatenates two tokens used as actual arguments in a macro into a single token during macro expansion. Examples show using # to stringize an argument passed to printf and using ## to concatenate the name of a variable into a single token. The ## operator allows tokens to be merged while expanding macros.

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60 views

# and ## Operators in C

The # operator in C encloses the actual argument passed to a macro in double quotes, turning it into a string. The ## operator concatenates two tokens used as actual arguments in a macro into a single token during macro expansion. Examples show using # to stringize an argument passed to printf and using ## to concatenate the name of a variable into a single token. The ## operator allows tokens to be merged while expanding macros.

Uploaded by

Krishanu Modak
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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# and ## Operators in C

Stringizing operator (#)

This operator causes the corresponding actual argument to be enclosed in double quotation marks. The # operator, which is generally called
the stringize operator, turns the argument it precedes into a quoted string. For more on pre-processor directives – refer this
Examples :

1. The following preprocessor turns the line printf(mkstr(geeksforgeeks)); into printf(“geeksforgeeks”);

// CPP program to illustrate (#) operator


#include <stdio.h>
#define mkstr(s) #s
int main(void)
{
    printf(mkstr(geeksforgeeks));
    return 0;
}

Output:

geeksforgeeks

2. In this program, value of a is replaced by macro.

// CPP program to illustrate (#) operator


#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
  
#define a 8.3297
  
int main()
{
    cout << "Value of a is " << a << endl;
  
    return 0;
}

Output:

Value of a is 8.3297

3. This program nds out maximum out of two numbers using macro

// CPP program to illustrate (#) operator


#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
  
#define MAX(i, j) (((i) > (j)) ? i : j)
  
int main()
{
    int a, b;
  
    a = 250;
    b = 25;
  
    cout << "The maximum is " << MAX(a, b) << endl;
  
    return 0;
}

Output:

The maximum is 250

Token-pasting operator (##)

Allows tokens used as actual arguments to be concatenated to form other tokens. It is often useful to merge two tokens into one while
expanding macros. This is called token pasting or token concatenation. The ‘##’ pre-processing operator performs token pasting. When a
macro is expanded, the two tokens on either side of each ‘##’ operator are combined into a single token, which then replaces the ‘##’ and the
two original tokens in the macro expansion.
Examples :

1. The preprocessor transforms printf(“%d”, concat(x, y)); into printf(“%d”, xy);

// CPP program to illustrate (##) operator


#include <stdio.h>
#define concat(a, b) a##b
int main(void)
{
    int xy = 30;
    printf("%d", concat(x, y));
    return 0;
}

Output:

30

Application: The ## provides a way to concatenate actual arguments during macro expansion. If a parameter in the replacement text is
adjacent to a ##, the parameter is replaced by the actual argument, the ## and surrounding white space are removed, and the result is re-
scanned.

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