Finding macro variables in c files using java

Question

I am trying parse a c file and find all the variables that begin with "Apple_". I read the entire c file to a string and then use a regex to get all the variables. But I have a macro defined as:

#define IAMMACRO(var,ext) var##ext

so if I have

IAMAMACRO(Apple_,Variable)

I need to get the value Apple_Variable after the parsing and not Apple_.

PS: I prefer an easy solution.

The easiest solution is to preprocess the file with a C compiler before processing. The next easiest is to write a standards-compliant C preprocessor. — molbdnilo, Jan 14 '16 at 05:10
Is there any way to preprocess the c File in Java itself :| there is no gcc compiler in the systems here. or I could've used gcc -e. — learn_code, Jan 14 '16 at 05:18
You could try a Java based C preprocesor like [jcpp](http://www.anarres.org/projects/jcpp/). — Elliott Frisch, Jan 14 '16 at 05:21
@Ram I am trying to create a software that is using this function. What if the user who is using the software does not have the gcc compiler? — learn_code, Jan 14 '16 at 05:23
Perhaps you can find a suitable tool [in this SO question thread](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1645538/is-there-a-standalone-c-source-preprocessor). — M Oehm, Jan 14 '16 at 06:00

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

As as understand, you want :

to read, then parse C (C++?) file ;
to embed it in a software;
to have an easy solution :)

So, solutions to use gcc galaxy is rather complicated, and heavy (in fact, you dont care about compiling).

Advice : dont try to parse yourself. It is a big job !

Solution: just parse. Use a library to do that.

Use ANTLR4 (not so easy), with an already-made grammar for C/C++:

ANTLR4: http://www.antlr.org/

Grammar for C++: https://github.com/antlr/antlr4-cpp

Finding macro variables in c files using java

1 Answers1