<html lang="en"> <head> <title>Traditional Mode - The C Preprocessor</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="The C Preprocessor"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="prev" href="Preprocessor-Output.html#Preprocessor-Output" title="Preprocessor Output"> <link rel="next" href="Implementation-Details.html#Implementation-Details" title="Implementation Details"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <!-- Copyright (C) 1987-2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''. This manual contains no Invariant Sections. The Front-Cover Texts are (a) (see below), and the Back-Cover Texts are (b) (see below). (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is: A GNU Manual (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development. --> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="Traditional-Mode"></a> <p> Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Implementation-Details.html#Implementation-Details">Implementation Details</a>, Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Preprocessor-Output.html#Preprocessor-Output">Preprocessor Output</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="index.html#Top">Top</a> <hr> </div> <h2 class="chapter">10 Traditional Mode</h2> <p>Traditional (pre-standard) C preprocessing is rather different from the preprocessing specified by the standard. When GCC is given the <samp><span class="option">-traditional-cpp</span></samp> option, it attempts to emulate a traditional preprocessor. <p>GCC versions 3.2 and later only support traditional mode semantics in the preprocessor, and not in the compiler front ends. This chapter outlines the traditional preprocessor semantics we implemented. <p>The implementation does not correspond precisely to the behavior of earlier versions of GCC, nor to any true traditional preprocessor. After all, inconsistencies among traditional implementations were a major motivation for C standardization. However, we intend that it should be compatible with true traditional preprocessors in all ways that actually matter. <ul class="menu"> <li><a accesskey="1" href="Traditional-lexical-analysis.html#Traditional-lexical-analysis">Traditional lexical analysis</a> <li><a accesskey="2" href="Traditional-macros.html#Traditional-macros">Traditional macros</a> <li><a accesskey="3" href="Traditional-miscellany.html#Traditional-miscellany">Traditional miscellany</a> <li><a accesskey="4" href="Traditional-warnings.html#Traditional-warnings">Traditional warnings</a> </ul> </body></html>