vars.c:4:1: error: expected declaration specifiers or '...' before '(' token

Question

I am 13 and learning c programming and so I have an incredibly basic understanding of c programming. I'm learning how to 'Display Variable Values',I'm using VERY basic code but when i try to compile it using GNU (MinGW) it tells me...

Please may someone tell me how i could fix this!

This is the code:

#include <stdio.h> 

int main(
(printf( "Integer is %d \n",num);
(printf( "Values are %d and %f \n",num,pi);
(printf( "%%7d displays %7d \n",num);
(printf( "%%07d displays %07d \n",num);
(printf( "Pi is approximately %1.10f \n",pi);
(printf( "Right-aligned %20.3f rounded pi \n",pi);
(printf( "Left-aligned %-20.3f rounded pi \n",pi);
return 0 ;)
)
({
int num = 100;
double pi = 3.1415926536;
(return 0 ;)
})

Did you write this code or is this code given as a problem to you? — Ganesh, Apr 11 '13 at 21:26
Have you learned Lisp or Scheme before? You're using way too many parentheses, a lot of them invalid. — Daniel Fischer, Apr 11 '13 at 21:26
Here is some tutorial to introduce you to the [C programming](http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/c-tutorial.html). Enjoy! — Bechir, Apr 11 '13 at 21:37

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 11 '13 at 21:27

The syntax you are using is pretty much entirely wrong starting on the third line. You never finished declaring the arguments of main and you have tons of extra parentheses. You should Google for "c hello world" and try to run those examples so you can get a feel for what C code looks like. Here is an example that might help:

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int num = 100;
    printf("Hello World\n");
    printf("Integer is %d\n",num);
    return 0;
}

Thank you I think I'm getting in ahead of myself! May have to read up a bit!!!!! — , Apr 11 '13 at 22:23

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 11 '13 at 21:33

I'm not sure where you came up with this code, but I'm assuming you intended to type the following:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
        int num = 100;
        double pi = 3.1415926536;

        printf( "Integer is %d \n",num);
        printf( "Values are %d and %f \n",num,pi);
        printf( "%%7d displays %7d \n",num);
        printf( "%%07d displays %07d \n",num);
        printf( "Pi is approximately %1.10f \n",pi);
        printf( "Right-aligned %20.3f rounded pi \n",pi);
        printf( "Left-aligned %-20.3f rounded pi \n",pi);

        return 0 ;
}

Try to find an online C programming tutorial and work your way through it. It will prove to be much more satisfactory than trial and error.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 11 '13 at 21:29

At least three problems:

1) completely unnecessary parenthesis

2) Uninitialized variables

3) ???Trying to create a lambda in your main()???

Suggested modifications:

#include <stdio.h> 

int main() {
  int num = 100;
  double pi = 3.1415926536;

  printf( "Integer is %d \n",num);
  printf( "Values are %d and %f \n",num,pi);
  return 0 ;
}

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 11 '13 at 21:31

Working version of your code:

#include <stdio.h> 

int main() {
  int num = 100;
  float pi = 3.1415926536;

  printf( "Integer is %d \n",num);
  printf( "Values are %d and %f \n",num,pi);
  printf( "%%7d displays %7d \n",num);
  printf( "%%07d displays %07d \n",num);
  printf( "Pi is approximately %1.10f \n",pi);
  printf( "Right-aligned %20.3f rounded pi \n",pi);
  printf( "Left-aligned %-20.3f rounded pi \n",pi);

  return 0;
}

vars.c:4:1: error: expected declaration specifiers or '...' before '(' token

4 Answers4