How many parameters can be passed to main()

Question

Is there a limit for the number of parameters main can have?

Here is a sample code which runs perfectly … and I am not aware if it is allowed.

int main( char* argv[], int argc, int arv, bool test)
{
    cout<<"Hello"<<endl;
}

Output: Hello

I am using

gcc-4.1.2_20070115-0.32.53
gcc-c++-4.1.2_20070115-0.32.53
libgcc-4.1.2_20070115-0.32.53
gcc-objc-4.1.2_20070115-0.32.53

That is a really old verison of `gcc`, `4.8.2` provides warnings for this code. — Shafik Yaghmour, Apr 23 '14 at 12:53
I Tried with a different version of gcc libgcc46-4.6.1_20110701-0.13.9 it says: test.cpp:4: error: 'int main(int, char**, char**, char**)' takes only zero or two arguments.. seems latest versions are checking this too. — samairtimer, Apr 23 '14 at 13:06

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:26

6

The C++ standard does not explicitly forbid these signatures, but it does not require them to work either. All it says is that the two following signatures must work on any compiler:

int main()
int main(int, char**)

And that the return type must be int.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:26

Community

1
1

answered Apr 23 '14 at 12:54

Konrad Rudolph

530,221
131
937
1,214

That is wrong. Please look at freestanding implementations. – Deduplicator Apr 23 '14 at 13:50
1

@Deduplicator How can it be wrong when it comes directly from the standard? Freestanding implementations have their own little niche, but people (and the standard, unless noted otherwise) talk about hosted implementations. My answer simply doesn’t apply to freestanding implementations, which don’t have a defined startup sequence at all. – Konrad Rudolph Apr 23 '14 at 16:25
Just say it only applies to hosted implementations/not to freestanding implementations, and it's ok. Yes, people mostly ask about hosted, but they still also programm the bare metal. – Deduplicator Apr 23 '14 at 16:26

How many parameters can be passed to main()

1 Answers1