How can I use the broken bar (¦) in GCC?

Question

I'm trying to code in C with the bit operator 'or' (¦) (quite simple, I know).

However, when I compile it in GCC, I get:

error: stray \302 and stray \246

I tried to look for a solution to this problem, and all that I saw was that this error happens when the compiler doesn't recognize the symbol. What can I do to make it work?

My code is:

#include "stdio.h"

int main(int argc, char const *argv[]) {
  int x, y , z;
  x = 0xffff;
  y = 0x8888;
  z = x ¦ y;
  printf("0x%u \n", z);
  return 0;
}

Here is the error on the terminal:

ex_8_4.c: In function ‘main’:
ex_8_4.c:19:3: error: stray ‘\302’ in program
   z = x ¦ y;
   ^
ex_8_4.c:19:3: error: stray ‘\246’ in program
ex_8_4.c:19:12: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘y’
   z = x ¦ y;
            ^

Apparently I used the wrong symbol (¦ instead of |) (for some reason that's how it's appear in the book), so now it's working.

Please cut and paste any error messages directly into your question, rather than link images of your terminal. — John Bode, May 03 '17 at 18:59
There isn't any need to retype anything. A direct analysis is: 302 246 (octal) → 0xC2 0xA6 (hexadecimal) → UTF-8 sequence for Unicode code point U+00A6 ([BROKEN BAR](https://www.utf8-chartable.de/unicode-utf8-table.pl?start=8192&number=128)). It can be searched for (and replaced) using regular expression `\x{00A6}` in any modern text editor or IDE (note: The notation is different in Visual Studio Code (and probably others): `\u00A6` (instead of `\x{00A6}`)). — Peter Mortensen, May 01 '23 at 03:27
This is a ***very*** common error when copying code from web pages, [PDF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format) documents, through chat (e.g. [Skype Chat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_of_Skype#Skype_chat) or [Facebook Messenger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Messenger)), etc. The canonical question is *[Compilation error: stray ‘\302’ in program, etc.](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19198332)*. — Peter Mortensen, May 01 '23 at 03:27
Correction (URL): [BROKEN BAR](https://www.utf8-chartable.de/unicode-utf8-table.pl?start=128) — Peter Mortensen, May 01 '23 at 03:43

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 03 '17 at 19:18

3

The character ¦ is not correct bitwise or operator. Search for this | in your keyboard. This code compiles well in my machine with |.

#include "stdio.h"
int main(int argc, char const *argv[]) {
    int x, y , z;
    x = 0xffff;
    y = 0x8888;
    z = x | y;
    printf("0x%u \n",z );
    return 0;
}

edited May 03 '17 at 19:18

Jonathan Leffler

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answered May 03 '17 at 18:58

ShivaGaire

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 03 '17 at 18:50

1

You are using the wrong character. You should use: |

So, your code should look like this:

#include "stdio.h" 

int main(int argc, char const *argv[])
{ 
     int x, y, z; 
     x = 0xffff; 
     y = 0x8888; 
     z = x | y; 
     printf("0x%u \n", z); 
     return 0; 
}

answered May 03 '17 at 18:50

Strahinja Mitric

11
2

I'd also change the header to ``, and remove `main()` parameters (since they're not used). – pmg May 03 '17 at 19:10
1

@pmg: The signature of `main` is fine. Note that an empty argument list is an obsolecence feature. If no arguments are used, `int main(void)` should be used. – too honest for this site May 03 '17 at 19:25
Adding void as parameter list is what I meant to say. – pmg May 03 '17 at 19:52
I focused on question (which char to use)... Of course, your comments are appreciated. :) – Strahinja Mitric May 05 '17 at 16:29

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '17 at 19:04

1

If you can't find the proper character (| vs ¦), use the trigraph ??!.

Your line would look like this

z = x ??! y;

answered May 03 '17 at 19:04

pmg

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Trigraphs are a desperation measure, not least because you have to explicitly enable them with GCC using `-trigraphs` (and you might need `-Wno-trigraphs` too). – Jonathan Leffler May 03 '17 at 19:21
@JonathanLeffler: my GCC (version 4.9.2) compiles cleanly with `-std=c89 -pedantic`. – pmg May 03 '17 at 19:51
If you add `-Wall`, I believe you'll get a warning. Using GCC 7.1.0: `gcc -std=c11 -pedantic -Wall -Werror -c cox.c` yields: `cox.c:3:1: error: trigraph ??= converted to # [-Werror=trigraphs]` and `??=include ` identifying the line with the trigraph. So do versions 5.2.0 and 6.1.0. Without the `-Wall`, they aren't worried about the trigraphs. (I don't happen to have a GCC 4.x on this machine.) I don't compile without `-Wall` (or `-Werror` or `-Wextra`). – Jonathan Leffler May 03 '17 at 20:01

How can I use the broken bar (¦) in GCC?

3 Answers3