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I am not very expert in cpp programming, rather a beginner in the enormous world of programming, as these days we just install any IDE and start with our programs in it. I started using CodeBlocks IDE but just out of curiosity wanted to know which compiler is my program using as it can be 4.3.2 or 4.0.8 or maybe something else

I tried reading through the Build logs it wasn't there, a small google did not help either.

Is there any simple command which i can run in my cpp progam and check which compiler my IDE is using?

Thanks in advance.

Dharamveer Singh Chouhan
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  • Did you want to know which compiler Code::Blocks uses, or just generally how to tell what compiler is compiling a piece of C++ from the C++ code? – Seth Carnegie Aug 06 '11 at 17:47
  • `g++ --version` in a command prompt (or shell) should usually do the trick. If you are on Windows and I believe CodeBlocks uses MinGW then you'll have to type that in a MinGW shell, or Cygwin if thats what it uses. – arunkumar Aug 06 '11 at 17:48
  • [IDEs for Linux](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24109/c-ide-for-linux) might interest you. – iammilind Aug 06 '11 at 17:53
  • Hi, Firstly thanks a lot for your replies @Seth: I wanted to know General result of how to tell what compiler is being used in my program. Arun: Thanks for info, it uses MinGW, I wanted to know is there a way in the program itself? Milind: I know IDEs for Linux already, and I dont even need to use any IDE there, I just run the program using terminal. – Dharamveer Singh Chouhan Aug 07 '11 at 11:18

4 Answers4

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You can use the macros

__GNUC__
__GNUC_MINOR__
__GNUC_PATCHLEVEL__

See http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/Common-Predefined-Macros.html

Other compilers provide their own macros, for example Microsoft's _MSC_VER

Here's a very comprehensive list covering dozens of compilers: http://predef.sourceforge.net/precomp.html and http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/predef/index.php?title=Compilers

Ben Voigt
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According to the Codeblocks FAQ:

As a matter of fact it largely depends on the used compiler plugin. Some provided with the default Code::Blocks installation are GNU GCC (MinGW/Cygwin), MS Visual C++ Free Toolkit 2003, Borland's C++ Compiler 5.5, DigitalMars Free Compiler., OpenWatcom, Small Device C Compiler (SDCC) and others.

Chris Eberle
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Code::Blocks is a very generic IDE that can use many compilers. You can even have different compilers for every project.

Depending on what version you have installed (I have the Nov 11 2009 build, running under Windows) when you have a project loaded you can go to the "Project menu" -> "Build options" item and you will see what compiler you are using for that project - keep a note of it. Close that window and then go to the "Settings" menu -> "Compiler and debugger..." item. In the window it brings up make sure you have the "Global compiler settings" icon selected from the list on the left. Change to the "Toolchain executables" page from which you can get the exact path to the compiler executable that your project is using by making sure the "Selected compiler" drop down box at the top of the screen matches the one for your project".

The other way to get that information is to build your project, then switch to the "Build log". The command line should at least have the compiler executable as part of the filename it shows.

From the compiler filename you can then detemine whether it is some sort of GCC derivative or something else (such as MSVC). At this point it becomes compiler specific to find out what version you are using. For example, if it is GCC or a port then you can run:

<path and filename of compiler> --version

from a command prompt/shell to get the version number.

If it is MSVC, then simply running:

<path and filename of compiler>

will display the version number.

If you want to do it from your compiler (although technically it will be the preprocessor) you will need to know the above information to know what your compiler is, as you need to know the preprocessor macros to check for, which are compiler dependant.

On the plus side, Code::Blocks is likely to use GCC unless you have specifically downloaded the version without MinGW on Windows. So you are probably OK to use the method Ben Voigt describes.

Edit: missing line breaks hid the compiler version command lines

tinman
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Probably not, there are various macros defined by the programming environment (giving version of the OS/SDKs etc) but these are normally set by include files rather than the compiler.

The compiler might define it's own symbols but you would have to check the compiler docs.

You could check the path and try running the compiler (typically cc or cl) with a "-v" or "/?" flag to see what it reports

Martin Beckett
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  • Compiler version macros are set by the compiler itself, in all cases I'm aware of. – Ben Voigt Aug 06 '11 at 18:51
  • @Ben Yes but they aren't standard, you would need the compiler docs - which rather implies you know which compiler you have! There is nothing like WINVER that you can rely on – Martin Beckett Aug 06 '11 at 23:49
  • Seems like he does know which compiler, just not the version (since he read the build log). – Ben Voigt Aug 07 '11 at 01:14
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    K, so what I have concluded from the comments and all of your kind help is that, there is no way to know the compiler that runs your cpp code directly in the output of your program. Although, there are other ways ofcourse – Dharamveer Singh Chouhan Aug 07 '11 at 11:24