Creating your own header file in C

Question

Can anyone explain how to create a header file in C with a simple example from beginning to end.

Answer 1

foo.h

#ifndef FOO_H_   /* Include guard */
#define FOO_H_

int foo(int x);  /* An example function declaration */

#endif // FOO_H_

foo.c

#include "foo.h"  /* Include the header (not strictly necessary here) */

int foo(int x)    /* Function definition */
{
    return x + 5;
}

main.c

#include <stdio.h>
#include "foo.h"  /* Include the header here, to obtain the function declaration */

int main(void)
{
    int y = foo(3);  /* Use the function here */
    printf("%d\n", y);
    return 0;
}

To compile using GCC

gcc -o my_app main.c foo.c

Answer 2

#ifndef MY_HEADER_H
# define MY_HEADER_H

//put your function headers here

#endif

MY_HEADER_H serves as a double-inclusion guard.

For the function declaration, you only need to define the signature, that is, without parameter names, like this:

int foo(char*);

If you really want to, you can also include the parameter's identifier, but it's not necessary because the identifier would only be used in a function's body (implementation), which in case of a header (parameter signature), it's missing.

This declares the function foo which accepts a char* and returns an int.

In your source file, you would have:

#include "my_header.h"

int foo(char* name) {
   //do stuff
   return 0;
}

Answer 3

myfile.h

#ifndef _myfile_h
#define _myfile_h

void function();

#endif

myfile.c

#include "myfile.h"

void function() {

}

Answer 4

header files contain prototypes for functions you define in a .c or .cpp/.cxx file (depending if you're using c or c++). You want to place #ifndef/#defines around your .h code so that if you include the same .h twice in different parts of your programs, the prototypes are only included once.

client.h

#ifndef CLIENT_H
#define CLIENT_H

short socketConnect(char *host,unsigned short port,char *sendbuf,char *recievebuf, long rbufsize);


#endif /** CLIENT_H */

Then you'd implement the .h in a .c file like so:

client.c

#include "client.h"

short socketConnect(char *host,unsigned short port,char *sendbuf,char *recievebuf, long rbufsize) {
 short ret = -1;
 //some implementation here
 return ret;
}