cc command in Linux with Examples

'cc' command stands for C Compiler, usually an alias command to 'gcc' or 'clang'. As the name suggests, executing the 'cc' command will usually call the 'gcc' on Linux systems. It is used to compile the C language codes and create executables. The number of options available for the cc command is very high. The most important options are explained below with examples.

Syntax

cc [options] files

where,

• [options]: Various compiler options that modify how the source code is compiled.
• files: The C source code files that need to be compiled.

Basic 'cc' Command Example

Below command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, and create the default executable output file, 'a.out'.

cc example.c

Important Options use with cc Command

1. cc command with -o option:

This command will compile the source_file.c file, and create an executable output file with the specified name.

cc example.c -o examp_out

2. cc command with -Wall option:

This command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, and check for all errors and warnings in the program.

cc example.c -Wall -o examp_out

3. cc command with -w option:

This command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, but suppress all the warnings.

cc example.c -w 

4. cc command with -g option:

This command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, and create a dgging version of the executable output file. This output file can be used by the debugger, and is usually much larger in size than the normal output files.

cc example.c -g -o examp_out_debugebu

5. cc command with -c option:

This command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, and create an object file 'source_file.o', which can later be linked to create an executable output file.

cc example.c -c 

6. cc command with -Ldir option:

This command, while compiling the 'source_file.c' file, will also search the specified directory for header files.

cc example.c -L /home/mukkesh/Desktop

7. cc command with -ansi option:

This command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, and makes sure that the code follows strict ANSI standards. This will make sure that the code is portable to be compiled on any other system.

cc -ansi example.c 

8. cc command with '-dump' options:

These commands specified below will print the version of the cc command, the default target machine and built-in specification strings.

cc -dumpversion

cc -dumpmachine

cc -dumpspecs

9. cc command with -v option:

This command will compile the 'source_file.c' file, and gives a verbose output.

cc example.c -v

Conclusion

The cc command is a powerful and flexible tool for compiling C programs in Linux. cc can help you optimize your builds, catch errors early, and generate debugging information when needed. By leveraging options like -Wall for warnings, -g for debugging, and -c for generating object files, you can ensure that your C programs are built efficiently and correctly.