How can I generate unique values in the C preprocessor?

Question

I\'m writing a bunch of related preprocessor macros, one of which generates labels which the other one jumps to. I use them in this fashion:

MAKE_FUNNY_JUMPI         


        

Answer 1

As others noted, __COUNTER__ is the easy but nonstandard way of doing this.

If you need extra portability, or for other cool preprocessor tricks, the Boost Preprocessor library (which works for C as well as C++) will work. For example, the following header file will output a unique label wherever it's included.

#include 
#include 

#if !defined(UNIQUE_LABEL)
#define UNIQUE_LABEL
#define BOOST_PP_VALUE 1
#include BOOST_PP_ASSIGN_SLOT(1)
#undef BOOST_PP_VALUE
#else
#define BOOST_PP_VALUE BOOST_PP_INC(BOOST_PP_SLOT(1))
#include BOOST_PP_ASSIGN_SLOT(1)
#undef BOOST_PP_VALUE
#endif


BOOST_PP_CAT(my_cool_label_, BOOST_PP_SLOT(1)):

Sample:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    #include "unique_label.h"
    printf("%x\n", 1234);
    #include "unique_label.h"
    printf("%x\n", 1234);
    #include "unique_label.h"
    return 0;
}

preprocesses to

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    my_cool_label_1:
    printf("%x\n", 1234);
    my_cool_label_2:
    printf("%x\n", 1234);
    my_cool_label_3:
    return 0;
}