Finding version of Microsoft C++ compiler from command-line (for makefiles)

Question

I must be missing something really obvious, but for some reason, the command-line version of the Microsoft C++ compiler (cl.exe) does not seem to support reporting just its

Answer 1

I had the same problem today. I needed to set a flag in a nmake Makefile if the cl compiler version is 15. Here is the hack I came up with:

!IF ([cl /? 2>&1 | findstr /C:"Version 15" > nul] == 0)
FLAG = "cl version 15"
!ENDIF

Note that cl /? prints the version information to the standard error stream and the help text to the standard output. To be able to check the version with the findstr command one must first redirect stderr to stdout using 2>&1.

The above idea can be used to write a Windows batch file that checks if the cl compiler version is <= a given number. Here is the code of cl_version_LE.bat:

@echo off
FOR /L %%G IN (10,1,%1) DO cl /? 2>&1 | findstr /C:"Version %%G" > nul && goto FOUND
EXIT /B 0
:FOUND
EXIT /B 1

Now if you want to set a flag in your nmake Makefile if the cl version <= 15, you can use:

!IF [cl_version_LE.bat 15]
FLAG = "cl version <= 15"
!ENDIF