error: stray '\XXX' in program : Why?

Question

I\'m writing a little program in C++, and come across a strange error :

src/Makefile/Tool.cpp:42:3: error: stray ‘\\302’ in program
src/Makefile/Tool.cpp:42         


        

Answer 1

As aforementioned it is due to some not visible characters in your source. One great solution for this is to edit your file in octal mode and you will be able "to see" these characters:

od -c MyClass.hpp

Then you can see in the octal flow the "strangers" :

0001240   t       s   t   r   i   n   g   &       n   a   m   e       )
0001260       { **302 240**   t   h   i   s   -   >   n   a   m   e       =
0001300       n   a   m   e   ;       }  \n  \n  \n  \t  \t  \t  \t   /

This two characters in bold are the cause of messages like

error: stray ‘\302’ in program 

You can then remove them, and rebuild.

Regards.