gcc flag to compiling C

[Baloff]

how do find out what the command line flag that forces a C compilation
for my gcc 3.3.5-3, I am doing an exercise and am asked to note the
difference between C and C++ compilation of a code which uses puts()
without <stdio.h> in it.

I got on the C-h i gcc, it said in * G++ and GCC::
There is no intermediate C version of the program.
(By contrast, for example, some other implementations use a program
that generates a C program from your C++ source.)
thanks

[Gianni Mariani]

Baloff wrote:

how do find out what the command line flag that forces a C compilation
for my gcc 3.3.5-3, I am doing an exercise and am asked to note the
difference between C and C++ compilation of a code which uses puts()
without <stdio.h> in it.

I got on the C-h i gcc, it said in * G++ and GCC::
There is no intermediate C version of the program.
(By contrast, for example, some other implementations use a program
that generates a C program from your C++ source.)

You should post this Q to a gcc list. It's off topic here.

Anyhow, most compilers will key off the file name extension.

file.c -> C compiler

file.{cpp,c++,C,cxx,cc} -> C++ compiler
I found this by googling on "C cpp c++ cxx cc":
Compiler possible endings
GNU compiler g++ C cc cpp cxx c++
Watcom C++ -- cc cpp cxx c++
Borland C++ -- cc cpp cxx c++
SGI compiler CC C cc cpp cxx c++
DEC compiler cxx C cc cpp cxx --

However, if you're compiling a C++ program in gcc YOU MUST use "g++" for
the link phase and not gcc.

G

[Larry I Smith]

Baloff wrote:

how do find out what the command line flag that forces a C compilation
for my gcc 3.3.5-3, I am doing an exercise and am asked to note the
difference between C and C++ compilation of a code which uses puts()
without <stdio.h> in it.

I got on the C-h i gcc, it said in * G++ and GCC::
There is no intermediate C version of the program.
(By contrast, for example, some other implementations use a program
that generates a C program from your C++ source.)
thanks

In general:

compile and link 'C' source/obj with 'gcc'.
compile and link C++ source/obj with 'g++'.
link mixed C/C++ objs with 'g++.

[Maett]

Baloff wrote:

how do find out what the command line flag that forces a C compilation
for my gcc 3.3.5-3, I am doing an exercise and am asked to note the
difference between C and C++ compilation of a code which uses puts()
without <stdio.h> in it.

I got on the C-h i gcc, it said in * G++ and GCC::
There is no intermediate C version of the program.
(By contrast, for example, some other implementations use a program
that generates a C program from your C++ source.)

g++ has a command line switch -x:
-x <language> Specify the language of the following input files
Permissable languages include: c c++ assembler none
'none' means revert to the default behavior of
guessing the language based on the file's extension

so you could write 'g++ -x c exercise.cpp'

Maett