Thread: Program to change the name of a variable

Hey Please i wish to know if there is a program which i can use to change the name of a variable in a c program for example if i declare a variable like

Code:

int ch;
printf("%d", ch);

Can i later change the name of the ch variable to lets say "number" the code now becomes

Code:

int number;
printf("%d", number);

Generally this is one of the action under code refactoring. Some IDE give you this possibility.

So you should search for "C code refactoring tools" for your IDE/OS combination

Originally Posted by jimblumberg

Doesn't Gedit should support find and replace like most other text editors?

its not about find and replace condisder the following code

Code:

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
  int i;
}

Lets say we want to change the variable i to ch, using find and replace produces

Code:

#chnclude<stdcho.h>
chnt machn()
{
    chnt ch;
}

notice that all the letters including i have been changed to ch even when writing #'i'nclude is changed to #'ch'nclude
Thanks for understanding

> I tried googling "c code refactoring plugins for gedit" but i found nothing so please is ther a program to do this which is not IDE specific?
How many plugins can you add to an editor before it becomes an IDE?

Anyway, consider this program.

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

#define MACRO(ch) ch = 456

void foo ( int ch ) {
  printf("%d\n", ch );
}

void *ch = NULL;

int main(void)
{
  int ch = 123;
  MACRO(ch);
  foo(ch);
  return 0;
}

You want to rename ch on line 13 - what do you do?

Even if your editor has a 'match whole word' option, it still needs to know all about the semantic rules of C to be able to identify the correct instances of ch in any given context.

This is what you can do in eclipse, with it's refactor tool

Notice how only the instances of ch in main have a little highlight box around them when refactoring the desired variable.