Thread: help writing a macro that returns a boolean value

Hi,

I need help writing a macro that would return true/false (1/0) )value. I want to check if a certain element exists in the array. The macro will accept array, its size, and the value to be compared, and must return yes or no. Here is the code that I have written:

Code:

#define EXISTS(T, a, n, val) do {\
    char ret=0;\
    T *a_ = (a);\
    size_t n_ = (n);\
    for (; n_ > 0; --n_, ++a_){\
		ret = (*a_ == val);\
	}\
} while(0)

How can I get the result from this macro.
thanks,

Originally Posted by grumpy

It is not possible for a macro that expands as a compound statement (a statement composed, in turn, of multiple declarations and statements) to "return" a value.

It is possible using GCC Statement Exprs - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

Code:

#define EXISTS(T, a, n, val) ({\
    char ret = 0;\
    T *a_ = (a);\
    size_t n_ = (n);\
    T val_ = (val);\
    for (; n_ > 0; --n_, ++a_){\
        if (*a_ == val_){\
            ret = 1;\
            break;\
        }\
    }\
    ret;\
})

Originally Posted by grumpy

It is not possible for a macro that expands as a compound statement (a statement composed, in turn, of multiple declarations and statements) to "return" a value. I have put "return" in quotes, since a macro is not actually code - it is a text substitution mechanism.

If you want to return a value, implement it as an inline function, not as a macro. The type T would have to be fixed though.

As is, your macro doesn't need the for loop, as the final value of ret is the one for the last iteration of that loop, with no relationship to previous iterations. I suspect that is a fault in your implementation though.

thanks for your help.

I implemented it as inline function. And, also you are right about the fault regarding return value. I fixed that as well.

thanks DRK for your help.