Printing a variable's name.

Hello everyone. I'm new to C and I'm having trouble printing a variable's name.
Such as if I have int a =2, is there a way to print "a".

I would like my print statement to look like:

printf("variable's name %d \n",a);

and "a 2" to be printed to the screen.

I've been trying to find an answer on google but haven't had any luck.

> Such as if I have int a =2, is there a way to print "a".
No.

We only have variable names so humans don't get confused (like it really helps).
After your program gets turned into assembly and eventually machine code, the computer doesn't give a damn what you name your variables.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeonBlack

We only have variable names so humans don't get confused (like it really helps).
After your program gets turned into assembly and eventually machine code, the computer doesn't give a damn what you name your variables.

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That makes sense. Too bad it doesn't help me. Thanks anyway.

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>

#define print_int(x) printf("Variable " #x "= &#37;d\n", x) 
#define print_char(x) printf("Variable " #x "= %c\n", x) 
#define print_string(x) printf("Variable " #x "= %s\n", x) 

int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) {
        int a = 2 ;
        char letter = 'Z' ;
        char phrase[] = "Look, I can do this!!" ;
       
        print_int(a) ;
        print_char(letter) ;
        print_string(phrase) ;
        return 0;
}

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Output is

Code:

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[Session started at 2008-03-11 23:01:17 -0500.]
Variable a= 2
Variable letter= Z
Variable phrase= Look, I can do this!!

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Todd

Code:

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#include<stdio.h>
#define display(n) printf(#n);
int main()
{
    int n;
    display(n);
    return 0;
}

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The preprocessor directive # when used with the variable in the macro outputs the name of the variable that was used.

Awesome, I really appreciate the help. Thanks.

Ah yes, the good old "stringizing" operator. Also useful is the token pasting operator '##'. Don't ask what I've used it for, it's wrong. Very, very wrong.

One more question if you don't mind.

I'm using the #define print_int(x) printf("Variable " #x "= %d\n", x) method; but mine looks like this:
#define print_int(x) printf(#x "\t%d\t %d %% \n", x-1, ((x-1)*100)/total)

Is there a way to right justify the #x? I've tried putting %5c in quotes in front of it with a space as the char and a bunch of other stuff like this but no luck.

Code:

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#define print_int(x) printf("%5s\t%d\t %d %% \n", #x, x-1, ((x-1)*100)/total)

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Mats