Debugging Cmd line

[smitsky]

Hi. I have been writing programs that run from the command line. Is there a way to easily debug them, or do I have to debug via the IDE exclusively? Oh yes, I am talking Dev-C++ here. Thanks, Steve

[CornedBee]

"Have to?" If you've ever used a command line debugger, you'll see that it's a blessing that you can debug them from the IDE.

Or am I getting something wrong?

[Salem]

> Is there a way to easily debug them
Sure, just use the debugger like you would for any other program.
You can set the command line parameters up so that your main() sees a correct argc and argv.

After that, you just set breakpoints etc and do what you would normally do.

[smitsky]

Hi. Thanks. That's good to know. I would sure like to know exactly how to do this:

You can set the command line parameters up so that your main() sees a correct argc and argv.

I am a newbie. I can PM the code to you if it would help. Just let me know if you think it would, and if it's OK to do so. All the best, Steve

[iain]

argc and argv are the values that main uses when you start your program, thats why you see main as
int main (int argc, char **argv[])

the int argc is a counter of entities on the command line - the name of your program is one
so if your program is called myProgram typing myProgram into the cli would set argc to one. If you typed myProgram -a then argc would be 2 and so one.

argv is a pointer, a simple way of thinking of argv is an array of arrays,
using the example above argv[0] is myProgram argv[1] is -a

hopefully this should help you understand argv and argc a little better, if not i can post a simple c file to demonstrate it.

[anonytmouse]

If you really want to try a command line debugger, gdb is included with Dev-C++ and ntsd is the windows debugger. Good luck.

[Salem]

In dev-c++, you do
"Debug->Parameters"

If at the command line, you would type in
myprog.exe hello world

In this dialog, you enter
hello world

> I can PM the code to you if it would help
You can attach it to your post - or just paste the source code within [code][/code]

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  if ( argc > 1 ) printf( "%s\n", argv[1]);
  system("PAUSE");	
  return 0;
}

Try this with various things typed into your Debug->Parameters dialog

[smitsky]

Hi Salem. I really appreciate it. I tried using 1 and 2 as parameters to the program I am attaching - it works great! I'm learning a great deal at the moment. I'm trying to complete the program (I've attached). Learning how to debug is on the top of my list. Best, Steve