gcc/doc/gcc/gcc-command-options/compiling-c++-programs.rst

   1 ..
   2   Copyright 1988-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   3   This is part of the GCC manual.
   4   For copying conditions, see the copyright.rst file.
   5
   6 .. index:: suffixes for C++ source, C++ source file suffixes
   7
   8 .. _invoking-g++:
   9
  10 Compiling C++ Programs
  11 **********************
  12
  13 C++ source files conventionally use one of the suffixes :samp:`.C`,
  14 :samp:`.cc`, :samp:`.cpp`, :samp:`.CPP`, :samp:`.c++`, :samp:`.cp`, or
  15 :samp:`.cxx`; C++ header files often use :samp:`.hh`, :samp:`.hpp`,
  16 :samp:`.H`, or (for shared template code) :samp:`.tcc`; and
  17 preprocessed C++ files use the suffix :samp:`.ii`.  GCC recognizes
  18 files with these names and compiles them as C++ programs even if you
  19 call the compiler the same way as for compiling C programs (usually
  20 with the name :command:`gcc`).
  21
  22 .. index:: g++, c++
  23
  24 However, the use of :command:`gcc` does not add the C++ library.
  25 :command:`g++` is a program that calls GCC and automatically specifies linking
  26 against the C++ library.  It treats :samp:`.c`,
  27 :samp:`.h` and :samp:`.i` files as C++ source files instead of C source
  28 files unless :option:`-x` is used.  This program is also useful when
  29 precompiling a C header file with a :samp:`.h` extension for use in C++
  30 compilations.  On many systems, :command:`g++` is also installed with
  31 the name :command:`c++`.
  32
  33 .. index:: invoking g++
  34
  35 When you compile C++ programs, you may specify many of the same
  36 command-line options that you use for compiling programs in any
  37 language; or command-line options meaningful for C and related
  38 languages; or options that are meaningful only for C++ programs.
  39 See :ref:`c-dialect-options`, for
  40 explanations of options for languages related to C.
  41 See :ref:`c++-dialect-options`, for
  42 explanations of options that are meaningful only for C++ programs.