__cdecl

HomeOverviewHow Do I

Microsoft Specific —>

This is the default calling convention for C and C++ programs. Because the stack is cleaned up by the caller, it can do vararg functions. The __cdecl calling convention creates larger executables than __stdcall, because it requires each function call to include stack cleanup code. The following list shows the implementation of this calling convention.

Element Implementation
Argument-passing order Right to left
Stack-maintenance responsibility Calling function pops the arguments from the stack
Name-decoration convention Underscore character (_) is prefixed to names
Case-translation convention No case translation performed

Note   For related information, see Decorated Names.

Place the __cdecl modifier before a variable or a function name. Because the C naming and calling conventions are the default, the only time you need to use __cdecl is when you have specified the /Gz (stdcall) or /Gr (fastcall) compiler option. The /Gd compiler option forces the __cdecl calling convention.

Example

In the following example, the compiler is instructed to use C naming and calling conventions for the system function:

// Example of the __cdecl keyword
_CRTIMP int __cdecl system(const char *);

END Microsoft Specific