A “directive” instructs the C preprocessor to perform a specific action on the text of the program before compilation. Preprocessor directives are fully described in the Preprocessor Reference. This example uses the preprocessor directive #define:
#define MAX 100
This statement tells the compiler to replace each occurrence of MAX by 100 before compilation. The C compiler preprocessor directives are:
| #define | #endif | #ifdef | #line |
| #elif | #error | #ifndef | #pragma |
| #else | #if | #include | #undef |