Suppose I have a list of #defines in a header file for an external library. These #defines represent error codes returned from functions. I want to write a conversion function that can take as an input an error code and return as an output a string literal representing the actual #define name. As an example, if I have #define NO_ERROR 0 #define ONE_KIND_OF_ERROR 1 #define ANOTHER_KIND_OF_ERROR 2 I would like a function to be able to called like int errorCode = doSomeLibraryFunction(); if (errorCode) writeToLog(convertToString(errorCode)); And have convertToString() be able to auto-convert that error code without being a giant switch-case looking like const char* convertToString(int errorCode) { switch (errorCode) { case NO_ERROR: return "NO_ERROR"; case ONE_KIND_OF_ERROR: return "ONE_KIND_OF_ERROR"; ... ... ... I have a feeling that if this is possible, it would be possible using templates and metaprogramming, but that would only work the error codes were actually a type and not a bunch of processor macros. Thanks