Can I append to a preprocessor macro?
- by JCSalomon
Is there any way in standard C—or with GNU extensions—to append stuff to a macro definition? E.g., given a macro defined as
#define quux_list X(foo) X(bar)
can I append X(bas) so that it now expands as if I’d defined it
#define quux_list X(foo) X(bar) X(bas)?
I’m playing with discriminated/tagged unions along these lines:
struct quux_foo { int x; };
struct quux_bar { char *s; };
struct quux_bas { void *p; };
enum quux_type {quux_foo, quux_bar, quux_bas};
struct quux {
enum quux_type type;
union {
struct quux_foo foo;
struct quux_bar bar;
struct quux_bas bas;
} t;
};
I figure this is a good place for the X-macro. If I define a macro
#define quux_table X(foo) X(bar) X(bas)
the enumeration & structure can be defined thus, and never get out of sync:
#define X(t) quux_ ## t,
enum quux_type {quux_table};
#undef X
#define X(t) struct quux_ ## t t;
struct quux {
enum quux_type type;
union {quux_table} t;
};
#undef X
Of course, the quux_* structures can get out of sync, so I’d like to do something like this, only legally:
struct quux_foo { int x; };
#define quux_table quux_table X(foo)
struct quux_bar { char *s; };
#define quux_table quux_table X(bar)
struct quux_bas { void *p; };
#define quux_table quux_table X(bas)
(Well, what I really want to be able to do is something like
member_struct(quux, foo) { int x; };
but I’m well aware that macros cannot be (re)defined from within macros.)
Anyhow, that’s my motivating example. Is there a way to accomplish this?
Boost.Preprocessor examples are fine, if you can show me how to make the X-macro technique work with that library.
