Question

Right now I have this

#include <zlib.h>
int main ()
{
    puts (ZLIB_VERSION);
}

As an exercise, is there any way I could get it to compile on one line, something like

#include <zlib.h>; int main (){ puts (ZLIB_VERSION); }

I can get it to compile on two lines, but the include is preventing one line.

Answer 1

There’s no way to do exactly what you want. With that said, if this is part of a build system, it would be a lot better to use the -E option to the compiler to preprocess a file containing simply

#include <zlib.h>
ZLIB_VERSION

and then parse the output. This way you avoid running a program generated by the compiler, so your build doesn’t break when cross-compiling.