Question

So I have a header file and 2 .c files within the beginnings of my program. I go to compile and I get the error message (tons of these over and over)

command_parser.c:74:6: error: static declaration of ‘read_args_file’ follows non-static     declaration
command_parser.h:9:6: note: previous declaration of ‘read_args_file’ was here

Now I do not use the static keyword ANYWHERE in my program…so why would GCC go and think that I’ve declared a static function???

Below is the relevant code for read_args_file’s declaration in the .h and .c files:

void read_args_file(char* file_name, char* out_file_name, int (*command_read)(char* command, FILE* out));

void read_args_file(char* file_name, char* out_file_name, int (*command_read)(char* command, FILE* out)) {
.....
}

EDIT:

The entire .h file is:

#ifndef COMMAND_PARSER_H_
#define COMMAND_PARSER_H_

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

/* line 8 follows: */
void switch_parsing(int argc, char* argv[], int (*command_read)(char* command, FILE* out), char* (*pr    int_usage)()) {
void read_args_file(char* file_name, char* out_file_name, int (*command_read)(char* command,     FILE* ou    t));
void read_args_input(int (*command_read)(char* command, FILE* out));

#endif

The command_parser.c file until the function definition is:

void switch_parsing(int argc, char* argv[], int (*command_read)(char* command, FILE* out), char* (*print_usage)()) {

    char* arg;
    char* return_string;
    char* wrong_string = "Please enter either -i, -h, or -f as a switch. Use -h for help.\n";
    char* invalid_f_args = "You entered an invalid number of arguments for the -f switch! Only two are permitted, <commands_file> and <output_file>.\n";
    int str_len = 0;

    char cur;

    if (argc > 1) {
        arg = argv[1];
    }
    else {
        arg = "\0";
    }

    str_len = strlen(arg);
    if (str_len == 2) {
        if (arg[0] == '-') {
            cur = arg[1];
            if (cur == 'i') {
                read_args_input(command_read);
                return_string = "";
            }
            else if (cur == 'f') {
                if (argc == 4) {
                    read_args_file(argv[2], argv[3], (*command_read));
                    return_string = "";
                }
                else {
                    return_string = invalid_f_args;
                }
            }
            else if (cur == 'h') {
                return_string = print_usage();
            }
            else {
                return_string = "The switch ";
                return_string = strcat(return_string, &cur);
                return_string = strcat(return_string, " is an invalid switch.\n");
            }
        }
    }
    else if (str_len == 1) {
        return_string = wrong_string;
    }
    else if (str_len > 2) {
        return_string = wrong_string;
    }
    else if (str_len == 0) {
        return_string = print_usage();
    }
    else {
        return_string = wrong_string;
    }
}

/**
 * Reads arguments from a passed in file name, and writes the output from the commands
 * in the file to the out_file_name. Arguments are run through command_read function
 * passed in to be executed.
 */
/* line 74 follows: */
void read_args_file(char* file_name, char* out_file_name, int (*command_read)(char* command, FILE* out)) {

Answer 1

There is a brace open in the .h file line 8: void switch_parsing(int argc, ..... ){

The lines that follow are treated by the compile as one big function body, and the final error will be found after the compiler fails to find a matching ‘}’. Many lines (and files) later. The OP got lucky: the compiler first found another (semantic) error.