Question

When I compile a .c file using the cc command, it creates an a.out executable. I’ve noticed that it creates the a.out file inside my current directory. Is there a way to make the a.out file be created in the same directory as the .c file wherever I happen to be on the system?

for example if my current path is ~/desktop and I type in the command:

cc path/to/my/file/example.c

It creates the a.out file in the ~/desktop directory. I would like it to create the a.out file in path/to/my/file/a.out

Answer 1

You will have to use the -o switch each time you call cc:

cc -o path/to/my/file/a.out path/to/my/file/example.c

or you can make a wrapper script like this:

mycc

#!/bin/bash

dirname=`dirname "$1"`
#enquoted both input and output filenames to make it work with files that include spaces in their names.
cmd="cc -o \"$dirname/a.out\" \"$1\""

eval $cmd

then you can invoke

./mycc path/to/my/file/example.c

and it will, in turn, call

cc -o "path/to/my/file/a.out" path/to/my/file/example.c

of course you can put mycc in $PATH so you can call it like:

mycc path/to/my/file/example.c