Question

while programming in c++,
Most of the times i get ‘some symbol’ has already been defined
see previous definition of ‘some symbol’

I think this happens because improper order of headers file included.

How can i find out all the definitions of ‘some symbol’

Thanks in advance,
Uday

EDIT:

I am using visual studio
I remember some command some thing like dumpbin /exports (I dont remember exactly) to get all the definition

Answer 1

Translating C++ into an executbale has two steps. In step one, the compiler works linearly through the inputs (typically .cpp files and the headers they include). In step 2, the linker combines the results from step 1.

From your description of “symbol defined before”, I conclude the problem must occur within a .cpp file, as those are processed linearly. dumpbin /exports works on the output of step 1, which you probably won’t have. Header inclusion could be the culprit, as that’s an early phase of compilation. You want the preprocessed input. IIRC, you can get that with the /EP switch.