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Asked: 2026-05-13T20:40:30+00:00

With GCC, I can specify __attribute__((format(printf, 1, 2))) , telling the compiler that this

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With GCC, I can specify __attribute__((format(printf, 1, 2))) , telling the compiler that this function takes vararg parameters that are printf format specifiers.

This is very helpful in the cases where I wrap e.g. the vsprintf function family. I can have
extern void log_error(const char *format, ...) __attribute__((format(printf, 1, 2)));

And whenever I call this function, gcc will check that the types and number of arguments conform to the given format specifiers as it would for printf, and issue a warning if not.

Does the Microsoft C/C++ compiler have anything similar ?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    While GCC checks format specifiers when -Wformat is enabled, VC++ has no such checking, even for standard functions so there is no equivalent to this __attribute__ because there is no equivalent to -Wformat.

    I think Microsoft’s emphasis on C++ (evidenced by maintaining ISO compliance for C++ while only supporting C89) may be in part the reason why VC++ does not have format specifier checking; in C++ using <iostream> format specifiers are unnecessary.

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