Question

With reference to the SO thread C Macro Token Concatenation involving a variable – is it possible?,

Is it at all possible to generate variable names at compile-time in C and C++?

something like

int count = 8;
for(i=0; i<count; i++) {
    int var_%i% = i*i;   // <--- magic here
}

_{I know I can use arrays for this case, but this is just an example just to explain what I mean.}

Answer 1

If you are expecting to use the value of i to generate the name var_%i% (e.g. generating variables var_1, var_2, …, var_count), then no, that’s not possible at all. For one thing, that’s not even a compile-time operation. The value of i isn’t known until runtime. Yes, you can tell what it will be (and maybe a compiler could with static analysis in a very simple case), but in general values are exclusively run-time concepts.

If you just mean creating a variable called var_i, why don’t you just name it that?

Maybe it would help if you explained what problem you’re trying to solve by doing this. I guarantee there’s a better way to go about it.