C default arguments

Is there a way to specify default arguments to a function in C?

Solution 1:

Wow, everybody is such a pessimist around here. The answer is yes.

It ain't trivial: by the end, we'll have the core function, a supporting struct, a wrapper function, and a macro around the wrapper function. In my work I have a set of macros to automate all this; once you understand the flow it'll be easy for you to do the same.

I've written this up elsewhere, so here's a detailed external link to supplement the summary here: http://modelingwithdata.org/arch/00000022.htm

We'd like to turn

double f(int i, double x)

into a function that takes defaults (i=8, x=3.14). Define a companion struct:

typedef struct {
    int i;
    double x;
} f_args;

Rename your function f_base, and define a wrapper function that sets defaults and calls the base:

double var_f(f_args in){
    int i_out = in.i ? in.i : 8;
    double x_out = in.x ? in.x : 3.14;
    return f_base(i_out, x_out);
}

Now add a macro, using C's variadic macros. This way users don't have to know they're actually populating a f_args struct and think they're doing the usual:

#define f(...) var_f((f_args){__VA_ARGS__});

OK, now all of the following would work:

f(3, 8);      //i=3, x=8
f(.i=1, 2.3); //i=1, x=2.3
f(2);         //i=2, x=3.14
f(.x=9.2);    //i=8, x=9.2

Check the rules on how compound initializers set defaults for the exact rules.

One thing that won't work: f(0), because we can't distinguish between a missing value and zero. In my experience, this is something to watch out for, but can be taken care of as the need arises---half the time your default really is zero.

I went through the trouble of writing this up because I think named arguments and defaults really do make coding in C easier and even more fun. And C is awesome for being so simple and still having enough there to make all this possible.

Solution 2:

Yes. :-) But not in a way you would expect.

int f1(int arg1, double arg2, char* name, char *opt);

int f2(int arg1, double arg2, char* name)
{
  return f1(arg1, arg2, name, "Some option");
}

Unfortunately, C doesn't allow you to overload methods so you'd end up with two different functions. Still, by calling f2, you'd actually be calling f1 with a default value. This is a "Don't Repeat Yourself" solution, which helps you to avoid copying/pasting existing code.

Solution 3:

Not really. The only way would be to write a varargs function and manually fill in default values for arguments which the caller doesn't pass.

Solution 4:

We can create functions which use named parameters (only) for default values. This is a continuation of bk.'s answer.

#include <stdio.h>                                                               

struct range { int from; int to; int step; };
#define range(...) range((struct range){.from=1,.to=10,.step=1, __VA_ARGS__})   

/* use parentheses to avoid macro subst */             
void (range)(struct range r) {                                                     
    for (int i = r.from; i <= r.to; i += r.step)                                 
        printf("%d ", i);                                                        
    puts("");                                                                    
}                                                                                

int main() {                                                                     
    range();                                                                    
    range(.from=2, .to=4);                                                      
    range(.step=2);                                                             
}    

The C99 standard defines that later names in the initialization override previous items. We can also have some standard positional parameters as well, just change the macro and function signature accordingly. The default value parameters can only be used in named parameter style.

Program output:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 
2 3 4 
1 3 5 7 9