Is it possible to iterate over arguments in variadic macros?

c foreach c-preprocessor c99 variadic

Here is my homework of the day, it's based on macro tricks and today I particularly learnt about __VA_NARG__ invented by Laurent Deniau. Anyway, the following sample code works up to 8 fields for the sake of clarity. Just extend the code by duplicating if you need more (this is because the preprocessor doesn't feature recursion, as it reads the file only once).

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stddef.h>

struct a
{
  int a;
  int b;
  int c;
};

struct b
{
  int a;
  int b;
  int c;
  int d;
};

#define STRINGIZE(arg)  STRINGIZE1(arg)
#define STRINGIZE1(arg) STRINGIZE2(arg)
#define STRINGIZE2(arg) #arg

#define CONCATENATE(arg1, arg2)   CONCATENATE1(arg1, arg2)
#define CONCATENATE1(arg1, arg2)  CONCATENATE2(arg1, arg2)
#define CONCATENATE2(arg1, arg2)  arg1##arg2

/* PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS will print offset of each of the fields 
 within structure passed as the first argument.
 */
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_1(structure, field, ...) printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_2(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_1(structure, __VA_ARGS__)
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_3(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_2(structure, __VA_ARGS__)
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_4(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_3(structure, __VA_ARGS__)
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_5(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
 PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_4(structure, __VA_ARGS__)
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_6(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_5(structure, __VA_ARGS__)
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_7(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_6(structure, __VA_ARGS__)
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_8(structure, field, ...)\
  printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)"-%d\n", offsetof(structure, field));\
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_7(structure, __VA_ARGS__)

#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_NARG(...) PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_NARG_(__VA_ARGS__, PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_RSEQ_N())
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_NARG_(...) PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_ARG_N(__VA_ARGS__) 
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_ARG_N(_1, _2, _3, _4, _5, _6, _7, _8, N, ...) N 
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_RSEQ_N() 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_(N, structure, field, ...) CONCATENATE(PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_, N)(structure, field, __VA_ARGS__)

#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS(structure, field, ...) PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_(PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_NARG(field, __VA_ARGS__), structure, field, __VA_ARGS__)

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS(struct a, a, b, c);
  printf("\n");
  PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS(struct b, a, b, c, d);

  return 0;
}

which prints out:

struct a:a-0
struct a:b-4
struct a:c-8

struct b:a-0
struct b:b-4
struct b:c-8
struct b:d-12

EDIT: Here is a slightly different version that tries to be more generic. The FOR_EACH(what, ...) macro applies what to every other argument in the variable argument list.

So, you just have to define a macro that takes a single argument like this:

#define DO_STUFF(x) foo(x)

which is going to be applied to every argument in the list. So, for your typical example you need to hack a bit but it still remains concise:

#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_(structure, field) printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)" - offset = %d\n", offsetof(structure, field));
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS(field) PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_(struct a, field)

And you apply it like this:

FOR_EACH(PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS, a, b, c);

Finally, a complete sample program:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stddef.h>

struct a
{
  int a;
  int b;
  int c;
};

#define STRINGIZE(arg)  STRINGIZE1(arg)
#define STRINGIZE1(arg) STRINGIZE2(arg)
#define STRINGIZE2(arg) #arg

#define CONCATENATE(arg1, arg2)   CONCATENATE1(arg1, arg2)
#define CONCATENATE1(arg1, arg2)  CONCATENATE2(arg1, arg2)
#define CONCATENATE2(arg1, arg2)  arg1##arg2

#define FOR_EACH_1(what, x, ...) what(x)
#define FOR_EACH_2(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
  FOR_EACH_1(what,  __VA_ARGS__);
#define FOR_EACH_3(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
  FOR_EACH_2(what, __VA_ARGS__);
#define FOR_EACH_4(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
  FOR_EACH_3(what,  __VA_ARGS__);
#define FOR_EACH_5(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
 FOR_EACH_4(what,  __VA_ARGS__);
#define FOR_EACH_6(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
  FOR_EACH_5(what,  __VA_ARGS__);
#define FOR_EACH_7(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
  FOR_EACH_6(what,  __VA_ARGS__);
#define FOR_EACH_8(what, x, ...)\
  what(x);\
  FOR_EACH_7(what,  __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_NARG(...) FOR_EACH_NARG_(__VA_ARGS__, FOR_EACH_RSEQ_N())
#define FOR_EACH_NARG_(...) FOR_EACH_ARG_N(__VA_ARGS__) 
#define FOR_EACH_ARG_N(_1, _2, _3, _4, _5, _6, _7, _8, N, ...) N 
#define FOR_EACH_RSEQ_N() 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

#define FOR_EACH_(N, what, x, ...) CONCATENATE(FOR_EACH_, N)(what, x, __VA_ARGS__)
#define FOR_EACH(what, x, ...) FOR_EACH_(FOR_EACH_NARG(x, __VA_ARGS__), what, x, __VA_ARGS__)

#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_(structure, field) printf(STRINGIZE(structure)":"STRINGIZE(field)" - offset = %d\n", offsetof(structure, field));
#define PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS(field) PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS_(struct a, field)

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  FOR_EACH(PRN_STRUCT_OFFSETS, a, b, c);
  printf("\n");

  return 0;
}

At the risk of earning an archaeologist badge, I think there is a minor improvement to Gregory's answer above using the technique from Overloading Macro on Number of Arguments

With foo.h:

// Make a FOREACH macro
#define FE_0(WHAT)
#define FE_1(WHAT, X) WHAT(X) 
#define FE_2(WHAT, X, ...) WHAT(X)FE_1(WHAT, __VA_ARGS__)
#define FE_3(WHAT, X, ...) WHAT(X)FE_2(WHAT, __VA_ARGS__)
#define FE_4(WHAT, X, ...) WHAT(X)FE_3(WHAT, __VA_ARGS__)
#define FE_5(WHAT, X, ...) WHAT(X)FE_4(WHAT, __VA_ARGS__)
//... repeat as needed

#define GET_MACRO(_0,_1,_2,_3,_4,_5,NAME,...) NAME 
#define FOR_EACH(action,...) \
  GET_MACRO(_0,__VA_ARGS__,FE_5,FE_4,FE_3,FE_2,FE_1,FE_0)(action,__VA_ARGS__)

// Example
// Some actions
#define QUALIFIER(X) X::
#define OPEN_NS(X)   namespace X {
#define CLOSE_NS(X)  }
// Helper function
#define QUALIFIED(NAME,...) FOR_EACH(QUALIFIER,__VA_ARGS__)NAME

// Emit some code
QUALIFIED(MyFoo,Outer,Next,Inner)  foo();

FOR_EACH(OPEN_NS,Outer,Next,Inner)
  class Foo;
FOR_EACH(CLOSE_NS,Outer,Next,Inner)

cpp foo.h generates:

Outer::Next::Inner::MyFoo foo();

namespace Outer {namespace Next {namespace Inner {
   class Foo;
}}}

If your structure is described with X-Macros, then it is possible to write a function, or a macro to iterate over all the fields of the structure and print their offset. 

#include <stddef.h>   // offsetof macro

//--- first describe the structure, the fields, their types
#define X_FIELDS \
    X(int,    field1) \
    X(int,    field2) \
    X(char,   field3) \
    X(char *, field4)

//--- define the structure, the X macro will be expanded once per field
typedef struct {
#define X(type, name) type name;
    X_FIELDS
#undef X
} mystruct;

//--- "iterate" over all fields of the structure and print out their offset
void print_offset(mystruct *aStruct)
{
#define X(type, name) printf("offset of %s is %d\n", #name, offsetof(mystruct, name));
        X_FIELDS
#undef X
}

//--- demonstrate
int main(int ac, char**av)
{
    mystruct a = { 0, 1, 'a', "hello"};
    print_offset(&a);

    return 0;
}

The solution of Gregory Pakosz worked great. But I had two minor problems with it:

  1. Compiling with the pedantic option I got the warning: "ISO99 requires rest arguments to be used". This is caused by the variad arguments in the first FOR_EACH_1 macro. Removing those and changing the call to FOR_EACH_1 in FOR_EACH_2 removed this warning.

    #define FOR_EACH_1(what, x) 
#define FOR_EACH_2(what, x, ...)\
    what(x);                    \
    FOR_EACH_1(what);

  2. Since i used it in a very generic way, i sometimes had to call the repeat macro with only 1 argument. (I know it does not make sense to repeat an item 1 times ;)). Fortunately the solution to this problem was quite simple. Just removing the x parameter from the FOR_EACH macro.

    #define FOR_EACH(what, ...) FOR_EACH_(FOR_EACH_NARG(__VA_ARGS__), what, __VA_ARGS__)

Here the complete listing with the two changes:

#define CONCATENATE(arg1, arg2)   CONCATENATE1(arg1, arg2)
#define CONCATENATE1(arg1, arg2)  CONCATENATE2(arg1, arg2)
#define CONCATENATE2(arg1, arg2)  arg1##arg2

#define FOR_EACH_1(what, x)         \
    what(x)

#define FOR_EACH_2(what, x, ...)    \
    what(x);                        \
    FOR_EACH_1(what, __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_3(what, x, ...)    \
    what(x);                        \
    FOR_EACH_2(what, __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_4(what, x, ...)    \
    what(x);                        \
    FOR_EACH_3(what,  __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_5(what, x, ...)    \
    what(x);                        \
    FOR_EACH_4(what,  __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_6(what, x, ...)    \
  what(x);                          \
  FOR_EACH_5(what,  __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_7(what, x, ...)    \
    what(x);                        \
    FOR_EACH_6(what,  __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_8(what, x, ...)    \
    what(x);                        \
    FOR_EACH_7(what,  __VA_ARGS__);

#define FOR_EACH_NARG(...) FOR_EACH_NARG_(__VA_ARGS__, FOR_EACH_RSEQ_N())
#define FOR_EACH_NARG_(...) FOR_EACH_ARG_N(__VA_ARGS__) 
#define FOR_EACH_ARG_N(_1, _2, _3, _4, _5, _6, _7, _8, N, ...) N 
#define FOR_EACH_RSEQ_N() 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

#define FOR_EACH_(N, what, ...) CONCATENATE(FOR_EACH_, N)(what, __VA_ARGS__)
#define FOR_EACH(what, ...) FOR_EACH_(FOR_EACH_NARG(__VA_ARGS__), what, __VA_ARGS__)

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