Using #define to include another file in C++/C

Question

I want to define a macro which includes another header file like so:

#define MY_MACRO (text) #include \"__FILE__##_inline.inl\"

So that whe

Answer 1

You can't write other pre-processor directives using the pre-processor. However, I believe you could define just the file name:

#define MY_MACRO(name) "__FILE__##name_inline.inl"

#include MY_MACRO(name)

The pre-processor runs multiple times until there are no further substitutions it can make, so it should expand the name first and then #include the referenced file.

EDIT: I just tried it and the pre-processor can't handle the quotes like that.

#define MY_MACRO(x) <__FILE__##x_inline.inl>
#include MY_MACRO(foo)

works OK, but <> may not be what you wanted.

EDIT2: As pointed out by sth in comments, the __FILE__ does not expand correctly, which makes this probably not what you want after all. Sorry.