Why use #define instead of a variable

Question

What is the point of #define in C++? I\'ve only seen examples where it\'s used in place of a \"magic number\" but I don\'t see the point in just giving that val

Answer 1

The #define is part of the preprocessor language for C and C++. When they're used in code, the compiler just replaces the #define statement with what ever you want. For example, if you're sick of writing for (int i=0; i<=10; i++) all the time, you can do the following:

#define fori10 for (int i=0; i<=10; i++)

// some code...

fori10 {
    // do stuff to i
}

If you want something more generic, you can create preprocessor macros:

#define fori(x) for (int i=0; i<=x; i++)
// the x will be replaced by what ever is put into the parenthesis, such as
// 20 here
fori(20) {
    // do more stuff to i
}

It's also very useful for conditional compilation (the other major use for #define) if you only want certain code used in some particular build:

// compile the following if debugging is turned on and defined
#ifdef DEBUG
// some code
#endif

Most compilers will allow you to define a macro from the command line (e.g. g++ -DDEBUG something.cpp), but you can also just put a define in your code like so:

#define DEBUG

Some resources:

1. Wikipedia article
2. C++ specific site
3. Documentation on GCC's preprocessor
4. Microsoft reference
5. C specific site (I don't think it's different from the C++ version though)

Answer 2

The #define allows you to establish a value in a header that would otherwise compile to size-greater-than-zero. Your headers should not compile to size-greater-than-zero.

// File:  MyFile.h

// This header will compile to size-zero.
#define TAX_RATE 0.625

// NO:  static const double TAX_RATE = 0.625;
// NO:  extern const double TAX_RATE;  // WHAT IS THE VALUE?

EDIT: As Neil points out in the comment to this post, the explicit definition-with-value in the header would work for C++, but not C.