C++ preprocessor __VA_ARGS__ number of arguments

Question

Simple question for which I could not find answer on the net. In variadic argument macros, how to find the number of arguments? I am okay with boost preprocessor, if it has

Answer 1

If you are using C++11, and you need the value as a C++ compile-time constant, a very elegant solution is this:

#include <tuple>

#define MACRO(...) \
    std::cout << "num args: " \
    << std::tuple_size<decltype(std::make_tuple(__VA_ARGS__))>::value \
    << std::endl;

Please note: the counting happens entirely at compile time, and the value can be used whenever compile-time integer is required, for instance as a template parameter to std::array.

Answer 2

this works with 0 arguments with gcc/llvm. [links are dumb]

/*
 * we need a comma at the start for ##_VA_ARGS__ to consume then
 * the arguments are pushed out in such a way that 'cnt' ends up with
 * the right count.  
 */
#define COUNT_ARGS(...) COUNT_ARGS_(,##__VA_ARGS__,6,5,4,3,2,1,0)
#define COUNT_ARGS_(z,a,b,c,d,e,f,cnt,...) cnt

#define C_ASSERT(test) \
    switch(0) {\
      case 0:\
      case test:;\
    }

int main() {
   C_ASSERT(0 ==  COUNT_ARGS());
   C_ASSERT(1 ==  COUNT_ARGS(a));
   C_ASSERT(2 ==  COUNT_ARGS(a,b));
   C_ASSERT(3 ==  COUNT_ARGS(a,b,c));
   C_ASSERT(4 ==  COUNT_ARGS(a,b,c,d));
   C_ASSERT(5 ==  COUNT_ARGS(a,b,c,d,e));
   C_ASSERT(6 ==  COUNT_ARGS(a,b,c,d,e,f));
   return 0;
}

Visual Studio seems to be ignoring the ## operator used to consume the empty argument. You can probably get around that with something like

#define CNT_ COUNT_ARGS
#define PASTE(x,y) PASTE_(x,y)
#define PASTE_(x,y) x ## y
#define CNT(...) PASTE(ARGVS,PASTE(CNT_(__VA_ARGS__),CNT_(1,##__VA_ARGS__)))
//you know its 0 if its 11 or 01
#define ARGVS11 0
#define ARGVS01 0
#define ARGVS12 1
#define ARGVS23 2
#define ARGVS34 3

Answer 3

This is actually compiler dependent, and not supported by any standard.

Here however you have a macro implementation that does the count:

#define PP_NARG(...) \
         PP_NARG_(__VA_ARGS__,PP_RSEQ_N())
#define PP_NARG_(...) \
         PP_ARG_N(__VA_ARGS__)
#define PP_ARG_N( \
          _1, _2, _3, _4, _5, _6, _7, _8, _9,_10, \
         _11,_12,_13,_14,_15,_16,_17,_18,_19,_20, \
         _21,_22,_23,_24,_25,_26,_27,_28,_29,_30, \
         _31,_32,_33,_34,_35,_36,_37,_38,_39,_40, \
         _41,_42,_43,_44,_45,_46,_47,_48,_49,_50, \
         _51,_52,_53,_54,_55,_56,_57,_58,_59,_60, \
         _61,_62,_63,N,...) N
#define PP_RSEQ_N() \
         63,62,61,60,                   \
         59,58,57,56,55,54,53,52,51,50, \
         49,48,47,46,45,44,43,42,41,40, \
         39,38,37,36,35,34,33,32,31,30, \
         29,28,27,26,25,24,23,22,21,20, \
         19,18,17,16,15,14,13,12,11,10, \
         9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0

/* Some test cases */


PP_NARG(A) -> 1
PP_NARG(A,B) -> 2
PP_NARG(A,B,C) -> 3
PP_NARG(A,B,C,D) -> 4
PP_NARG(A,B,C,D,E) -> 5
PP_NARG(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3) -> 63

Answer 4

I'm assuming that each argument to VA_ARGS will be comma separated. If so I think this should work as a pretty clean way to do this.

#include <cstring>

constexpr int CountOccurances(const char* str, char c) {
    return str[0] == char(0) ? 0 : (str[0] == c) + CountOccurances(str+1, c);
}

#define NUMARGS(...) (CountOccurances(#__VA_ARGS__, ',') + 1)

int main(){
    static_assert(NUMARGS(hello, world) == 2, ":(")  ;
    return 0;
}

Worked for me on godbolt for clang 4 and GCC 5.1. This will compute at compile time, but won't evaluate for the preprocessor. So if you are trying to do something like making a FOR_EACH, then this won't work.

Answer 5

Boost Preprocessor actually has this as of Boost 1.49, as BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(...). It works up to size 64.

Under the hood, it's basically the same as Kornel Kisielewicz's answer.

Answer 6

There are some C++11 solutions for finding the number of arguments at compile-time, but I'm surprised to see that no one has suggested anything so simple as:

#define VA_COUNT(...) detail::va_count(__VA_ARGS__)

namespace detail
{
    template<typename ...Args>
    constexpr std::size_t va_count(Args&&...) { return sizeof...(Args); }
}

This doesn't require inclusion of the <tuple> header either.