C #define macros

Question

Here is what i have and I wonder how this works and what it actually does.

#define NUM 5
#define FTIMES(x)(x*5)

int main(void) {
    int j = 1;
    printf(\         


        

Answer 1

the preprocessor substitutes all NUM ocurrences in the code with 5, and all the FTIMES(x) with x * 5. The compiler then compiles the code.

Its just text substitution.

Answer 2

And if you want to fix it:

#define FTIMES(x) ((x) * 5)

Answer 3

define is just a string substitution.

The answer to your question after that is order of operations:

FTIMES(j+5) = 1+5*5 = 26

FTIMES((j+5)) = (1+5)*5 = 30

Answer 4

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, the way to fix this problem is to do the following:

#define FTIMES(x) ((x)*5)

The parentheses around x in the macro expansion prevent the operator associativity problem.

Answer 5

The reason this happens is because your macro expands the print to:

printf("%d %d\n", j+5*5, (j+5)*5);

Meaning:

1+5*5 and (1+5)*5

Answer 6

Order of operations.

FTIMES(j+5) where j=1 evaluates to:

1+5*5

Which is:

25+1

=26

By making FTIMES((j+5)) you've changed it to:

(1+5)*5

6*5

30