gcc -fsyntax-only -xc - <<< "text snippet"
-fsyntax-only
is to check the code for syntax errors, and don't do anything beyond that.
-xc
is to specify C language. Other interesting option for example c++
. This flag is mandatory when reading from stdin
.
-
is to read text from stdin
.
<<<
is to redirect text to stdin
of a command, also known as a here string. You can read more about this in man bash
in the Here Strings
section.
Note that "text snippet" must be enclosed within double-quotes, otherwise only the first word will be part of the here string, the rest will be interpreted as additional command line arguments to the gcc
program.