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(cpp-300.info)Implementation limits


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Implementation limits
=====================

   GNU CPP has a small number of internal limits.  This section lists
the limits which the C standard requires to be no lower than some
minimum, and all the others we are aware of.  We intend there to be as
few limits as possible.  If you encounter an undocumented or
inconvenient limit, please report that to us as a bug.  (See the
section on reporting bugs in the GCC manual.)

   Where we say something is limited "only by available memory", that
means that internal data structures impose no intrinsic limit, and space
is allocated with `malloc' or equivalent.  The actual limit will
therefore depend on many things, such as the size of other things
allocated by the compiler at the same time, the amount of memory
consumed by other processes on the same computer, etc.

   * Nesting levels of `#include' files.

     We impose an arbitrary limit of 200 levels, to avoid runaway
     recursion.  The standard requires at least 15 levels.

   * Nesting levels of conditional inclusion.

     The C standard mandates this be at least 63.  GNU CPP is limited
     only by available memory.

   * Levels of parenthesised expressions within a full expression.

     The C standard requires this to be at least 63.  In preprocessor
     conditional expressions, it is limited only by available memory.

   * Significant initial characters in an identifier or macro name.

     The preprocessor treats all characters as significant.  The C
     standard requires only that the first 63 be significant.

   * Number of macros simultaneously defined in a single translation
     unit.

     The standard requires at least 4095 be possible.  GNU CPP is
     limited only by available memory.

   * Number of parameters in a macro definition and arguments in a
     macro call.

     We allow `USHRT_MAX', which is no smaller than 65,535.  The minimum
     required by the standard is 127.

   * Number of characters on a logical source line.

     The C standard requires a minimum of 4096 be permitted.  GNU CPP
     places no limits on this, but you may get incorrect column numbers
     reported in diagnostics for lines longer than 65,535 characters.

   * Maximum size of a source file.

     The standard does not specify any lower limit on the maximum size
     of a source file.  GNU cpp maps files into memory, so it is
     limited by the available address space.  This is generally at
     least two gigabytes.  Depending on the operating system, the size
     of physical memory may or may not be a limitation.



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