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c++cincludec-preprocessor

How to escape characters in include directives?

Let's say I have a header file called a"b.h or a>b.h, how do I escape the " or > character in an include directive?

// this does not work
#include "a\"b.h"
Solution

  • > character is not allowed as part of filename when using #include <filename> directive (and respectively, " is not allowed as part of filename in #include "filename"). There is no standard way to escape any characters in the sequence, any such feature would be a compiler extension. cppreference link.

    For the specific case of filename a>b.h, you can change it to #include "a>b.h" and it should work.

    Filename a"b.h is out of luck - even in #include <a"b.h> it's implementation-defined how " character is treated (or if supported at all).

    Aside from ", also using characters ', \, // or /* in filename part of #include directive is implementation-defined and may be unsupported.