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Using Macros to Print Debug Messages in C

I have to confess: It’s my first time using macros for debug, I used to just add printf-s when developing and remove them when the code is ready – Which is and ugly and very unprofessional in my opinion.

So, I decided to start caring about how my code looks, even in development stage. Here how I use macros for debug messages. (I needed the help of a friend to get this work).

first of all, define this:

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#define DEBUG



#ifdef DEBUG

#define PRINT_DEBUG(format, args...) printf("\033[31m"format"\033[0m", ##args);

#else

#define PRINT_DEBUG(format, args...)

#endif

(The “strange” \033[31m characters tell the shell to print messages in Red, see my previous post about printing color in Linux)

Now, in your code, to print a debug message, just write something like this:

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PRINT_DEBUG("This is a Debug Message: x+y = %d\n", x+y);

When you’re done developing, just remove the #define DEBUG from your code, and you’re done, no debug messages, and your program’s output is clean.

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Tags: Debug, Macros, Programming