Compiling simple Hello World program on OS X via command line

c++ xcode macos

erikvold · Nov 1, 2010 · Viewed 157.6k times · Source

I've got a simple hello world example that I'm trying to compile on OS X, named hw.cpp:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main() {
  cout << "Hello world!" << endl;
  return 0;
}

I'd like to compile it using gcc, but I've had no success. I'd also like to hear the other options, like using Xcode ?

Answer

Try

g++ hw.cpp
./a.out

g++ is the C++ compiler frontend to GCC.
gcc is the C compiler frontend to GCC.

Yes, Xcode is definitely an option. It is a GUI IDE that is built on-top of GCC.

Though I prefer a slightly more verbose approach:

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello world!" << std::endl;
}