Compiling and Running C code in notepad++
I have a problem with compiling and running C codes in notepad++. I am using the nppexec plugin and wrote the following in the script section after pressing F6:
C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe -g "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)" -o "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)\$(NAME_PART).exe"
$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)\$(NAME_PART).exe
After pressing OK, I get the following on the console:
C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe -g "D:\Silent\Documents\College Stuff\6th sem\NETWORKING lab\substitutioncypher.C" -o "D:\Silent\Documents\College Stuff\6th sem\NETWORKING lab\substitutioncypher.exe"
Process started >>>
<<< Process finished. (Exit code 0)
D:\Silent\Documents\College Stuff\6th sem\NETWORKING lab\substitutioncypher.exe
Process started >>>
Here, substitution.c is my program to be run. The problem is that the gcc part is working fine but I am not able to execute the program from here as there is no response.
As you see, it just says process started and after that nothing. No response to a key being pressed, it just accepts everything like a text editor.
If I go to the working directory and execute the program from there (double clicking the exe file) then it seems to run perfectly fine. The problem seems to be in my script or the plugin.
Please, can anyone find out what is wrong with my compiling and running script?
Answer
In addition to @paxdiablo 's answer, you may also find useful the following NppExec script for single file projects:
npp_save
cd "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)"
cmd /c del "$(NAME_PART)".o "$(NAME_PART)".exe *.o
C:\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe -g3 -std=c89 -pedantic -Wall -Wextra -Wno-nonnull "$(NAME_PART)".c -o "$(NAME_PART)".exe
npp_run "$(NAME_PART)".exe
The 1st line saves the document that is currently active inside notepad++.
The 2nd line ensures your current directory is the one of the active document. This let you refraining from using the "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)" variable in the rest of the lines.
The 3rd line removes any executables and object-file leftovers from previous successful compilations. Removing the last executable is a nice idea, because if you don't then the last line will cause your .exe produced by the last compilation to be run anyway, even if your current compilation fails. A failed compilation does not produce an .exe, so normally you don't want NppExec to run the previous .exe. Removing the previously produced object-file is optional, but it does ensure that it will not affect fresh compilations (it makes more sense in multi-file projects, as an alternative to the touch command-line tool).
The 4th line compiles the active document. Feel free to modify gcc's options according to your needs. If you add C:\MinGW\bin into the Windows PATH environment variable, and assuming you are using only one gcc installation on your system, then you can skip the absolute path, and write just gcc instead.
The last line executes the produced executable. The npp_run command tells NppExec to launch a new command-prompt window, and run your program in it (unless it is a WIN32 GUI program). I personally find it more convenient compared to the NppExec console embed in notepad++. It looks more natural and it also avoids some I/O redirection problems of the NppExec console.
However, if your program is a console app that does not interact with the user say via a loop, then this approach will cause the launched command-prompt window to close immediately after your program terminates, not giving you the chance to inspect its output. In that case you should have you program waiting for a key to be pressed by the user just before its termination. A quick-and-dirty way is to put a system("pause"); right before your main() function's return and/or exit() statements (it is much better though to write a simple cross-platform function or macro for this).
You may experiment with the above script by typing it in F6's <temporary script> and save it permanently for general use when you are happy with its behavior.
On a side note, you may also find it useful to have a look at this post, where I'm trying to explain how to setup NppExec so it jumps to the appropriate line in the source code, by double-clicking on any error gcc spits in the NppExec console during compilation.