Introduction :

Multi-line macros are useful in many ways. For example, if you need a single if-else statement in different parts of your program, you can define a macro with the if-else condition.

In this tutorial, we will quickly learn how to write a multi-line macro in C with different examples.

Write a multiline macro function :

Multi-line macros are similar to single line macros. The only difference is that you need to add one __ at the end of each line.

Example 1(print the arguments) :

#include <stdio.h>

#define PRINT(first, second){\
            printf("First : %d ", first);\
            printf("Second : %d", second);\
            printf("\n");\
            }

int main()
{
    PRINT(1,2);
    PRINT(2,3);
}

It will print :

First : 1 Second : 2
First : 2 Second : 3

We can also write the above program as like below :

#include <stdio.h>

#define PRINT(first, second)\
            printf("First : %d ", first);\
            printf("Second : %d", second);\
            printf("\n");\
            

int main()
{
    PRINT(1,2);
    PRINT(2,3);
}

Example 2 : (for loop) :

#include < stdio.h>

#define LOOP(number)\
        for (int i = 0; i < (number); i++){\
        printf("%d\n", i);\
        }\

int main()
{
    LOOP(5);
}

You can use the above macro to print all numbers starting from 0 to the argument number using a for loop.

It prints the below output :

0
1
2
3
4

Example 3 : (if-else) :

#include < stdio.h>

#define FIND_LARGER(first,second)\
        if(first>second)\
            printf("%d is greater than %d",first,second);\
        else\
            printf("%d is greater than %d",second,first);\

int main()
{
    FIND_LARGER(2,3);
}

Conclusion :

As shown in the above examples, you can convert a part of your program to a macro. It makes the code more readable and also reduces the program size. Try to run the examples shown above and drop one comment below if you have any questions.