Article ID: 151898 - Last Review: July 5, 2005 - Revision: 3.1

BUG: Include Directories Cannot End with a Backslash

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q151898

SYMPTOMS

The compiler ignores some or all of the Command Line options that appear after the /I switch.

The compiler incorrectly parses the additional Include Directory Command Line switch if its argument ends with a backslash followed by a quotation mark. The compiler interprets the \" sequence as meaning the path contains a quotation mark.

If you set the additional Include Directories from within Developer Studio, double quotes are automatically placed around the directory name. If there is a backslash at the end of the directory name, this problem occurs.

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RESOLUTION

Remove the trailing backslash character from the Include Directory.

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

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MORE INFORMATION

Sample Code

// Compile options needed to generate error (compiler will not detect
// the /D"_CMDLINE":)
//    CL /c test.cpp /I"test\" /D"_CMDLINE"
// 
// Compile options needed for successful compiling (compiler will
// detect the /D"_CMDLINE":)
//    CL /c test.cpp /I"test" /D"_CMDLINE"

// test.cpp
// 
#ifdef _CMDLINE
#pragma message("Program compiled with _CMDLINE defined.")
#else
#pragma message("Program compiled without _CMDLINE defined.")
#endif

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