Meaning of Arguments in Main Function

[nanay001]

Hi,

I have a question about a main function with the following arguments:

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

Let's say the above line comes from a source code named exe1. If I compile this source code, what role do the arguments argc and argv have when running the code?

[uplime]

They allow you to pass arguments to the program, typically from the command line. E.g. if you run:

myapp --argument --arg=value file.txt

then argv looks like this:

argv[0]: "myapp"
argv[1]: "--argument"
argv[2]: "--arg=value"
argv[3]: "file.txt"
argv[4]: NULL

argc would be 4 (the number of arguments passed)

[keskiverto]

https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Program-Arguments.html
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/cpp/main-function-command-line-args?view=msvc-160