2018-12-01-advent-tcc.md

layout	post
title	The Advent of Void: Day 1: tcc

tcc(1) is a small and fast C compiler that allows to run C source code as script. So when bash doesn't cut it and python or ruby is too fancy, tcc may be what you want.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
	printf("Hello %s\n", argv[1]);
	return 0;
}

Given this simple Hello World C script you can simply run it via the following call:

$ tcc -run hello.c Void
Hello Void

After the -run <FILE> argument all following parameters will be passed to the script as argv.

tcc even supports shebangs so you'll get the full scripting experience:

#!/usr/bin/tcc -run
#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	printf("Hello %s\n", argv[0]);
	return 0;
}

Afterwards, just like any other scripting language, add executable permission and call it:

$ chmod +x hello.c
$ ./hello.c Void
Hello Void

Unfortunately, tcc doesn't cover the full C standard yet. For most small scripting like tasks tcc is more than enough.

You can find more informations about tcc on its website or on the tcc(1) manpage