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Easy way to use variables of enum types as string in C?

Asked 2008-09-29T02:00:24.800
101

Here's what I am trying to do: 

typedef enum { ONE, TWO, THREE } Numbers;

I am trying to write a function that would do a switch case similar to the following: 

char num_str[10];
int process_numbers_str(Numbers num) {
  switch(num) {
    case ONE:
    case TWO:
    case THREE:
    {
      strcpy(num_str, num); //some way to get the symbolic constant name in here?
    } break;
    default:
      return 0; //no match
  return 1;
}

Instead of defining at every case, is there a way to set it using the enum variable like I am trying to do above?

c enums c-preprocessor
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4 Answers

74

The technique from Making something both a C identifier and a string? can be used here.

As usual with such preprocessor stuff, writing and understanding the preprocessor part can be hard, and includes passing macros to other macros and involves using # and ## operators, but using it is real easy. I find this style very useful for long enums, where maintaining the same list twice can be really troublesome.

Factory code - typed only once, usually hidden in the header:

enumFactory.h:

// expansion macro for enum value definition
#define ENUM_VALUE(name,assign) name assign,

// expansion macro for enum to string conversion
#define ENUM_CASE(name,assign) case name: return #name;

// expansion macro for string to enum conversion
#define ENUM_STRCMP(name,assign) if (!strcmp(str,#name)) return name;

/// declare the access function and define enum values
#define DECLARE_ENUM(EnumType,ENUM_DEF) \
  enum EnumType { \
    ENUM_DEF(ENUM_VALUE) \
  }; \
  const char *GetString(EnumType dummy); \
  EnumType Get##EnumType##Value(const char *string); \

/// define the access function names
#define DEFINE_ENUM(EnumType,ENUM_DEF) \
  const char *GetString(EnumType value) \
  { \
    switch(value) \
    { \
      ENUM_DEF(ENUM_CASE) \
      default: return ""; /* handle input error */ \
    } \
  } \
  EnumType Get##EnumType##Value(const char *str) \
  { \
    ENUM_DEF(ENUM_STRCMP) \
    return (EnumType)0; /* handle input error */ \
  } \

Factory used

someEnum.h:

#include "enumFactory.h"
#define SOME_ENUM(XX) \
    XX(FirstValue,) \
    XX(SecondValue,) \
    XX(SomeOtherValue,=50) \
    XX(OneMoreValue,=100) \

DECLARE_ENUM(SomeEnum,SOME_ENUM)

someEnum.cpp:

#include "someEnum.h"
DEFINE_ENUM(SomeEnum,SOME_ENUM)

The technique can be easily ex

answered 2008-10-14T19:33:50.157
7

KISS. You will be doing all sorts of other switch/case things with your enums so why should printing be different? Forgetting a case in your print routine isn't a huge deal when you consider there are about 100 other places you can forget a case. Just compile -Wall, which will warn of non-exhaustive case matches. Don't use "default" because that will make the switch exhaustive and you wont get warnings. Instead, let the switch exit and deal with the default case like so...

const char *myenum_str(myenum e)
{
    switch(e) {
    case ONE: return "one";
    case TWO: return "two";
    }
    return "invalid";
}
answered 2010-07-05T15:46:16.883
4

The use of boost::preprocessor makes possible an elegant solution like the following:

Step 1: include the header file:

#include "EnumUtilities.h"

Step 2: declare the enumeration object with the following syntax:

MakeEnum( TestData,
         (x)
         (y)
         (z)
         );

Step 3: use your data:

Getting the number of elements:

td::cout << "Number of Elements: " << TestDataCount << std::endl;

Getting the associated string:

std::cout << "Value of " << TestData2String(x) << " is " << x << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of " << TestData2String(y) << " is " << y << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of " << TestData2String(z) << " is " << z << std::endl;

Getting the enum value from the associated string:

std::cout << "Value of x is " << TestData2Enum("x") << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of y is " << TestData2Enum("y") << std::endl;
std::cout << "Value of z is " << TestData2Enum("z") << std::endl;

This looks clean and compact, with no extra files to include. The code I wrote within EnumUtilities.h is the following:

#include <boost/preprocessor/seq/for_each.hpp>
#include <string>

#define REALLY_MAKE_STRING(x) #x
#define MAKE_STRING(x) REALLY_MAKE_STRING(x)
#define MACRO1(r, data, elem) elem,
#define MACRO1_STRING(r, data, elem)    case elem: return REALLY_MAKE_STRING(elem);
#define MACRO1_ENUM(r, data, elem)      if (REALLY_MAKE_STRING(elem) == eStrEl) return elem;


#define MakeEnum(eName, SEQ) \
    enum eName { BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(MACRO1, , SEQ) \
    last_##eName##_enum}; \
    const int eN
answered 2012-02-23T02:02:03.277
0

I have created a simple templated class streamable_enum that uses stream operators << and >> and is based on the std::map<Enum, std::string>: 

#ifndef STREAMABLE_ENUM_HPP
#define STREAMABLE_ENUM_HPP

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <map>

template <typename E>
class streamable_enum
{
public:
    typedef typename std::map<E, std::string> tostr_map_t;
    typedef typename std::map<std::string, E> fromstr_map_t;

    streamable_enum()
    {}

    streamable_enum(E val) :
        Val_(val)
    {}

    operator E() {
        return Val_;
    }

    bool operator==(const streamable_enum<E>& e) {
        return this->Val_ == e.Val_;
    }

    bool operator==(const E& e) {
        return this->Val_ == e;
    }

    static const tostr_map_t& to_string_map() {
        static tostr_map_t to_str_(get_enum_strings<E>());
        return to_str_;
    }

    static const fromstr_map_t& from_string_map() {
        static fromstr_map_t from_str_(reverse_map(to_string_map()));
        return from_str_;
    }
private:
    E Val_;

    static fromstr_map_t reverse_map(const tostr_map_t& eToS) {
        fromstr_map_t sToE;
        for (auto pr : eToS) {
            sToE.emplace(pr.second, pr.first);
        }
        return sToE;
    }
};

template <typename E>
streamable_enum<E> stream_enum(E e) {
    return streamable_enum<E>(e);
}

template <typename E>
typename streamable_enum<E>::tostr_map_t get_enum_strings() {
    // \todo throw an appropriate exception or display compile error/warning
    return {};
}

template <typename E>
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, streamable_enum<E> e) {
    auto& mp = streamable_enum<E>::to_string_map();
    auto res = mp.find(e);
    if (res != mp.end()) {
        os << res->second;
    } else
answered 2013-07-31T23:11:47.437

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