if I have two header files
a.h and b.h
can I include "a.h" in b.h
and also include "b.h" in "a.h" ?
2 Answers
You can, but it's not a very good idea. If you really must, you can prevent recursion with the use of include guards (which are a good idea regardless).
In a.h:
#ifndef A_H #define A_H #include "b.h" #endif and b.h
#ifndef B_H #define B_H #include "a.h" #endif 
Comments
No that won't work. The preprocessor just replaces your #include"xyz.h" with the actual file, so this would end in an endless recursion.
1 Comment
Tom Karzes
If the header files are guarded, as they normally are, then it would not. The real problem is making the dependencies seen by the C compiler work in either direction.
#pragma once