TITLE: inserting build times into code

(Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++.moderated, 17 Aug 97)

BENDER: Dave Bender
> 
> Is it possible to get the time that a program was compiled or built into
> the program itself?
> 
> I'd like to do that as an easy way to see which program is running as my
> program moves into it's testing phase (gotta couple copies). I'm being
> nice and orderly about it, but it would be nice to have it cout << the
> compiled time.
> 
> Is this something the preprocessor could do?


ODOWD: "Robert O'Dowd" <robert.odowd@dsto.defence.gov.au>

It is something the preprocessor does, and is part of the standard.

The macro __DATE__ expands to a string that contains the date of
translation, in the form "Mmm dd yyyy" if memory serves.
The macro __TIME__ expands to a string that contains the time of
translation, in the form "hh:mm:ss".

Neither of these macros can be explicitly undefined or redefined.

The "time of translation" is obviously related to compilation time or
when the preprocessor is run.