Why doesn't the preprocessor substitude a macro as a prefix of an event's name?

[dwarftough]

Hi everyone! Got a question about how the preprocessor works.

Let's say I have the following code

Code: Select all

#DOESN'T WORK FOR SOME REASON
#define TEST
Test
#enddef

[event]
name={TEST} my event
...
[/event]

I expected that {TEST} will be macrosubstituted and I'll get an event with name "Test my event", instead I got an error during the preprocessing stage saying "Unexpected characters after variable name (expected , or =)" at the line with "name={TEST} my event".

It only works if I make {TEST} the suffix, so

Code: Select all

#works
#define TEST
Test
#enddef

[event]
name=my event {TEST}
...
[/event]

this works.

But if I put my event inside a macro with PREFIX being a macro-parameter instead of a full-fledged macro, it works in the prefix form too

Code: Select all

#somehow works too
#define MY_EVENTS PREFIX
[event]
name={PREFIX} first_event
...
[/event]
#enddef

{MY_EVENTS Test}

this works too.

I don't really understand why the first snippet doesn't work. I expected the preprocessor to substitude the macro independently of where it is in the line

[Spannerbag]

Hi everyone! Got a question about how the preprocessor works.

Let's say I have the following code

Code: Select all

#DOESN'T WORK FOR SOME REASON
#define TEST
Test
#enddef

I think you're embedding a trailing carriage return in the macro.

Code: Select all

#DOESN'T WORK FOR SOME REASON
#define TEST
Test#enddef

Should work as you want.

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[gnombat]

This is documented here:

PreprocessorRef#Whitespace_in_Macros

[dwarftough]

Code: Select all

#DOESN'T WORK FOR SOME REASON
#define TEST
Test#enddef

Should work as you want.

This is documented here:

PreprocessorRef#Whitespace_in_Macros

Indeed, that works! Thanks a lot!