C++ preprocessor __VA_ARGS__ number of arguments

I usually use this macro to find a number of params:

#define NUMARGS(...)  (sizeof((int[]){__VA_ARGS__})/sizeof(int))

Full example:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdarg.h>

#define NUMARGS(...)  (sizeof((int[]){__VA_ARGS__})/sizeof(int))
#define SUM(...)  (sum(NUMARGS(__VA_ARGS__), __VA_ARGS__))

void sum(int numargs, ...);

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

    SUM(1);
    SUM(1, 2);
    SUM(1, 2, 3);
    SUM(1, 2, 3, 4);

    return 1;
}

void sum(int numargs, ...) {
    int     total = 0;
    va_list ap;

    printf("sum() called with %d params:", numargs);
    va_start(ap, numargs);
    while (numargs--)
        total += va_arg(ap, int);
    va_end(ap);

    printf(" %d\n", total);

    return;
}

It is completely valid C99 code. It has one drawback, though - you cannot invoke the macro SUM() without params, but GCC has a solution to it - see here.

So in case of GCC you need to define macros like this:

#define       NUMARGS(...)  (sizeof((int[]){0, ##__VA_ARGS__})/sizeof(int)-1)
#define       SUM(...)  sum(NUMARGS(__VA_ARGS__), ##__VA_ARGS__)

and it will work even with empty parameter list

This is actually compiler dependent, and not supported by any standard.

Here however you have a macro implementation that does the count:

#define PP_NARG(...) \
         PP_NARG_(__VA_ARGS__,PP_RSEQ_N())
#define PP_NARG_(...) \
         PP_ARG_N(__VA_ARGS__)
#define PP_ARG_N( \
          _1, _2, _3, _4, _5, _6, _7, _8, _9,_10, \
         _11,_12,_13,_14,_15,_16,_17,_18,_19,_20, \
         _21,_22,_23,_24,_25,_26,_27,_28,_29,_30, \
         _31,_32,_33,_34,_35,_36,_37,_38,_39,_40, \
         _41,_42,_43,_44,_45,_46,_47,_48,_49,_50, \
         _51,_52,_53,_54,_55,_56,_57,_58,_59,_60, \
         _61,_62,_63,N,...) N
#define PP_RSEQ_N() \
         63,62,61,60,                   \
         59,58,57,56,55,54,53,52,51,50, \
         49,48,47,46,45,44,43,42,41,40, \
         39,38,37,36,35,34,33,32,31,30, \
         29,28,27,26,25,24,23,22,21,20, \
         19,18,17,16,15,14,13,12,11,10, \
         9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0

/* Some test cases */


PP_NARG(A) -> 1
PP_NARG(A,B) -> 2
PP_NARG(A,B,C) -> 3
PP_NARG(A,B,C,D) -> 4
PP_NARG(A,B,C,D,E) -> 5
PP_NARG(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,
         1,2,3) -> 63

There are some C++11 solutions for finding the number of arguments at compile-time, but I'm surprised to see that no one has suggested anything so simple as:

#define VA_COUNT(...) detail::va_count(__VA_ARGS__)

namespace detail
{
    template<typename ...Args>
    constexpr std::size_t va_count(Args&&...) { return sizeof...(Args); }
}

This doesn't require inclusion of the <tuple> header either.

I'm assuming that each argument to __VA_ARGS__ will be comma separated. If so I think this should work as a pretty clean way to do this.

#include <cstring>

constexpr int CountOccurances(const char* str, char c) {
    return str[0] == char(0) ? 0 : (str[0] == c) + CountOccurances(str+1, c);
}

#define NUMARGS(...) (CountOccurances(#__VA_ARGS__, ',') + 1)

int main(){
    static_assert(NUMARGS(hello, world) == 2, ":(")  ;
    return 0;
}

Worked for me on godbolt for clang 4 and GCC 5.1. This will compute at compile time, but won't evaluate for the preprocessor. So if you are trying to do something like making a FOR_EACH, then this won't work.

I've found answers here still are incomplete.

The most closest portable implementation I've found from here is: C++ preprocessor __VA_ARGS__ number of arguments

But it doen't work with the zero arguments in the GCC without at least -std=gnu++11 command line parameter.

So I decided to merge this solution with that: https://gustedt.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/detect-empty-macro-arguments/

#define UTILITY_PP_CONCAT_(v1, v2) v1 ## v2
#define UTILITY_PP_CONCAT(v1, v2) UTILITY_PP_CONCAT_(v1, v2)

#define UTILITY_PP_CONCAT5_(_0, _1, _2, _3, _4) _0 ## _1 ## _2 ## _3 ## _4

#define UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY_(x) x
#define UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY(x) UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY_(x)

#define UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_(...) __VA_ARGS__
#define UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS(...) UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_(__VA_ARGS__)

#define UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY_VA_ARGS_(x, ...) x, __VA_ARGS__
#define UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY_VA_ARGS(x, ...) UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY_VA_ARGS_(x, __VA_ARGS__)

#define UTILITY_PP_IIF_0(x, ...) __VA_ARGS__
#define UTILITY_PP_IIF_1(x, ...) x
#define UTILITY_PP_IIF(c) UTILITY_PP_CONCAT_(UTILITY_PP_IIF_, c)

#define UTILITY_PP_HAS_COMMA(...) UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_TAIL(__VA_ARGS__, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0))
#define UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_TRIGGER_PARENTHESIS_(...) ,

#define UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY(...) UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_( \
    /* test if there is just one argument, eventually an empty one */ \
    UTILITY_PP_HAS_COMMA(__VA_ARGS__),                                \
    /* test if _TRIGGER_PARENTHESIS_ together with the argument adds a comma */ \
    UTILITY_PP_HAS_COMMA(UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_TRIGGER_PARENTHESIS_ __VA_ARGS__), \
    /* test if the argument together with a parenthesis adds a comma */ \
    UTILITY_PP_HAS_COMMA(__VA_ARGS__ ()),                             \
    /* test if placing it between _TRIGGER_PARENTHESIS_ and the parenthesis adds a comma */ \
    UTILITY_PP_HAS_COMMA(UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_TRIGGER_PARENTHESIS_ __VA_ARGS__ ()))

#define UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_(_0, _1, _2, _3) UTILITY_PP_HAS_COMMA(UTILITY_PP_CONCAT5_(UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_IS_EMPTY_CASE_, _0, _1, _2, _3))
#define UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_IS_EMPTY_CASE_0001 ,

#define UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(...) UTILITY_PP_IIF(UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY(__VA_ARGS__))(0, UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE_(__VA_ARGS__, UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SEQ64()))
#define UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE_(...) UTILITY_PP_IDENTITY(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_TAIL(__VA_ARGS__))

#define UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_TAIL(_0,_1,_2,_3,_4,_5,_6,_7,_8,_9,_10,_11,_12,_13,_14, x, ...) x
#define UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SEQ64() 15,14,13,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0

#define EATER0(...)
#define EATER1(...) ,
#define EATER2(...) (/*empty*/)
#define EATER3(...) (/*empty*/),
#define EATER4(...) EATER1
#define EATER5(...) EATER2
#define MAC0() ()
#define MAC1(x) ()
#define MACV(...) ()
#define MAC2(x,y) whatever

static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE() == 0, "1");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(/*comment*/) == 0, "2");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(a) == 1, "3");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(a, b) == 2, "4");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(a, b, c) == 3, "5");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(a, b, c, d) == 4, "6");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(a, b, c, d, e) == 5, "7");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE((void)) == 1, "8");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE((void), b, c, d) == 4, "9");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(UTILITY_PP_IS_EMPTY_TRIGGER_PARENTHESIS_) == 1, "10");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(EATER0) == 1, "11");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(EATER1) == 1, "12");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(EATER2) == 1, "13");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(EATER3) == 1, "14");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(EATER4) == 1, "15");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(MAC0) == 1, "16");
// a warning in msvc
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(MAC1) == 1, "17");
static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(MACV) == 1, "18");
// This one will fail because MAC2 is not called correctly
//static_assert(UTILITY_PP_VA_ARGS_SIZE(MAC2) == 1, "19");

https://godbolt.org/z/3idaKd

• c++11, msvc 2015, gcc 4.7.1, clang 3.0

Boost Preprocessor actually has this as of Boost 1.49, as BOOST_PP_VARIADIC_SIZE(...). It works up to size 64.

Under the hood, it's basically the same as Kornel Kisielewicz's answer.