Command reference

Synopsis

tcc [options] [infile1 infile2...] [-run infile args...]

TCC options are very similar to GCC options. The main difference is that TCC can also execute the resulting program directly and pass it runtime arguments.

Basic compilation commands

Compile and link

Compile C source files and generate an executable:

tcc -o myprog a.c b.c

This compiles a.c and b.c, links them together, and generates the executable myprog.

Compile only

-c

flag

Compile only - generate an object file without linking.

Compile a C source file to an object file:

tcc -c a.c

This compiles a.c and generates the object file a.o.

C source
Assembly with preprocessing
Assembly without preprocessing

tcc -c source.c
# Generates: source.o

tcc -c asmfile.S
# Preprocess with C preprocessor and assemble
# Generates: asmfile.o

tcc -c asmfile.s
# Assemble only (no preprocessing)
# Generates: asmfile.o

Link object files

Link object files together to create an executable:

tcc -o myprog a.o b.o

Generate relocatable object file

-r

flag

Generate a relocatable object file by combining all input files.

tcc -r -o ab.o a.c b.c

This compiles a.c and b.c, links them together, and generates the relocatable object file ab.o.

Run command

-run

flag

Compile source file(s) and run the resulting program immediately with optional command-line arguments.

Basic execution

Compile and execute a C program directly:

tcc -run a.c

With arguments

Pass arguments to the compiled program:

tcc -run a.c arg1 arg2

The arguments arg1 and arg2 are passed to the main() function of a.c.

Multiple source files

Compile multiple files and execute them:

tcc a.c -run b.c arg1

This compiles a.c and b.c, links them together, and executes the resulting program with arg1 as the first argument.

With TCC options

You can pass TCC options after -run by enclosing them in quotes:

tcc "-run -L/usr/X11R6/lib -lX11" ex4.c

When using -run, TCC compiles the code in memory and executes it immediately without creating an executable file on disk.

Custom stdin

Redirect stdin for the running program:

tcc -run -rstdin input.txt program.c

Preprocessing commands

-E

flag

Preprocess only - output the preprocessed source to stdout or file (with -o).

Preprocess a C source file:

tcc -E source.c

Save preprocessed output to a file:

tcc -E source.c -o source.i

Preprocessing options

Standard preprocessing
No line directives
Alternative line directives

tcc -E source.c
# Output includes #line directives

tcc -E -P source.c
# Do not output #line directives

tcc -E -P1 source.c
# Output alternative #line directives

Show macro definitions

-dD

flag

With -E: output #define directives along with preprocessed code.

-dM

flag

With -E: output only #define directives (no preprocessed code).

# Show all macros with preprocessed code
tcc -E -dD source.c

# Show only macro definitions
tcc -E -dM source.c

To see all predefined macros, use: tcc -E -dM - < /dev/null (Linux/macOS) or tcc -E -dM - < nul (Windows)

Shared library commands

-shared

flag

Generate a shared library instead of an executable.

Create a shared library:

tcc -shared -o libmylib.so mylib.c

-soname

string

Set the name for the shared library to be used at runtime.

tcc -shared -soname libmylib.so.1 -o libmylib.so.1.0 mylib.c

Archive tool

TCC includes an integrated archiver for creating static libraries:

tcc -ar [crstvx] lib.a [files...]

Archive operations

flag

Create the archive.

flag

Replace or add files to the archive.

flag

Create or update the archive symbol index.

flag

List the contents of the archive.

flag

Verbose output.

flag

Extract files from the archive.

Examples

# Create a static library
tcc -ar cr libmylib.a file1.o file2.o file3.o

# List archive contents
tcc -ar t libmylib.a

# Extract files from archive
tcc -ar x libmylib.a

Import library tool (Windows)

On Windows, TCC can create import definition files from DLLs:

tcc -impdef lib.dll [-v] [-o lib.def]

Create a .def file from a DLL:

tcc -impdef kernel32.dll -o kernel32.def

Information commands

Version information

-v, --version

flag

Display TCC version information.

tcc -v

Output:

tcc version 0.9.27 (x86_64 Linux)

-dumpversion

flag

Print only the version number.

tcc -dumpversion

Verbose output

-vv

flag

Show included files during compilation. As sole argument, print search directories.

# Show included files
tcc -vv -c source.c

# Print search directories
tcc -vv

-vvv

flag

Show included files and all file search attempts.

Search paths

-print-search-dirs

flag

Print the configured installation directory and list of library and include directories that TCC will search.

tcc -print-search-dirs

Output:

install: /usr/local/lib/tcc
include:
  /usr/local/include
  /usr/include
  /usr/local/lib/tcc/include
libraries:
  /usr/local/lib
  /usr/lib
  /lib

Help commands

-h

flag

Display basic help message with common options.

tcc -h

-hh

flag

Display extended help with all options including warnings, flags, and linker options.

tcc -hh

Input from stdin

TCC can read C source code from standard input:

echo 'main(){puts("hello");}' | tcc -run -

The - character is used in place of the input filename to indicate stdin.

Response files

@listfile

string

Read command-line arguments from a file. Each line in the file is treated as a separate argument.

tcc @compile_options.txt

Example compile_options.txt:

-o
myprog
-g
source1.c
source2.c

Response files are useful for very long command lines that might exceed shell limits.

Compilation statistics

-bench

flag

Display compilation statistics including time and memory usage.

tcc -bench -c source.c

Output:

* compiling time: 0.021s (0.021s / 1 idents)
* code time: 0.012s
* data time: 0.003s

Get Started

CLI Usage

Features

Advanced

Command reference

Synopsis

Basic compilation commands

Compile and link

Compile only

Link object files

Generate relocatable object file

Run command

Basic execution

With arguments

Multiple source files

With TCC options

Custom stdin

Preprocessing commands

Preprocessing options

Show macro definitions

Shared library commands

Archive tool

Archive operations

Examples

Import library tool (Windows)

Information commands

Version information

Verbose output

Search paths

Help commands

Input from stdin

Response files

Compilation statistics

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

CLI Usage

Features

Advanced

​Synopsis

​Basic compilation commands

​Compile and link

​Compile only

​Link object files

​Generate relocatable object file

​Run command

​Basic execution

​With arguments

​Multiple source files

​With TCC options

​Custom stdin

​Preprocessing commands

​Preprocessing options

​Show macro definitions

​Shared library commands

​Archive tool

​Archive operations

​Examples

​Import library tool (Windows)

​Information commands

​Version information

​Verbose output

​Search paths

​Help commands

​Input from stdin

​Response files

​Compilation statistics

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Synopsis

Basic compilation commands

Compile and link

Compile only

Link object files

Generate relocatable object file

Run command

Basic execution

With arguments

Multiple source files

With TCC options

Custom stdin

Preprocessing commands

Preprocessing options

Show macro definitions

Shared library commands

Archive tool

Archive operations

Examples

Import library tool (Windows)

Information commands

Version information

Verbose output

Search paths

Help commands

Input from stdin

Response files

Compilation statistics