compile a stream of data in C?

Question

Is it possible to compile a stream of data rather than compiling a .c file using gcc? for example, is it possible that instead of having my code stored in any xyz.c file, I can directly compile the code?

Answer 1

Use gcc options -x and -

$ echo -e '#include <stdio.h>\nmain(){puts("Hello world");return 0;}' | gcc -xc -ogarbage - && ./garbage && rm garbage
Hello world

---

The single line command above is made up of the following parts:

echo -e '#include <stdio.h>\nmain(){puts("Hello world");return 0;}' # "source"
|                                                                   # pipe
gcc -xc -ogarbage -                                                 # compile
&&                                                                  # and
./garbage                                                           # run
&&                                                                  # and
rm garbage                                                          # delete

Answer 2

This may answer you question, though it is rarely useful.