Get current month index in compile time

Question

I'm trying to convert month from __DATE__ in format Mmm to number in compile time. I need it for gcc and MS VC 2012.

my attempt:

template <char C0, char C1, char C2>
struct month{};

template<> struct month < 'J', 'a', 'n'> { static const unsigned id = 1; };
template<> struct month < 'S', 'e', 'p'> { static const unsigned id = 9; };

static const char c0 = __DATE__[0];
static const char c1 = __DATE__[1];
static const char c2 = __DATE__[2];

static const unsigned currId = month<c0, c1, c2>::id;      //this gives error
static const unsigned currId2 = month<'S', 'e', 'p'>::id;  //this is fine

gives in MS VC

error C2970: 'month' : template parameter 'C0' : 'c0' : an expression involving objects with internal linkage cannot be used as a non-type argument

but on ideone works fine.

Is there a way to make this work cross platform/compiler?

edit

I need a compile-time constant So answers in similar question doesn't really help. I need to for example subtract two dates (current and some date in code) and give compile time error when difference between those two is large enough.

Answer 1

First: are you sure you need this at compile-time? If run-time is acceptable it's easy: http://www.keil.com/support/docs/1102.htm

---

But moving away from what's sane, let's have some compile-time fun!

You're using templates here but you really don't need to. You can use a massive expression of doom instead:

static const char c0 = __DATE__[0];
static const char c1 = __DATE__[1];
static const char c2 = __DATE__[2];
static const unsigned int month = (
    c0 == 'J' // Jan Jun Jul
        ? (c1 == 'a' ? 1 : (c2 == 'n' ? 6 : 7))
    : c0 == 'F' ? 2
    : c0 == 'M' // Mar May
        ? (c2 == 'r' ? 3 : 5)
    : c0 == 'A' // Apr Aug
        ? (c1 == 'p' ? 4 : 8)
    : c0 == 'S' ? 9
    : c0 == 'O' ? 10
    : c0 == 'N' ? 11
    : 12
);

Disclaimer: I just wrote that off the top of my head. It works now, but who knows, maybe I got March wrong.

In fact if you want to get even more fun* we can use arithmetic on some characters:

static const char c0 = __DATE__[0];
static const char c1 = __DATE__[1];
static const char c2 = __DATE__[2];
static const unsigned int month = (
    c0 == 'J' // Jan Jun Jul
        ? (c1 == 'a' ? 1 : (c2 == 'n' ? 6 : 7))
    : c0 == 'M' // Mar May
        ? (3 + (c2 == 'y') * 2)
    : c0 == 'A' // Apr Aug
        ? (4 + (c1 == 'u') * 4)
    : c0 == 'S' ? 9
    : c0 <= 'F' ? (12 - (c0 - 'D') * 5) // Feb, Dec
    : (11 + 'N' - c0) // Oct, Nov
);

_{*: by "fun" I mean: hated by other developers}

Since these are const, you can then use it with templates. For example, suppose we've got a contract job which ends in November, and we want to be sure we'll get brought back in for a few days at a high rate once it's over:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

static const unsigned int month = ...;

template <int n> class mm {
public:
    static int v;
};

template<> int mm<9>::v=3; // still employed
template<> int mm<10>::v=2; // let's not be too suspicious
template<> int mm<11>::v=1; // patience...
// no value for December - boom! we're in the money! Just in time for Christmas!

int main() {
    std::cout << mm<month>::v;
    return 0;
}

Finally, if you don't want to be littering the global scope, you should use a constexpr function:

static constexpr int getMonth( void ) {
    const char c0 = __DATE__[0];
    const char c1 = __DATE__[1];
    const char c2 = __DATE__[2];
    return (
        c0 == 'J' // Jan Jun Jul
            ? (c1 == 'a' ? 1 : (c2 == 'n' ? 6 : 7))
        : c0 == 'F' ? 2
        : c0 == 'M' // Mar May
            ? (c2 == 'r' ? 3 : 5)
        : c0 == 'A' // Apr Aug
            ? (c1 == 'p' ? 4 : 8)
        : c0 == 'S' ? 9
        : c0 == 'O' ? 10
        : c0 == 'N' ? 11
        : 12
    );
}

...

std::cout << mm<getMonth()>::v;