Terminology: Is "CL" identical to "the MSVC compiler"

Question

I am having a hard time to make out whether the command line tool cl.exe is what people refer to when they are talking about "the MSVC compiler".

Are the two the same thing or do you use cl to control the compiler?

Answer 1

Yes, when people refer to the "MSVC compiler," they mean "cl". "cl" is the tool that controls the Microsoft Visual C and C++ compilers and linker. It invokes other tools.

Also, when people mention "VC17", they are referring to "cl" from "Visual Studio 17 2022".

Similarly, "VC16" refers to "cl" from "Visual Studio 16 2019".

Finally, there is "clang-cl," which is the entry point for the Microsoft-compatible version of the Clang/Clang++ compilers from the LLVM project. This is often refered to as "Microsoft clang".

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Abbreviations

• VC16 - Visual Studio 16 2019
• VC17 - Visual Studio 17 2022
• VC18 - Visual Studio 18 2026