What does a slash mean in an include statement?

Question

There is a following statement in the file:

#include "ssutil/DataBuffer.h"

Please let me know where to search this header file and how to interpret ssutil/?

Answer 1

That is a relative path and the preprocessor will look for the file in a directory called ssiutil. Precisely where that directory is depends on your compiler options. For example the MS compiler searches like this:

This form instructs the preprocessor to look for include files in the same directory of the file that contains the #include statement, and then in the directories of any files that include (#include) that file. The preprocessor then searches along the path specified by the /I compiler option, then along paths specified by the INCLUDE environment variable.

You may need to consult the documentation for your particular tools to learn how the search is done.

Answer 2

It's a path component. ssiutil is a directory and DataBuffer.h is the actual header. The / is a path separation character used on Unix platforms like Mac OS X, Linux, the BSDs and others as well as Windows.