How to execute a C file through cmd

Question

In my current example, I have a C file called 'Main.c' which converts and prints US pounds into UK stones/UK pounds/kilos, and the variable US pounds is currently defined by the user's input (scanf). The file itself is executed through Visual Express 2013; however, I want to change this so that I can navigate to the C file and execute the file directly through the commmand prompt (cmd) whiles passing a value to define US pounds.

I understand that this is required in main:

void main(int argc, char *argv[])

And I know how to navigate to the C file through the command prompt:

>cd Directory/To/The/File

However this is where I get stuck; I don't know how to execute the C file. I have researched into this and found several examples, such as using 'gcc' and 'cc', but the system doesn't recognise these commands. None of the materials that I have found fully explains what exactly I have to do in order to accomplish what I am trying to do; do I have to install something, or am I using the wrong commands, is it possible what I am trying to do, what excactly do I have to do?

Answer 1

Broadly speaking, you need to do the following:

1. Compile the program using a compiler to generate an executable .
2. Run the executable file.

When you "run the program in Visual Studio", it is doing all of those steps for you.

I don't know much about command line compiling in Windows, but I believe msbuild is the name of the compiler which Visual Studio uses. Look into that, and you'll see how to compile. Compilation will then generate the executable, which you just type into the command line to run.

EDIT: I found an article which suggests that cl is a C compiler command available on the command line.

Here is the relevant excerpt:

6. At the command prompt, specify the cl command together with the name of your source file—for example, cl simple.c—and press Enter to compile the program. The cl.exe compiler generates an .obj file that contains the compiled code, and then runs the linker to build an executable program that has the name of your source file, but has an .exe file name extension—for example, Simple.exe.

Answer 2

1. You cannot cd to the file, only to the directory. The cd command means "change directory".
2. You cannot execute a C file, it's just a text file and your computer doesn't know how to run it. You need to compile it first (this is what Visual Studio does). There should be an EXE file somewhere close, you need to find it. It is the binary, executable, form of your C program which you can run directly from the command line.