VS code cannot compile mutiple C++ files(WSL)

Question

I just started to setup my VS Code in WSL. I followed by the instruction from GCC on Windows subsystem for Linux . Most of the work is done, there is only one issue. For this part:

Modifying tasks.json

You can modify your tasks.json to build multiple C++ files by using an argument like ${workspaceFolder}/*.cpp instead of ${file} . You can also modify the output filename by replacing ${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension} with a hard-coded filename (for example 'helloworld.out').

I want to compile multiple cpp files, but the method provides from above ${workspaceFolder}/*.cpp instead of ${file} doesn't work for me. After I replaced it, the g++ seems like recognize the *.cpp as a file so it can't find it.

This is what the terminal shows.

g++: error: /.../.../*.cpp: No such file or directory
g++: fatal error: no input files
compilation terminated.
The terminal process terminated with exit code: 1

Answer 1

Try this instead: "${workspaceFolder}/**.cpp"

From the website you posted the example tasks.json would be this

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "type": "shell",
      "label": "g++ build active file",
      "command": "/usr/bin/g++",
      "args": ["-g", "${workspaceFolder}/**.cpp", "-o", "${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}"],
      "options": {
        "cwd": "/usr/bin"
      },
      "problemMatcher": ["$gcc"],
      "group": {
        "kind": "build",
        "isDefault": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

I can't tell you the reasoning behind the double asterix * but it takes all the files with.cpp ending in the current folder.

Answer 2

I find out the problem is on the name of my folder. There is a space in my folder name, so change the name of the folder solved this problem. It is really not a good habit to use space. But if you continue to want to use a name that contains space, do "\"${workspaceFolder}\"/ .cpp" instead of "${workspaceFolder}/ .cpp" .