## 36.9. Preprocessor Directives

Several preprocessor directives are available that modify how the `ecpg` preprocessor parses and processes a file.

### 36.9.1. Including Files

To include an external file into your embedded SQL program, use:

    EXEC SQL INCLUDE filename;
    EXEC SQL INCLUDE <filename>;
    EXEC SQL INCLUDE "filename";

The embedded SQL preprocessor will look for a file named ``filename`.h`, preprocess it, and include it in the resulting C output. Thus, embedded SQL statements in the included file are handled correctly.

The `ecpg` preprocessor will search a file at several directories in following order:

- current directory
- `/usr/local/include`
- PostgreSQL include directory, defined at build time (e.g., `/usr/local/pgsql/include`)
- `/usr/include`

But when `EXEC SQL INCLUDE "`filename`"` is used, only the current directory is searched.

In each directory, the preprocessor will first look for the file name as given, and if not found will append `.h` to the file name and try again (unless the specified file name already has that suffix).

Note that `EXEC SQL INCLUDE` is not the same as:

    #include <filename.h>

because this file would not be subject to SQL command preprocessing. Naturally, you can continue to use the C `#include` directive to include other header files.

### Note

The include file name is case-sensitive, even though the rest of the `EXEC SQL INCLUDE` command follows the normal SQL case-sensitivity rules.

### 36.9.2. The define and undef Directives

Similar to the directive `#define` that is known from C, embedded SQL has a similar concept:

    EXEC SQL DEFINE name;
    EXEC SQL DEFINE name value;

So you can define a name:

    EXEC SQL DEFINE HAVE_FEATURE;

And you can also define constants:

    EXEC SQL DEFINE MYNUMBER 12;
    EXEC SQL DEFINE MYSTRING 'abc';

Use `undef` to remove a previous definition:

    EXEC SQL UNDEF MYNUMBER;

Of course you can continue to use the C versions `#define` and `#undef` in your embedded SQL program. The difference is where your defined values get evaluated. If you use `EXEC SQL DEFINE` then the `ecpg` preprocessor evaluates the defines and substitutes the values. For example if you write:

    EXEC SQL DEFINE MYNUMBER 12;
    ...
    EXEC SQL UPDATE Tbl SET col = MYNUMBER;

then `ecpg` will already do the substitution and your C compiler will never see any name or identifier `MYNUMBER`. Note that you cannot use `#define` for a constant that you are going to use in an embedded SQL query because in this case the embedded SQL precompiler is not able to see this declaration.

### 36.9.3. ifdef, ifndef, else, elif, and endif Directives

You can use the following directives to compile code sections conditionally:

`EXEC SQL ifdef `name`;`

  Checks a `name` and processes subsequent lines if `name` has been created with `EXEC SQL define `name``.

`EXEC SQL ifndef `name`;`

  Checks a `name` and processes subsequent lines if `name` has not been created with `EXEC SQL define `name``.

`EXEC SQL else;`

  Starts processing an alternative section to a section introduced by either `EXEC SQL ifdef `name`` or `EXEC SQL ifndef `name``.

`EXEC SQL elif `name`;`

  Checks `name` and starts an alternative section if `name` has been created with `EXEC SQL define `name``.

`EXEC SQL endif;`

  Ends an alternative section.

Example:

    EXEC SQL ifndef TZVAR;
    EXEC SQL SET TIMEZONE TO 'GMT';
    EXEC SQL elif TZNAME;
    EXEC SQL SET TIMEZONE TO TZNAME;
    EXEC SQL else;
    EXEC SQL SET TIMEZONE TO TZVAR;
    EXEC SQL endif;