c++debugging

How do I find the name of the calling function?

I have been using __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ to output the current function name, however I have reimplemented some functions and would like to find out which functions are calling them.

In C++ how can I get the function name of the calling routine?

Solution

  • Here are two options:

    1. You can get a full stacktrace (including the name, module, and offset of the calling function) with recent versions of glibc with the GNU backtrace functions. See my answer here for the details. This is probably the easiest thing.

    2. If that isn't exactly what you're looking for, then you might try libunwind, but it's going to involve more work.

    Keep in mind that this isn't something you can know statically (as with PRETTY_FUNCTION); you actually have to walk the stack to figure out what function called you. So this isn't something that's really worth doing in ordinary debug printfs. If you want to do more serious debugging or analysis, though, then this might be useful for you.