Compiler Options

The new home for Visual Studio documentation is Visual Studio 2017 Documentation on docs.microsoft.com.

The latest version of this topic can be found at Compiler Options.

cl.exe is a tool that controls the Microsoft C and C++ compilers and linker. cl.exe can be run only on operating systems that support Microsoft Visual Studio.

Note
You can start this tool only from the Visual Studio command prompt. You cannot start it from a system command prompt or from File Explorer.

The compilers produce Common Object File Format (COFF) object (.obj) files. The linker produces executable (.exe) files or dynamic-link libraries (DLLs).

Note that all compiler options are case sensitive.

To compile without linking, use /c.

To find a particular compiler option, see one of the following lists:

• Compiler Options Listed Alphabetically

• Compiler Options Listed by Category

The topic for each compiler option discusses how it can be set in the development environment. For information on specifying options outside the development environment, see:

• Compiler Command-Line Syntax

• CL Command Files

• CL Environment Variables

Use NMAKE to build your output file.

Use BSCMAKE to support class browsing.

Linker options also affect how your program is built.

C/C++ Building Reference
Setting Compiler Options
Fast Compilation
CL Invokes the Linker