Can we Compile a C program without header file ?

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studymite

C program without header file?

This question is generally asked in interviews to confuse the candidate and also to test the knowledge of the student in C programming.

So, in short, the answer is yes. We can compile C program without header file.
But how?

Firstly all the function that we generally use like printf, scanf, etc are declared and defined in the header file.

So, in a C program header file is used to import some predefined functions.
So, in case you don’t want to use a header file?

You can simply define the function you want to use in your program and compile it.

For Example:

// Declare the printf() function
int printf(const char *format, ...);

int main()
{
    // Call the printf() function
    printf("Hello StudyMite!\n");
    return 0;
}

Output :

Hello StudyMite !

In the above code, we first have to declare printf in our program(as we are not including header file). After that we can use it in our main function.

Can we Compile a C program without header file ?