Command line arguments not passing through correctly, argc always returning 1 and argc returning nullpointer on visual studio c++

Question

I was recently working on a project for a class and was having a lot of problems with passing in command line arguments. I decided to test out with a really simple code I found online from geeksforgeeks to see if I could get any sort of command line stuff to work and it still is not working. It will not print any argv values and when I debug it, it says that argc is 1 despite me putting in 4 command line arguments. I have been trying to find answers to this online for hours and have no idea what is going on especially when using this really simple code. I attached the code I was testing below. It only prints out "You have entered 1 arguments:" I am relatively new to coding but very confused.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    cout << "You have entered " << argc
        << " arguments:" << "\n";

    for (int i = 0; i < argc; ++i)
        cout << argv[i] << "\n";

    return 0;
}

Answer 1

I was having the same problem - argc always 1. I tried Debug->myprojectname Debug Properties(at the bottom)->Debugging->Command Arguments and set my arguments there instead of Project->Properties->etc.

This worked for me. I am using VS2022 MFC and Win32(old x86 program). Hope this helps someone.

Answer 2

"it says that argc is 1 despite me putting in 4 command line arguments."

In Visual Studio, the place for the command arguments is: Solution -> Project [Right-Click] -> Properties -> Configuration Properties -> Debugging -> Command Arguments. It is necessary to set the arguments for the tested Configuration / Platform.

In your case you set the arguments for "Release" configuration but not for "Debug" configuration. In case they are not in the right place, they will not be taken into account, but the program will still print 1. Explanation:

(Your code)

#include <iostream>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    std::cout << "You have entered " << argc << " arguments:" << std::endl;

    for (int i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
        std::cout << argv[i] << std::endl;
    }
}

In Visual Studio (but not just), when you build and run a C++ program, the full path to the executable file, including the executable's name, is typically passed as the first argument (argv[0]) to the main() function.

--

Run without arguments. Output:

You have entered 1 arguments:
C:\Users\Amit\source\repos\Test\x64\Debug\Test.exe

C:\Users\Amit\source\repos\Test\x64\Debug\Test.exe (process 32592) exited with code 0.

• Project properties:

Non-VS Demo

--

Run with 2 arguments. Output:

You have entered 3 arguments:
C:\Users\Amit\source\repos\Test\x64\Debug\Test.exe
FirstArgument
SecondArgument

C:\Users\Amit\source\repos\Test\x64\Debug\Test.exe (process 32856) exited with code 0.

• Project properties:

Non-VS Demo