| title | Compiler Options | Microsoft Docs | |||||||||||||
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| ms.date | 11/04/2016 | |||||||||||||
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| ms.topic | article | |||||||||||||
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| ms.assetid | ed3376c8-bef4-4c9a-80e9-3b5da232644c | |||||||||||||
| caps.latest.revision | 18 | |||||||||||||
| author | corob-msft | |||||||||||||
| ms.author | corob | |||||||||||||
| manager | ghogen | |||||||||||||
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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 [!INCLUDEvsprvs] 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:
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:
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