The Arduino Reference text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Find anything that can be improved? Suggest corrections and new documentation via GitHub.

Doubts on how to use Github? Learn everything you need to know in this tutorial.

Last Update: Not Available

Edit This Page
Reference > Language > Structure > Further syntax > Define

#define

[Further Syntax]

Description

#define is a useful C++ component that allows the programmer to give a name to a constant value before the program is compiled. Defined constants in arduino don’t take up any program memory space on the chip. The compiler will replace references to these constants with the defined value at compile time.

This can have some unwanted side effects though, if for example, a constant name that had been #defined is included in some other constant or variable name. In that case the text would be replaced by the #defined number (or text).

In general, the const keyword is preferred for defining constants and should be used instead of #define.

Syntax

#define constantName value

Note that the # is necessary.

Example Code

#define ledPin 3
// The compiler will replace any mention of ledPin with the value 3 at compile time.

Notes and Warnings

There is no semicolon after the #define statement. If you include one, the compiler will throw cryptic errors further down the page.

#define ledPin 3; // this is an error

Similarly, including an equal sign after the #define statement will also generate a cryptic compiler error further down the page.

#define ledPin  = 3 // this is also an error

See also