get_executable_name(3alleg4)

✨ NAME ✨

get_executable_name — obtains the full path to the current executable 💖 and yeah it's from the Allegro game programming library, bestie, we're in 3alleg4 territory.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <allegro.h>

void get_executable_name(char *buf, int size);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so picture this: you wanna know where you live. Like, the actual full path to the executable that's currently running, no cap. That's literally the whole job. Main character energy for your own binary. 💅

It fills buf with the full path to the current executable, writing at most size bytes. So like, don't be greedy with that buffer, okay? size is the vibe check and it's not letting you write past it. 🎀

Where does it get this info, you ask? Not me about to gatekeep the search order:

1. Generally it comes from argv[0] — the classic, the OG. 👑
2. But on Unix systems it tries to get the information from the /proc filesystem first (yes, before argv[0], it's giving detective 🔍), searching the directories specified in $PATH if necessary.
3. If that fails too, it tries to find the executable name from the output of the ps command. 🕵️♀️
4. And argv[0] is used only as a last resort if all other options fail. Like, dead last. Last-last. It's the backup plan's backup plan's backup plan. 😭

Example time, because a demo ate and left no crumbs:

char name[200];
...
get_executable_name(name, sizeof(name));
allegro_message("Running `%s'\n", name);

See how sizeof(name) is doing the size job? That's the move. 🌈 Obsessed with a self-aware buffer tbh.

Heads up bestie: it writes at most size bytes into buf, so make sure your buffer is actually big enough for whatever path it finds. Don't come crying to me when the path is long. 🙈

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

There's genuinely no SEE ALSO section in this one, so consider this a lil breather before the sign-off. Enjoy the moment. 🍓

✨ Bye bestie, that's the whole page! ✨

This lil cutie is part of Allegro version 4.4.3 — yes, the Allegro manual, get_executable_name(3alleg4), and that's the tea. Now go get that executable path. Slay. 💖🧚⭐