Knowledge Base

FIX: LNK4056 Warning Generated with Comma in #pragma Comment

Article ID: 184088

Article Last Modified on 12/1/2003

Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 2.1
Microsoft Visual C++ 2.2
Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 4.1 Subscription
Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Enterprise Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Enterprise Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Professional Edition

This article was previously published under Q184088

SYMPTOMS

The comment pragma allows the user to insert strings into an executable. If a comma is used in the comment string, as follows:

   #pragma comment(exestr,"This is a , comma")

then the linker generates the following warning:

warning LNK4056: extra arguments ignored for option
"/comment:This is a , comma"

where the "extra arguments" refers to the text after the "," in the comment string.

CAUSE

The comment pragma is translated by the compiler into the /comment linker option. The linker interprets the comma as a separator between arguments, and ignores the "second" argument.

RESOLUTION

Add a space or some other character in place of the comma, and then edit the executable and replace the space with a comma. To do this, open the executable file in Developer Studio using the binary format. Select File/Open, choose Binary under the "Open As" combo box, and open the .exe file. Locate the string, and edit the executable directly to add a comma where needed.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

This bug was corrected in Visual C++ 6.0.

MORE INFORMATION

Sample Code

#pragma comment(exestr,"This is a , comma")

void main(void)
{}

REFERENCES

Visual C++ version 5.0 Online Documentation, #pragma comment: mk:@ivt:vccore/F39/D3B/S4C36D.HTM

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbvc600fix kblangc KB184088