Customizing default settings

You can override the default values for properties set in c_cpp_properties.json.

Visual Studio Code settings

The following C_Cpp.default.* settings map to each of the properties in a configuration block of c_cpp_properties.json. Namely:

C_Cpp.default.includePath                          : string[]
C_Cpp.default.defines                              : string[]
C_Cpp.default.compileCommands                      : string
C_Cpp.default.macFrameworkPath                     : string[]
C_Cpp.default.forcedInclude                        : string[]
C_Cpp.default.intelliSenseMode                     : string
C_Cpp.default.compilerPath                         : string
C_Cpp.default.compilerArgs                         : string[]
C_Cpp.default.configurationProvider                : string
C_Cpp.default.customConfigurationVariables         : object | null
C_Cpp.default.cStandard                            : c89 | c99 | c11 | c17
C_Cpp.default.cppStandard                          : c++98 | c++03 | c++11 | c++14 | c++17 | c++20 | c++23
C_Cpp.default.enableConfigurationSquiggles         : boolean
C_Cpp.default.mergeConfigurations                  : boolean
C_Cpp.default.systemIncludePath                    : string[]
C_Cpp.default.windowsSdkVersion                    : string
C_Cpp.default.browse.path                          : string[]
C_Cpp.default.browse.defines                       : string[]
C_Cpp.default.browse.dotConfig                     : string
C_Cpp.default.browse.databaseFilename              : string
C_Cpp.default.browse.limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders : boolean

These settings have all of the benefits of VS Code settings, meaning that they can have default, "User", "Workspace", and "Folder" values. So you can set a global value for C_Cpp.default.cppStandard in your "User" settings and have it apply to all of the folders you open. If any one folder needs a different value, you can override the value by adding a "Folder" or "Workspace" value.

This property of VS Code settings allows you to configure each of your workspaces independently - making the c_cpp_properties.json file optional.

Updated c_cpp_properties.json syntax

A special variable has been added to the accepted syntax of c_cpp_properties.json that will instruct the extension to insert the value from the VS Code settings mentioned above. If you set the value of any setting in c_cpp_properties.json to "${default}" it will instruct the extension to read the VS Code default setting for that property and insert it. For example:

"configurations": [
    {
        "name": "Win32",
        "includePath": [
            "additional/paths",
            "${default}"
        ],
        "defines": [
            "${default}"
        ],
        "macFrameworkPath": [
            "${default}",
            "additional/paths"
        ],
        "forcedInclude": [
            "${default}",
            "additional/paths"
        ],
        "compileCommands": "${default}",
        "browse": {
            "limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": true,
            "databaseFilename": "${default}",
            "path": [
                "${default}",
                "additional/paths"
            ]
        },
        "intelliSenseMode": "${default}",
        "cStandard": "${default}",
        "cppStandard": "${default}",
        "compilerPath": "${default}"
    }
],

Note that for the properties that accept string[], the syntax proposed above allows you to augment the VS Code setting with additional values, thus allowing you to have common paths listed in the VS Code settings and configuration-specific settings in c_cpp_properties.json.

If a property is missing from c_cpp_properties.json, the extension will use the value in the VS Code setting. If a developer assigns values to all of the settings that apply for a given folder, then c_cpp_properties.json could be removed from the .vscode folder as it will no longer be needed.

For in-depth information about the c_cpp_properties.json settings file, See c_cpp_properties.json reference.

System includes

A new setting will be added that allows you specify the system include path separate from the folder's include path. If this setting has a value, then the system include path the extension gets from the compiler specified in the compilerPath setting will not be added to the path array that the extension uses for IntelliSense. We may want to provide a VS Code command to populate this value from the compiler's default for users who are interested in using it in case they want to make some modifications to the defaults.

C_Cpp.default.systemIncludePath : string[]

System include path/defines resolution strategies

The extension determines the system includePath and defines to send to the IntelliSense engine in the following manner:

1. If compileCommands has a valid value and the file open in the editor is in the database, use the compile command in the database entry to determine the include path and defines.

   • The system include path and defines are determined using the following logic (in order):
     1. If systemIncludePath has a value, use it (continue to the next step to search for system defines).
     2. If compilerPath is valid, query it.
     3. Interpret the first argument in the command as the compiler and attempt to query it.
     4. If compilerPath is "", use an empty array for system include path and defines.
     5. If compilerPath is undefined, look for a compiler on the system and query it.

2. If compileCommands is invalid or the current file is not listed in the database, use the includePath and defines properties in the configuration for IntelliSense.

   • The system include path and defines are determined using the following logic (in order):
     1. If systemIncludePath has a value, use it (continue to the next step to search for system defines).
     2. If compilerPath is valid, query it.
     3. If compilerPath is "", use an empty array for system include path and defines (they are assumed to be in the includePath and defines for the current config already).
     4. If compilerPath is undefined, look for a compiler on the system and query it.

System includes should not be added to the includePath or browse.path variables. If the extension detects any system include paths in the includePath property it will silently remove them so that it can ensure system include paths are added last and in the correct order (this is especially important for GCC/Clang).

Enhanced semantic colorization

When IntelliSense is enabled, the Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension supports semantic colorization. See Enhanced colorization for more details about setting colors for classes, functions, variables and so on.

Extension logging

If you are experiencing a problem with the extension that we can't diagnose based on information in your issue report, we might ask you to enable logging and send us your logs. See C/C++ extension logging for information about how to collect logs.