Entering and Exiting gdb Mode

Compile the program

To be able to debug a program using gdb, we must, first, compile it using the -g flag.

gcc main.c -g

The output of this program will be available in a.out (or a.exe).

Run a.out/a.exe under gdb

Then, we should execute the program using gdb. When we do that, we enter the gdb mode.

gdb a.out

Once into this mode, we can perform a variety of operations as the execution proceeds. These tasks are discussed in upcoming lessons.

View the source code

The list command in gdb is used to see the source code. For longer programs, the list command can be issued repeatedly to see the complete source code in chunks.

list

Exit from gdb debugger

To exit the gdb debugger, run the following command on the terminal:

quit