#define string over multiple lines

I was wondering how I could define a really long string over the multiple lines.
I tried so many different patterns, but none of them is working..
Here is my code.

#define EXAMPLE "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
"bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"
"ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"
"ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"

and I get syntax error.
The error I got is

ccompile.h (as included in test.c)
=================
error: syntax error before or at: g
*** Error code 2

I want to assign "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbccccccccccccccdddddddd" to EXAMPLE.

I tried using \ and @\ but that didn't work out.

#define EXAMPLE "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
"bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"
"ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"
"ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"

For the directive above, its replacement list is limited only to `"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"` because macro definition works only a **single logical line**.

Moreover, concatenating adjacent string literals to form a single one is not possible in C during **preprocessing**.

**C99 *footnote 148*:**

> <sub>148: Note that adjacent string literals are not concatenated into a
> single string literal </sub>

Instead use the backslash-newline :

#define EXAMPLE "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb\
ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc\
ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd"


**C99 5.1.1.2 p/2**

> 2. Each instance of a **backslash character (\) immediately followed by a new-line character is deleted, splicing physical source lines to
> form logical source lines**. Only the last backslash on any physical
> source line shall be eligible for being part of such a splice. A
> source file that is not empty shall end in a new-line character, which
> shall not be immediately preceded by a backslash character before any
> such splicing takes place.

Just get rid of the whitespace in between the lines, and quote the whole thing. A `\` at the EOL basically _"escapes"_ the newline, so it won't be part of the string itself. It's only relevant for the preprocessor:

#include <stdio.h>

#define LONG_STRING "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb\
ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"

int main ( void ) {
printf(LONG_STRING);
return 0;
}

That works [just fine](

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)

For aesthetic reasons, you can quote each line separately, the only requirement is you add the `\` directly after the closing quotes:

#define LONG_STRING "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"\
"bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"\
"ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc"

This, too, works [just fine](

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)

### Note:

The two suggestions _are not_ 100% equivalent. The first version defines a macro to be a single string literal. The second version defines the macro as 3 _separate_ string literals. For the most part, this isn't a big deal, because during the translation phase, adjacent string literal tokens should be concatenated:

> 5.1.1.2 Translation phases:<br>
[...]<br>
6. Adjacent string literal tokens are concatenated.<br>
7. White-space characters separating tokens are no longer significant. Each
preprocessing token is converted into a token. The resulting tokens are
syntactically and semantically analyzed and translated as a translation unit.

I could not find the footnote Meninx mentions about C99 behaving differently. Document I used [can be found here]( )