What symbol lengths are supported in HI-TECH C?
HI-TECH C compilers use a default length of 31 significant characters in C symbols (this is the minimum value permitted by the ANSI standard). This is adequate for most purposes, but if more characters are needed, the length can be changed. The -N option, represented by the Identifier length field in the Compiler tab of MPLAB IDE’s Build Options dialog, can be used to change the identifier length to anywhere between 31 and 255 characters. This option also controls the length of macro names used by the C preprocessor, which also have a default length of 31. The assemblers that are packaged with HI-TECH C have no specific limit on symbol lengths — all characters are significant, and the line length is the only limitation (typically 256 characters or more). Whatever the length of a symbol, the linker preserves the full name. Symbols are case-sensitive in all situations.
