How to convert a .o file back to a .c file in C?

Question

I'm sure there's a way. I'm new to C and my research on this led me nowhere. Is there a command that can convert a .o file to .c?

Hi Tony, that isn't easily possible. It's called 'decompilation' and unfortunately it's not a simple process. — axblount, Mar 21 '15 at 05:53

Thomas Dickey · Answer 1 · 2023-01-16T23:32:14.703

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Usually you can only determine the assembly language for the object file, using a disassembler. Here are a few links to discussion on that topic, e.g., for objdump:

Reverse-compiling (decompiling) is much harder. Here are a few links to help:

edited Jan 16 '23 at 23:32

answered Mar 21 '15 at 13:48

Thomas Dickey

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Ok great thank you! Ill have a look – Tony Mar 21 '15 at 18:52
-1: Link-only answers are not seen as good answers on this side. Answers should be able to stand up on their own without any links which your answer does not. – fuz Nov 23 '17 at 13:18
The what's a good C decompiler question is deleted >:( – user16217248 Jan 16 '23 at 22:14

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '15 at 05:41

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.o file has object code and cannot be converted back to its original .c file having high level code . It is just like the fact that chewed food cannot be converted back to its solid form.

answered Mar 21 '15 at 05:41

Achyuta Aich

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Bad analogy. It's more like IKEA furniture. With a full understanding of the assembly language (manual), compiled code can be manually rebuilt to perform the same task. It is quite difficult work, and it won't be the exact C code (since compilers do lots of optimizing) but it will be functionally equivalent. – bryc Dec 10 '17 at 01:18

How to convert a .o file back to a .c file in C?

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