Hi I'm trying to learn C programming using a Fedora 12 system, I have gcc version 4.4.2 20091027 installed and I'm trying to use Nano as my text editor. I created the source code for hello, world and saved it as hello.c, I then compiled it using
a.out was then created but when I type
to execute it I get this
Please help me find what I'm missing or not doing.

Thanks

./a.out should do it.

Thanks for the quick reply jiml8 but this is what the command returned:
When I saved the source code from nano it autosaved in my brendan@home~]$ directory, and when I compiled it the a.out file is there too.

please list the contents of your current directory..

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Hi,

~/a.out

But it would be easier if you are standing in the directory where you create the hello.c file and where the compiled version is (the a.out file). If this is the case, jiml8's original answer works.

BTW: you might want to include the -o <name> option, this creates a more readable c file. I.e.: gcc hello.c -o hello, will create an executable hello file instead of a plain a.out.

Hope this helps.

~/a.out only works if the file is in the root of his home directory.

Basically, cd into the directory where you compiled the file. ./filename means "execute filename which is in the current directory". If you are in that directory and you specified ./a.out then either the executable was created without execute permission (which would be very strange) or the executable was not created, which means the compiler bombed, or you created the executable using the -o option.

. .. .bash_history .bash_logout .bash_profile .bashrc .cache .config
C_programmes .dbus Desktop .dmrc Documents Downloads .esd_auth .gconf
.gconfd .gnome2 .gnome2_private .gnote .gnupg .gstreamer-0.10 .gtk-bookmarks .gvfs
.ICEauthority .icedteaplugin .icons .imsettings.log .local .mozilla Music .nautilus
Pictures Public .pulse .pulse-cookie .recently-used.xbel.ssh Templates .themes
.thumbnails Videos .xsession-errors .xsession-errors.old

This really showcases the value of the seemingly trivial hello program.

I would try

ls C_programmes

and if you can then see the hello.c and a.out, change to that subdirectory with

cd C_programmes

Then, just to make sure, list the new current directory with a simple

ls

to make sure that you have moved into the directory which contains hello.c and a.out.

When you are in the directory with a.out, you should be able to run it with

./a.out

You need to prefix the name of the executable with ./ because Linux does not look in the current directory for executable programs. There is a search path in your environment that Linux uses to search for executable commands, but, by default, that search path does not include your current directory.

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OK.... IT WORKS.
I had to copy the hello.c file to C_programmes then compile it, then run it with ./a.out.
Thanks Arthur, I didn't know linux wouldn't execute from current directory.

Thanks guys for your help

Linux WILL execute from current directory but by default the bash shell does not include the current directory in the path. This is a security mechanism. To execute from the current directory, you have to preface the command with ./ to explicitly tell bash that you want the file in the current directory.

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