What are the GCC default include directories?

When I compile a very simple source file with gcc I don't have to specify the path to standard include files such as stdio or stdlib.

How does GCC know how to find these files?

Does it have the /usr/include path hardwired inside, or it will get the paths from other OS components?

In order to figure out the default paths used by gcc/g++, as well as their priorities, you need to examine the output of the following commands:

1. For C:

    gcc -xc -E -v -

2. For C++:

    gcc -xc++ -E -v -

The credit goes to Qt Creator team.

There is a command with a shorter output, which allows to automatically cut the include pathes from lines, starting with a single space:

$ echo | gcc -Wp,-v -x c++ - -fsyntax-only
ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/include-fixed"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/../../../../x86_64-redhat-linux/include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/../../../../include/c++/4.8.2
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/../../../../include/c++/4.8.2/x86_64-redhat-linux
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/../../../../include/c++/4.8.2/backward
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.8.2/include
 /usr/local/include
 /usr/include
End of search list.

The credit goes to the libc++ [front-page][1].

[1]: http://libcxx.llvm.org/ "front page"

Though I agree with Ihor Kaharlichenko’s answer for considering C++ and with abyss.7’s answer for the compactness of its output, they are still incomplete for the multi-arch versions of gcc because input processing depends on the command line parameters and macros.

Example:

`echo | /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/arm-none-eabi-g++ -specs=nano.specs -mcpu=cortex-m4 -march=armv7e-m -mthumb -mfloat-abi=soft -x c++ -E -Wp,-v\

• -fsyntax-only` yields

  ⋮ /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../arm-none-eabi/include/newlib-nano
  /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include/c++/9.2.1
  /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include/c++/9.2.1/arm-none-eabi/thumb/v7e-m/nofp
  /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include/c++/9.2.1/backward
  /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/include
  /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/include-fixed
  /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include
  ⋮

whereas echo | /opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/arm-none-eabi-g++ -x c++ -E -Wp,-v - -fsyntax-only yields

⋮
/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include/c++/9.2.1                                                                        
/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include/c++/9.2.1/arm-none-eabi                                                          
/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include/c++/9.2.1/backward                                                               
/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/include                                                                                                            
/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/include-fixed                                                                                                      
/opt/gcc-arm-none-eabi-9-2019-q4-major/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/include                                                                                  
⋮

The former invocation utilizes newlib (see lines 1 and 3 of the output), the latter goes with the standard includes. The common files at the end of the list are an example for the usage of include_next.

Bottom line: Always consider all macros and compiler options when printing the include directories.

To summarise the other answers:

For C++:

c++ -xc++ /dev/null -E -Wp,-v 2>&1 | sed -n 's,^ ,,p'

For C:

cc -xc /dev/null -E -Wp,-v 2>&1 | sed -n 's,^ ,,p'

Just run the following to list the default search paths:

$(gcc -print-prog-name=cc1) -v