VSCode Tasks for C++

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A lot of times when you are coding, especially when you're trying to code your solution for a competitive-programming question, you need to test and try out different approaches that require you to build your code repeatedly. This can be time-consuming and tiresome for languages like C/C++. Well, guess what? you can automate this process easily with VSCode tasks.

What are tasks?

Tasks in VSCode (Visual Studio Code) are these little shortcuts to run commands in your terminal. They can be configured to run scripts and start processes without leaving your editor or writing new code. The good thing is that you can map these tasks with custom command keys and they will function just as your default VSCode commands.

Setting it up

  • Hop into your workspace in VScode.
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + P to fire up the command palette, type 'Configure task' and press enter.
  • Select 'Create tasks.json file from template', press enter, select 'Others' and press enter.
  • Replace the contents of the file with the following snippet.
{
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "build & run",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "g++",
            "args": [
                "${file}",
                "&&",
                "./a.out",
            ],
            "group": {
                "kind": "build",
                "isDefault": true,
            },
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "always",
                "focus": true,
                "panel": "new",
            },
            "problemMatcher": "$gcc",
        }
    ]
}

Running it

You can use Ctrl + Shift + B to execute your tasks. However, if you want to bind it to some other key mapping. You can add the following snippet in 'keybindings.json' file and replacing [your+key+mapping+here] with the key mapping of your wish.

[
    {
        "key": "[your+key+mapping+here]",
        "command": "workbench.action.tasks.build"
    },
]

Other use cases

You can create tasks for running a server, updating dependencies, running unit tests and other processes.