The most common way to simulate named parameters is to pass a single struct to a function. By using C99 designated initializers, you can specify values for specific members by name.
You explicitly name the struct members in the function call.
: Used to retrieve an indefinite number of arguments.
To avoid typing the struct name and parentheses every time, you can wrap the function call in a variadic macro.
: The caller must still know the order or use "sentinel" values (like NULL ) to mark the end of the argument list. Summary of Techniques Supports Named? Supports Optional? Standard Requirement Standard Positional Struct + Initializer Yes (defaults to 0) C99 or later Variadic Macros Yes (via struct) C99 or later stdarg.h Yes (manual)
For a more "classic" C approach, you can use variadic functions, though these do not provide true named parameters and are harder to use safely.
#define CREATE_WINDOW(...) create_window((WindowArgs){__VA_ARGS__}) // Now you can call it more like a native feature: CREATE_WINDOW(.width = 1024, .height = 768, .title = "Editor"); Use code with caution. Copied to clipboard 3. Alternative: Variadic Functions ( stdarg.h )