• preprocessing
• compiling
• assembling
• linking

For any given input file, the filename suffix determines what kind of compilation is done, as the following descriptions help to clarify.
 

file.c
C source code which must be preprocessed.
file.i
C source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.ii
C++ source code which should not be preprocessed.
file.m
Objective-C source code. Note that you must link with the library libobjc.a to make an Objective-C program work.
file.h
C header file (not to be compiled or linked).
file.cc
file.cxx
file.cpp
file.C
C++ source code which must be preprocessed. Note that in ‘.cxx’, the last two letters must both be literally ‘x.’ Likewise, ‘.C’ refers to a literal capital C.
file.s
Assembler code.
file.S
Assembler code which must be preprocessed.
other
An object file to be fed straight into linking. Any filename with no recognized suffix is treated this way.
You can specify the input language explicitly with the  ‘-x’ option:
-x language
Specify explicitly the language for the following input files (rather than letting the compiler choose a default based on the filename suffix). This option applies to all following input files until the next ‘-x’ option.
Possible input for language include the following optional values.
   c   objective-c   c++
   c-header   cpp-output   c++-cpp-output
   assembler   assembler-with-cpp
-x none
Turn off any specification of a language, so that subsequent files are handled according to their filename suffixes (as they are if ‘-x’ has not been used at all).
If you only want some of the stages of compilation, you can use ‘-x’ (or filename suffixes) to tell gcc where to start, and one of the options ‘-c’, ‘-S’, or ‘-E’ to say where gcc is to stop. Note that some combinations (for example, ‘-x cpp-output -E’ instruct gcc to do nothing at all.
-c
Compile or assemble the source files, but do not link. The linking stage simply is not done. The ultimate output is in the form of an object file for each source file. By default, the object filename for a source file is made by replacing the suffix ‘.c’, ‘.i’, ‘.s’, etc., with ‘.o’. Unrecognized input files, not requiring compilation or assembly, are ignored.
-S
Stop after the stage of compilation proper; do not assemble. The output is in the form of an assembler code file for each non-assembler input file specified. By default, the assembler filename for a source file is made by replacing the suffix ‘.c’, ‘.i’, etc., with ‘.s’. Input files that don’t require compilation are ignored.
-E
Stop after the preprocessing stage; do not run the compiler proper. The output is in the form of preprocessed source code, which is sent to the standard output. Input files which don’t require preprocessing are ignored.
-ofile
Place output in file file. This applies regardless to whatever sort of output is being produced, whether it be an executable file, an object file, an assembler file or preprocessed C code. Since only one output file can be specified, it does not make sense to use ‘-o’ when compiling more than one input file, unless you are producing an executable file as output. If ‘-o’ is not specified, the default is to put an executable file in ‘a.out’, the object file for ‘source.suffix’ in ‘source.o’, its assembler file in ‘source.s’, and all preprocessed C source on standard output.
-v
Print (on standard error output) the commands executed to run the stages of compilation. Also print the version number of the compiler driver program and of the preprocessor and the compiler proper.
-pipe
Use pipes rather than temporary files for communication between the various stages of compilation. This fails to work on some systems where the assembler is unable to read from a pipe; but the GNU assembler has no trouble.