in your main file do you include header file or cpp file code example

Example 1: c++ header files example

//headers 
#ifndef TOOLS_hpp 
#define TOOLS_hpp
#include<vector> 
#include<iostream>
#include<fstream>
#include<string>
using std::ifstream;
using std::cout; 
using std::cin;
using std::endl;
using std::cerr;
using std::vector;
using std::string;
// functions prototypes 
inline vector<int> merge(const vector<int>&a,const vector<int>& b);//merge function prototype with Formal Parameters 
std::vector<int> sort(size_t start, size_t length, const std::vector<int>& vec);//sort function prototype with formal parameters 
#endif

Example 2: including cpp header file in c++

#include "enter_name_here.cpp"

//Make sure the files are in the same directory.