c - why #include directive doesn't have a semi-colon at the end of statement?

Question

In C, semicolons (;) are used to indicate the end of the statement. Why do #include lines not need a semicolon?

Answer 1

#include (and all other lines beginning with # like #define) is part of the preprocessor. This is actually a separate programs that runs before the main compiler and does things like include files into the source and macro expansion.