Make Basics

Naming

• Rule
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "do something"

• Target
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "do something"

• First prerequisite
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "do something"

• All prerequisites
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "do something"

• Recipe
  Each line of the recipe is executed in a new shell, except .ONESHELL is defined (see here).
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "do something"

Automatic Variables

• $@: The target of the rule
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "$@"

• $<: The first prerequisite
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "$<"

• $?: All prerequisites that are newer than the target
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "$?"

• $^: All prerequisites (no dupplicates)
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h include1.h
  	echo "$^"

• $+: All prerequisites (with dupplicates)
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h include1.h
  	echo "$+"

• $|: All order-only prerequisites
  

  foo/myfile.o: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h | linux-folder
  	echo "$|"

• $*: see manual
  

  a.%.b: bar/myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "dir/a.foo.b  = $*"   # dir/a.foo.b  = dir/foo

• $(@D): The directory part of the file name of the target, with the trailing slash removed
  

  foo/bar/myfile.o: myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "$(@D)"

• $(@F): The file-within-directory part of the file name of the target
  

  foo/bar/myfile.o: myfile.c myfile.h include1.h include2.h
  	echo "$(@F)"

• $(<D): The directory part of the first prerequisite
  

  myfile.o: foo/myfile.c bar/myfile.h doo/include1.h dar/include2.h
  	echo "$(<D)"

• $(<F): The file-within-directory part of the first prerequisite
  

  myfile.o: foo/myfile.c bar/myfile.h doo/include1.h dar/include2.h
  	echo "$(<F)"

• $(?D): Lists of the directory parts of all prerequisites that are newer than the target
  

  myfile.o: foo/myfile.c bar/myfile.h doo/include1.h dar/include2.h
  	echo "$(?D)"

• $(?F): Lists of the file-within-directory parts of all prerequisites that are newer than the target
  

  myfile.o: foo/myfile.c bar/myfile.h doo/include1.h dar/include2.h
  	echo "$(?F)"

• $(^D): Lists of the directory parts of all prerequisites
  

  myfile.o: foo/myfile.c bar/myfile.h doo/include1.h dar/include2.h
  	echo "$(^D)"

• $(^F): Lists of the file-within-directory parts of all prerequisites
  

  myfile.o: foo/myfile.c bar/myfile.h doo/include1.h dar/include2.h
  	echo "$(^F)"

Recipes

Implicit Rules