File: make.info,  Node: Conditional Syntax,  Next: Testing Flags,  Prev: Conditional Example,  Up: Conditionals

7.2 Syntax of Conditionals
==========================

The syntax of a simple conditional with no 'else' is as follows:

     CONDITIONAL-DIRECTIVE
     TEXT-IF-TRUE
     endif

The TEXT-IF-TRUE may be any lines of text, to be considered as part of
the makefile if the condition is true.  If the condition is false, no
text is used instead.

   The syntax of a complex conditional is as follows:

     CONDITIONAL-DIRECTIVE
     TEXT-IF-TRUE
     else
     TEXT-IF-FALSE
     endif

   or:

     CONDITIONAL-DIRECTIVE-ONE
     TEXT-IF-ONE-IS-TRUE
     else CONDITIONAL-DIRECTIVE-TWO
     TEXT-IF-TWO-IS-TRUE
     else
     TEXT-IF-ONE-AND-TWO-ARE-FALSE
     endif

There can be as many "'else' CONDITIONAL-DIRECTIVE" clauses as
necessary.  Once a given condition is true, TEXT-IF-TRUE is used and no
other clause is used; if no condition is true then TEXT-IF-FALSE is
used.  The TEXT-IF-TRUE and TEXT-IF-FALSE can be any number of lines of
text.

   The syntax of the CONDITIONAL-DIRECTIVE is the same whether the
conditional is simple or complex; after an 'else' or not.  There are
four different directives that test different conditions.  Here is a
table of them:

'ifeq (ARG1, ARG2)'
'ifeq 'ARG1' 'ARG2''
'ifeq "ARG1" "ARG2"'
'ifeq "ARG1" 'ARG2''
'ifeq 'ARG1' "ARG2"'
     Expand all variable references in ARG1 and ARG2 and compare them.
     If they are identical, the TEXT-IF-TRUE is effective; otherwise,
     the TEXT-IF-FALSE, if any, is effective.

     Often you want to test if a variable has a non-empty value.  When
     the value results from complex expansions of variables and
     functions, expansions you would consider empty may actually contain
     whitespace characters and thus are not seen as empty.  However, you
     can use the 'strip' function (*note Text Functions::) to avoid
     interpreting whitespace as a non-empty value.  For example:

          ifeq ($(strip $(foo)),)
          TEXT-IF-EMPTY
          endif

     will evaluate TEXT-IF-EMPTY even if the expansion of '$(foo)'
     contains whitespace characters.

'ifneq (ARG1, ARG2)'
'ifneq 'ARG1' 'ARG2''
'ifneq "ARG1" "ARG2"'
'ifneq "ARG1" 'ARG2''
'ifneq 'ARG1' "ARG2"'
     Expand all variable references in ARG1 and ARG2 and compare them.
     If they are different, the TEXT-IF-TRUE is effective; otherwise,
     the TEXT-IF-FALSE, if any, is effective.

'ifdef VARIABLE-NAME'
     The 'ifdef' form takes the _name_ of a variable as its argument,
     not a reference to a variable.  If the value of that variable has a
     non-empty value, the TEXT-IF-TRUE is effective; otherwise, the
     TEXT-IF-FALSE, if any, is effective.  Variables that have never
     been defined have an empty value.  The text VARIABLE-NAME is
     expanded, so it could be a variable or function that expands to the
     name of a variable.  For example:

          bar = true
          foo = bar
          ifdef $(foo)
          frobozz = yes
          endif

     The variable reference '$(foo)' is expanded, yielding 'bar', which
     is considered to be the name of a variable.  The variable 'bar' is
     not expanded, but its value is examined to determine if it is
     non-empty.

     Note that 'ifdef' only tests whether a variable has a value.  It
     does not expand the variable to see if that value is nonempty.
     Consequently, tests using 'ifdef' return true for all definitions
     except those like 'foo ='.  To test for an empty value, use
     'ifeq ($(foo),)'.  For example,

          bar =
          foo = $(bar)
          ifdef foo
          frobozz = yes
          else
          frobozz = no
          endif

     sets 'frobozz' to 'yes', while:

          foo =
          ifdef foo
          frobozz = yes
          else
          frobozz = no
          endif

     sets 'frobozz' to 'no'.

'ifndef VARIABLE-NAME'
     If the variable VARIABLE-NAME has an empty value, the TEXT-IF-TRUE
     is effective; otherwise, the TEXT-IF-FALSE, if any, is effective.
     The rules for expansion and testing of VARIABLE-NAME are identical
     to the 'ifdef' directive.

   Extra spaces are allowed and ignored at the beginning of the
conditional directive line, but a tab is not allowed.  (If the line
begins with a tab, it will be considered part of a recipe for a rule.)
Aside from this, extra spaces or tabs may be inserted with no effect
anywhere except within the directive name or within an argument.  A
comment starting with '#' may appear at the end of the line.

   The other two directives that play a part in a conditional are 'else'
and 'endif'.  Each of these directives is written as one word, with no
arguments.  Extra spaces are allowed and ignored at the beginning of the
line, and spaces or tabs at the end.  A comment starting with '#' may
appear at the end of the line.

   Conditionals affect which lines of the makefile 'make' uses.  If the
condition is true, 'make' reads the lines of the TEXT-IF-TRUE as part of
the makefile; if the condition is false, 'make' ignores those lines
completely.  It follows that syntactic units of the makefile, such as
rules, may safely be split across the beginning or the end of the
conditional.

   'make' evaluates conditionals when it reads a makefile.
Consequently, you cannot use automatic variables in the tests of
conditionals because they are not defined until recipes are run (*note
Automatic Variables::).

   To prevent intolerable confusion, it is not permitted to start a
conditional in one makefile and end it in another.  However, you may
write an 'include' directive within a conditional, provided you do not
attempt to terminate the conditional inside the included file.