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10.5.1 Introduction to Pattern Rules

A pattern rule contains the character ‘%’ (exactly one of them) in the target; otherwise, it looks exactly like an ordinary rule. The target is a pattern for matching file names; the ‘%’ matches any nonempty substring, while other characters match only themselves.

For example, ‘%.c’ as a pattern matches any file name that ends in ‘.c’. ‘s.%.c’ as a pattern matches any file name that starts with ‘s.’, ends in ‘.c’ and is at least five characters long. (There must be at least one character to match the ‘%’.) The substring that the ‘%’ matches is called the stem.

%’ in a prerequisite of a pattern rule stands for the same stem that was matched by the ‘%’ in the target. In order for the pattern rule to apply, its target pattern must match the file name under consideration and all of its prerequisites (after pattern substitution) must name files that exist or can be made. These files become prerequisites of the target.

Thus, a rule of the form

%.o : %.c ; recipe

specifies how to make a file ‘n.o’, with another file ‘n.c’ as its prerequisite, provided that ‘n.c’ exists or can be made.

There may also be prerequisites that do not use ‘%’; such a prerequisite attaches to every file made by this pattern rule. These unvarying prerequisites are useful occasionally.

A pattern rule need not have any prerequisites that contain ‘%’, or in fact any prerequisites at all. Such a rule is effectively a general wildcard. It provides a way to make any file that matches the target pattern. See section Defining Last-Resort Default Rules.

More than one pattern rule may match a target. In this case make will choose the “best fit” rule. See section How Patterns Match.

Pattern rules may have more than one target. Unlike normal rules, this does not act as many different rules with the same prerequisites and recipe. If a pattern rule has multiple targets, make knows that the rule’s recipe is responsible for making all of the targets. The recipe is executed only once to make all the targets. When searching for a pattern rule to match a target, the target patterns of a rule other than the one that matches the target in need of a rule are incidental: make worries only about giving a recipe and prerequisites to the file presently in question. However, when this file’s recipe is run, the other targets are marked as having been updated themselves.


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