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(make.info)Wildcards

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Using Wildcard Characters in File Names
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   A single file name can specify many files using "wildcard
characters".  The wildcard characters in `make' are `*', `?' and
`[...]', the same as in the Bourne shell.  For example, `*.c' specifies
a list of all the files (in the working directory) whose names end in
`.c'.

   The character `~' at the beginning of a file name also has special
significance.  If alone, or followed by a slash, it represents your home
directory.  For example `~/bin' expands to `/home/you/bin'.  If the `~'
is followed by a word, the string represents the home directory of the
user named by that word.  For example `~john/bin' expands to
`/home/john/bin'.  On systems which don't have a home directory for
each user (such as MS-DOS or MS-Windows), this functionality can be
simulated by setting the environment variable HOME.

   Wildcard expansion happens automatically in targets, in
prerequisites, and in commands (where the shell does the expansion).
In other contexts, wildcard expansion happens only if you request it
explicitly with the `wildcard' function.

   The special significance of a wildcard character can be turned off by
preceding it with a backslash.  Thus, `foo\*bar' would refer to a
specific file whose name consists of `foo', an asterisk, and `bar'.

Wildcard Examples

Several examples

Wildcard Pitfall

Problems to avoid.

Wildcard Function

How to cause wildcard expansion where

it does not normally take place.