Compile all C files in a directory into separate programs

Question

Is there a way using GNU Make of compiling all of the C files in a directory into separate programs, with each program named as the source file without the .c extension?

score 61 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 24 '10 at 20:48

61

SRCS = $(wildcard *.c)

PROGS = $(patsubst %.c,%,$(SRCS))

all: $(PROGS)

%: %.c

        $(CC) $(CFLAGS)  -o $@ $<

edited Apr 24 '10 at 20:48

Pascal Cuoq

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answered Apr 24 '10 at 20:46

@Martin brilliant! But I don't understand why you don't call PROGS and SRCS in the main line. – Herman Toothrot Feb 06 '15 at 18:12
@user4050, sorry, I missed your question. The default `all` target builds `$(PROGS)`, and the main line says how to build files without an extension, which is what `$(PROGS)` are, from `%.c` files, which is what `$(SRCS)` are. – Dec 23 '15 at 10:55

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 17 '15 at 04:35

8

SRCS = $(wildcard *.c)

PROGS = $(patsubst %.c,%,$(SRCS))

all: $(PROGS)

%: %.c
        $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
clean: 
        rm -f $(PROGS)

Improving Martin Broadhurst's answer by adding "clean" target. "make clean" will clean all executable.

answered Sep 17 '15 at 04:35

Pratik

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You should use `.PHONY` for a target like `clean`. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2145590/what-is-the-purpose-of-phony-in-a-makefile for the reason. – Jan 13 '17 at 16:12
@MartinBroadhurst You should also use a `.PHONY` for target `all`. – iBug Nov 08 '17 at 05:11

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 24 '10 at 20:52

I don't think you even need a makefile - the default implicit make rules should do it:

$ ls
src0.c  src1.c  src2.c  src3.c
$ make `basename -s .c *`
cc     src0.c   -o src0
cc     src1.c   -o src1
cc     src2.c   -o src2
cc     src3.c   -o src3

Edited to make the command line a little simpler.

Compile all C files in a directory into separate programs

3 Answers3

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