Multiple lines in make

Question

I am trying to store a multiline string in a variable in make

var=$(shell cat <<End-of-message \
-------------------------------------\
This is line 1 of the message.\
This is line 2 of the message.\
This is line 3 of the message.\
This is line 4 of the message.\
This is the last line of the message.\
-------------------------------------\
End-of-message)


printit:
    @echo ${var}

This doesn't work, so I am wondering if this is possible at all. I need to preserve the newlines here and shell is converting them in spaces. Any suggestions?

Any reason you can't have the text you need to use in an external file vs. inside the makefile? — AlG, May 13 '10 at 15:13
Does this answer your question? [Is it possible to create a multi-line string variable in a Makefile](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/649246/is-it-possible-to-create-a-multi-line-string-variable-in-a-makefile) — Zoe, Jun 26 '20 at 17:33

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered May 13 '10 at 15:52

How about this:

define var
@echo -------------------------------------
@echo This is line 1 of the message.
@echo This is line 2 of the message.
@echo This is line 3 of the message.
@echo This is line 4 of the message.
@echo This is the last line of the message.
@echo -------------------------------------
endef

printit:
    ${var}

or this:

.PHONY: var
var:
    @echo -------------------------------------
    @echo This is line 1 of the message.
    @echo This is line 2 of the message.
    @echo This is line 3 of the message.
    @echo This is line 4 of the message.
    @echo This is the last line of the message.
    @echo -------------------------------------

printit: var

Multiple lines in make

1 Answers1