How to get the value of a variable set in CMakeLists.txt?

Question

In CMakeLists.txt, when I use SET(VARIABLE, value), I would expect that running cmake -LA CMakeLists.txt would cause the CMakeCache.txt file generated to show the value of this variable. It doesn't. How do I view the values of set variables?

For the differences between and usage of "normal" and "cached" variables - including how to "debug" variables - see [What's the CMake syntax to set and use variables?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31037882/whats-the-cmake-syntax-to-set-and-use-variables). And you might find [Get a list of variables with a specified prefix](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12521452/get-a-list-of-variables-with-a-specified-prefix) interesting. — Florian, Nov 19 '15 at 10:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 18 '15 at 22:47

File CMakeCache.txt contains only cached variables. These ones are set using

set(VARIABLE value CACHE ...)

command flow or using some other commands(e.g. find_path), documentation for which explicitely says about cache variables.

Variables, assigned using simple

set(VARIABLE value)

are temporary, and exists only while CMake interpret script(CMakeLists.txt). There is no way to list such variables outside of script interpreting process.

How to get the value of a variable set in CMakeLists.txt?

1 Answers1