NAME

cmake-generator-expressions - CMake Generator Expressions

INTRODUCTION

Generator expressions are evaluated during build system generation to produce information specific to each build configuration.

Generator expressions are allowed in the context of many target properties, such as LINK_LIBRARIES, INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES, COMPILE_DEFINITIONS and others. They may also be used when using commands to populate those properties, such as target_link_libraries(), target_include_directories(), target_compile_definitions() and others.

They enable conditional linking, conditional definitions used when compiling, conditional include directories, and more. The conditions may be based on the build configuration, target properties, platform information or any other queryable information.

Generator expressions have the form $<...>. To avoid confusion, this page deviates from most of the CMake documentation in that it omits angular brackets <...> around placeholders like condition, string, target, among others.

Generator expressions can be nested, as shown in most of the examples below.

BOOLEAN GENERATOR EXPRESSIONS

Boolean expressions evaluate to either 0 or 1. They are typically used to construct the condition in a conditional generator expression.

Available boolean expressions are:

Logical Operators

$<BOOL:string>: Converts string to 0 or 1. Evaluates to 0 if any of the following is true:

string is empty,
string is a case-insensitive equal of 0, FALSE, OFF, N, NO, IGNORE, or NOTFOUND, or
string ends in the suffix -NOTFOUND (case-sensitive).

Otherwise evaluates to 1.

$<AND:conditions>: where conditions is a comma-separated list of boolean expressions. Evaluates to 1 if all conditions are 1. Otherwise evaluates to 0.

$<OR:conditions>: where conditions is a comma-separated list of boolean expressions. Evaluates to 1 if at least one of the conditions is 1. Otherwise evaluates to 0.

$<NOT:condition>: 0 if condition is 1, else 1.

String Comparisons

$<STREQUAL:string1,string2>: 1 if string1 and string2 are equal, else 0. The comparison is case-sensitive. For a case-insensitive comparison, combine with a string transforming generator expression,

$<STREQUAL:$<UPPER_CASE:${foo}>,"BAR"> # "1" if ${foo} is any of "BAR", "Bar", "bar", ...

$<EQUAL:value1,value2>: 1 if value1 and value2 are numerically equal, else 0.

$<IN_LIST:string,list>

New in version 3.12.

1 if string is member of the semicolon-separated list, else 0. Uses case-sensitive comparisons.

$<VERSION_LESS:v1,v2>: 1 if v1 is a version less than v2, else 0.

$<VERSION_GREATER:v1,v2>: 1 if v1 is a version greater than v2, else 0.

$<VERSION_EQUAL:v1,v2>: 1 if v1 is the same version as v2, else 0.

$<VERSION_LESS_EQUAL:v1,v2>

New in version 3.7.

1 if v1 is a version less than or equal to v2, else 0.

$<VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL:v1,v2>

New in version 3.7.

1 if v1 is a version greater than or equal to v2, else 0.

Variable Queries

$<TARGET_EXISTS:target>

New in version 3.12.

1 if target exists, else 0.

$<CONFIG:cfgs>: 1 if config is any one of the entries in comma-separated list cfgs, else 0. This is a case-insensitive comparison. The mapping in MAP_IMPORTED_CONFIG_<CONFIG> is also considered by this expression when it is evaluated on a property on an IMPORTED target.

$<PLATFORM_ID:platform_ids>: where platform_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's platform id matches any one of the entries in platform_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME variable.

$<C_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>: where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the C compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>: where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the CXX compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>

New in version 3.15.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the CUDA compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>

New in version 3.16.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the Objective-C compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>

New in version 3.16.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the Objective-C++ compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>: where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the Fortran compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<HIP_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>: where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the HIP compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>

New in version 3.19.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if the CMake's compiler id of the ISPC compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<C_COMPILER_VERSION:version>: 1 if the version of the C compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION:version>: 1 if the version of the CXX compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_VERSION:version>

New in version 3.15.

1 if the version of the CXX compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_VERSION:version>

New in version 3.16.

1 if the version of the OBJC compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_VERSION:version>

New in version 3.16.

1 if the version of the OBJCXX compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION:version>: 1 if the version of the Fortran compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<HIP_COMPILER_VERSION:version>: 1 if the version of the HIP compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_VERSION:version>

New in version 3.19.

1 if the version of the ISPC compiler matches version, otherwise 0. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<TARGET_POLICY:policy>: 1 if the policy was NEW when the 'head' target was created, else 0. If the policy was not set, the warning message for the policy will be emitted. This generator expression only works for a subset of policies.

$<COMPILE_FEATURES:features>

New in version 3.1.

where features is a comma-spearated list. Evaluates to 1 if all of the features are available for the 'head' target, and 0 otherwise. If this expression is used while evaluating the link implementation of a target and if any dependency transitively increases the required C_STANDARD or CXX_STANDARD for the 'head' target, an error is reported. See the cmake-compile-features(7) manual for information on compile features and a list of supported compilers.

$<COMPILE_LANG_AND_ID:language,compiler_ids>

New in version 3.15.

1 when the language used for compilation unit matches language and the CMake's compiler id of the language compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. This expression is a short form for the combination of $<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:language> and $<LANG_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>. This expression may be used to specify compile options, compile definitions, and include directories for source files of a particular language and compiler combination in a target. For example:

add_executable(myapp main.cpp foo.c bar.cpp zot.cu)
target_compile_definitions(myapp
  PRIVATE $<$<COMPILE_LANG_AND_ID:CXX,AppleClang,Clang>:COMPILING_CXX_WITH_CLANG>
          $<$<COMPILE_LANG_AND_ID:CXX,Intel>:COMPILING_CXX_WITH_INTEL>
          $<$<COMPILE_LANG_AND_ID:C,Clang>:COMPILING_C_WITH_CLANG>
)

This specifies the use of different compile definitions based on both the compiler id and compilation language. This example will have a COMPILING_CXX_WITH_CLANG compile definition when Clang is the CXX compiler, and COMPILING_CXX_WITH_INTEL when Intel is the CXX compiler. Likewise when the C compiler is Clang it will only see the COMPILING_C_WITH_CLANG definition.

Without the COMPILE_LANG_AND_ID generator expression the same logic would be expressed as:

target_compile_definitions(myapp
  PRIVATE $<$<AND:$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>,$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:AppleClang,Clang>>:COMPILING_CXX_WITH_CLANG>
          $<$<AND:$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>,$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:Intel>>:COMPILING_CXX_WITH_INTEL>
          $<$<AND:$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:C>,$<C_COMPILER_ID:Clang>>:COMPILING_C_WITH_CLANG>
)

$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:languages>

New in version 3.3.

1 when the language used for compilation unit matches any of the entries in languages, otherwise 0. This expression may be used to specify compile options, compile definitions, and include directories for source files of a particular language in a target. For example:

add_executable(myapp main.cpp foo.c bar.cpp zot.cu)
target_compile_options(myapp
  PRIVATE $<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:-fno-exceptions>
)
target_compile_definitions(myapp
  PRIVATE $<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:COMPILING_CXX>
          $<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CUDA>:COMPILING_CUDA>
)
target_include_directories(myapp
  PRIVATE $<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX,CUDA>:/opt/foo/headers>
)

This specifies the use of the -fno-exceptions compile option, COMPILING_CXX compile definition, and cxx_headers include directory for C++ only (compiler id checks elided). It also specifies a COMPILING_CUDA compile definition for CUDA.

Note that with Visual Studio Generators and Xcode there is no way to represent target-wide compile definitions or include directories separately for C and CXX languages. Also, with Visual Studio Generators there is no way to represent target-wide flags separately for C and CXX languages. Under these generators, expressions for both C and C++ sources will be evaluated using CXX if there are any C++ sources and otherwise using C. A workaround is to create separate libraries for each source file language instead:

add_library(myapp_c foo.c)
add_library(myapp_cxx bar.cpp)
target_compile_options(myapp_cxx PUBLIC -fno-exceptions)
add_executable(myapp main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myapp myapp_c myapp_cxx)

$<LINK_LANG_AND_ID:language,compiler_ids>

New in version 3.18.

1 when the language used for link step matches language and the CMake's compiler id of the language linker matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0. This expression is a short form for the combination of $<LINK_LANGUAGE:language> and $<LANG_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>. This expression may be used to specify link libraries, link options, link directories and link dependencies of a particular language and linker combination in a target. For example:

add_library(libC_Clang ...)
add_library(libCXX_Clang ...)
add_library(libC_Intel ...)
add_library(libCXX_Intel ...)
add_executable(myapp main.c)
if (CXX_CONFIG)
  target_sources(myapp PRIVATE file.cxx)
endif()
target_link_libraries(myapp
  PRIVATE $<$<LINK_LANG_AND_ID:CXX,Clang,AppleClang>:libCXX_Clang>
          $<$<LINK_LANG_AND_ID:C,Clang,AppleClang>:libC_Clang>
          $<$<LINK_LANG_AND_ID:CXX,Intel>:libCXX_Intel>
          $<$<LINK_LANG_AND_ID:C,Intel>:libC_Intel>)

This specifies the use of different link libraries based on both the compiler id and link language. This example will have target libCXX_Clang as link dependency when Clang or AppleClang is the CXX linker, and libCXX_Intel when Intel is the CXX linker. Likewise when the C linker is Clang or AppleClang, target libC_Clang will be added as link dependency and libC_Intel when Intel is the C linker.

See the note related to $<LINK_LANGUAGE:language> for constraints about the usage of this generator expression.

$<LINK_LANGUAGE:languages>

New in version 3.18.

1 when the language used for link step matches any of the entries in languages, otherwise 0. This expression may be used to specify link libraries, link options, link directories and link dependencies of a particular language in a target. For example:

add_library(api_C ...)
add_library(api_CXX ...)
add_library(api INTERFACE)
target_link_options(api INTERFACE $<$<LINK_LANGUAGE:C>:-opt_c>
                                    $<$<LINK_LANGUAGE:CXX>:-opt_cxx>)
target_link_libraries(api INTERFACE $<$<LINK_LANGUAGE:C>:api_C>
                                    $<$<LINK_LANGUAGE:CXX>:api_CXX>)
add_executable(myapp1 main.c)
target_link_options(myapp1 PRIVATE api)
add_executable(myapp2 main.cpp)
target_link_options(myapp2 PRIVATE api)

This specifies to use the api target for linking targets myapp1 and myapp2. In practice, myapp1 will link with target api_C and option -opt_c because it will use C as link language. And myapp2 will link with api_CXX and option -opt_cxx because CXX will be the link language.

NOTE:

To determine the link language of a target, it is required to collect, transitively, all the targets which will be linked to it. So, for link libraries properties, a double evaluation will be done. During the first evaluation, $<LINK_LANGUAGE:..> expressions will always return 0. The link language computed after this first pass will be used to do the second pass. To avoid inconsistency, it is required that the second pass do not change the link language. Moreover, to avoid unexpected side-effects, it is required to specify complete entities as part of the $<LINK_LANGUAGE:..> expression. For example:

add_library(lib STATIC file.cxx)
add_library(libother STATIC file.c)
# bad usage
add_executable(myapp1 main.c)
target_link_libraries(myapp1 PRIVATE lib$<$<LINK_LANGUAGE:C>:other>)
# correct usage
add_executable(myapp2 main.c)
target_link_libraries(myapp2 PRIVATE $<$<LINK_LANGUAGE:C>:libother>)

In this example, for myapp1, the first pass will, unexpectedly, determine that the link language is CXX because the evaluation of the generator expression will be an empty string so myapp1 will depends on target lib which is C++. On the contrary, for myapp2, the first evaluation will give C as link language, so the second pass will correctly add target libother as link dependency.

$<DEVICE_LINK:list>

New in version 3.18.

Returns the list if it is the device link step, an empty list otherwise. The device link step is controlled by CUDA_SEPARABLE_COMPILATION and CUDA_RESOLVE_DEVICE_SYMBOLS properties and policy CMP0105. This expression can only be used to specify link options.

$<HOST_LINK:list>

New in version 3.18.

Returns the list if it is the normal link step, an empty list otherwise. This expression is mainly useful when a device link step is also involved (see $<DEVICE_LINK:list> generator expression). This expression can only be used to specify link options.

STRING-VALUED GENERATOR EXPRESSIONS

These expressions expand to some string. For example,

include_directories(/usr/include/$<CXX_COMPILER_ID>/)

expands to /usr/include/GNU/ or /usr/include/Clang/ etc, depending on the compiler identifier.

String-valued expressions may also be combined with other expressions. Here an example for a string-valued expression within a boolean expressions within a conditional expression:

$<$<VERSION_LESS:$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION>,4.2.0>:OLD_COMPILER>

expands to OLD_COMPILER if the CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION is less than 4.2.0.

And here two nested string-valued expressions:

-I$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>, -I>

generates a string of the entries in the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES target property with each entry preceded by -I.

Expanding on the previous example, if one first wants to check if the INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES property is non-empty, then it is advisable to introduce a helper variable to keep the code readable:

set(prop "$<TARGET_PROPERTY:INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>") # helper variable
$<$<BOOL:${prop}>:-I$<JOIN:${prop}, -I>>

The following string-valued generator expressions are available:

Escaped Characters

String literals to escape the special meaning a character would otherwise have:

$<ANGLE-R>: A literal >. Used for example to compare strings that contain a >.

$<COMMA>: A literal ,. Used for example to compare strings which contain a ,.

$<SEMICOLON>: A literal ;. Used to prevent list expansion on an argument with ;.

Conditional Expressions

Conditional generator expressions depend on a boolean condition that must be 0 or 1.

$<condition:true_string>: Evaluates to true_string if condition is 1. Otherwise evaluates to the empty string.

$<IF:condition,true_string,false_string>

New in version 3.8.

Evaluates to true_string if condition is 1. Otherwise evaluates to false_string.

Typically, the condition is a boolean generator expression. For instance,

$<$<CONFIG:Debug>:DEBUG_MODE>

expands to DEBUG_MODE when the Debug configuration is used, and otherwise expands to the empty string.

String Transformations

$<JOIN:list,string>: Joins the list with the content of string.

$<REMOVE_DUPLICATES:list>

New in version 3.15.

Removes duplicated items in the given list.

$<FILTER:list,INCLUDE|EXCLUDE,regex>

New in version 3.15.

Includes or removes items from list that match the regular expression regex.

$<LOWER_CASE:string>: Content of string converted to lower case.

$<UPPER_CASE:string>: Content of string converted to upper case.

$<GENEX_EVAL:expr>

New in version 3.12.

Content of expr evaluated as a generator expression in the current context. This enables consumption of generator expressions whose evaluation results itself in generator expressions.

$<TARGET_GENEX_EVAL:tgt,expr>

New in version 3.12.

Content of expr evaluated as a generator expression in the context of tgt target. This enables consumption of custom target properties that themselves contain generator expressions.

Having the capability to evaluate generator expressions is very useful when you want to manage custom properties supporting generator expressions. For example:

add_library(foo ...)
set_property(TARGET foo PROPERTY
  CUSTOM_KEYS $<$<CONFIG:DEBUG>:FOO_EXTRA_THINGS>
)
add_custom_target(printFooKeys
  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo $<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,CUSTOM_KEYS>
)

This naive implementation of the printFooKeys custom command is wrong because CUSTOM_KEYS target property is not evaluated and the content is passed as is (i.e. $<$<CONFIG:DEBUG>:FOO_EXTRA_THINGS>).

To have the expected result (i.e. FOO_EXTRA_THINGS if config is Debug), it is required to evaluate the output of $<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,CUSTOM_KEYS>:

add_custom_target(printFooKeys
  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E
    echo $<TARGET_GENEX_EVAL:foo,$<TARGET_PROPERTY:foo,CUSTOM_KEYS>>
)

Variable Queries

$<CONFIG>: Configuration name.

$<CONFIGURATION>: Configuration name. Deprecated since CMake 3.0. Use CONFIG instead.

$<PLATFORM_ID>: The current system's CMake platform id. See also the CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME variable.

$<C_COMPILER_ID>: The CMake's compiler id of the C compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<CXX_COMPILER_ID>: The CMake's compiler id of the CXX compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_ID>: The CMake's compiler id of the CUDA compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_ID>

New in version 3.16.

The CMake's compiler id of the OBJC compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_ID>

New in version 3.16.

The CMake's compiler id of the OBJCXX compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_ID>: The CMake's compiler id of the Fortran compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<HIP_COMPILER_ID>: The CMake's compiler id of the HIP compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_ID>

New in version 3.19.

The CMake's compiler id of the ISPC compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable.

$<C_COMPILER_VERSION>: The version of the C compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION>: The version of the CXX compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_VERSION>: The version of the CUDA compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_VERSION>

New in version 3.16.

The version of the OBJC compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_VERSION>

New in version 3.16.

The version of the OBJCXX compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION>: The version of the Fortran compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<HIP_COMPILER_VERSION>: The version of the HIP compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_VERSION>

New in version 3.19.

The version of the ISPC compiler used. See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable.

$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE>

New in version 3.3.

The compile language of source files when evaluating compile options. See the related boolean expression $<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:language> for notes about the portability of this generator expression.

$<LINK_LANGUAGE>

New in version 3.18.

The link language of target when evaluating link options. See the related boolean expression $<LINK_LANGUAGE:language> for notes about the portability of this generator expression.

NOTE:

This generator expression is not supported by the link libraries properties to avoid side-effects due to the double evaluation of these properties.

Target-Dependent Queries

These queries refer to a target tgt. This can be any runtime artifact, namely:

an executable target created by add_executable()
a shared library target (.so, .dll but not their .lib import library) created by add_library()
a static library target created by add_library()

In the following, "the tgt filename" means the name of the tgt binary file. This has to be distinguished from "the target name", which is just the string tgt.

$<TARGET_NAME_IF_EXISTS:tgt>

New in version 3.12.

The target name tgt if the target exists, an empty string otherwise.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_FILE:tgt>: Full path to the tgt binary file.

$<TARGET_FILE_BASE_NAME:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Base name of tgt, i.e. $<TARGET_FILE_NAME:tgt> without prefix and suffix. For example, if the tgt filename is libbase.so, the base name is base.

See also the OUTPUT_NAME, ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME, LIBRARY_OUTPUT_NAME and RUNTIME_OUTPUT_NAME target properties and their configuration specific variants OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG>, ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG>, LIBRARY_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG> and RUNTIME_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG>.

The <CONFIG>_POSTFIX and DEBUG_POSTFIX target properties can also be considered.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_FILE_PREFIX:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Prefix of the tgt filename (such as lib).

See also the PREFIX target property.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_FILE_SUFFIX:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Suffix of the tgt filename (extension such as .so or .exe).

See also the SUFFIX target property.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_FILE_NAME:tgt>: The tgt filename.
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:tgt>: Directory of the tgt binary file.
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE:tgt>: File used when linking to the tgt target. This will usually be the library that tgt represents (.a, .lib, .so), but for a shared library on DLL platforms, it would be the .lib import library associated with the DLL.

$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_BASE_NAME:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Base name of file used to link the target tgt, i.e. $<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_NAME:tgt> without prefix and suffix. For example, if target file name is libbase.a, the base name is base.

See also the OUTPUT_NAME, ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME, and LIBRARY_OUTPUT_NAME target properties and their configuration specific variants OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG>, ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG> and LIBRARY_OUTPUT_NAME_<CONFIG>.

The <CONFIG>_POSTFIX and DEBUG_POSTFIX target properties can also be considered.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_PREFIX:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Prefix of file used to link target tgt.

See also the PREFIX and IMPORT_PREFIX target properties.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_SUFFIX:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Suffix of file used to link where tgt is the name of a target.

The suffix corresponds to the file extension (such as ".so" or ".lib").

See also the SUFFIX and IMPORT_SUFFIX target properties.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_NAME:tgt>: Name of file used to link target tgt.
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_LINKER_FILE_DIR:tgt>: Directory of file used to link target tgt.
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE:tgt>: File with soname (.so.3) where tgt is the name of a target.

$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE_NAME:tgt>: Name of file with soname (.so.3).
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_SONAME_FILE_DIR:tgt>: Directory of with soname (.so.3).
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_PDB_FILE:tgt>

New in version 3.1.

Full path to the linker generated program database file (.pdb) where tgt is the name of a target.

See also the PDB_NAME and PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY target properties and their configuration specific variants PDB_NAME_<CONFIG> and PDB_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_<CONFIG>.

$<TARGET_PDB_FILE_BASE_NAME:tgt>

New in version 3.15.

Base name of the linker generated program database file (.pdb) where tgt is the name of a target.

The base name corresponds to the target PDB file name (see $<TARGET_PDB_FILE_NAME:tgt>) without prefix and suffix. For example, if target file name is base.pdb, the base name is base.

See also the PDB_NAME target property and its configuration specific variant PDB_NAME_<CONFIG>.

The <CONFIG>_POSTFIX and DEBUG_POSTFIX target properties can also be considered.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_PDB_FILE_NAME:tgt>

New in version 3.1.

Name of the linker generated program database file (.pdb).

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_PDB_FILE_DIR:tgt>

New in version 3.1.

Directory of the linker generated program database file (.pdb).

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:tgt>

New in version 3.9.

Full path to the bundle directory (my.app, my.framework, or my.bundle) where tgt is the name of a target.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_BUNDLE_CONTENT_DIR:tgt>

New in version 3.9.

Full path to the bundle content directory where tgt is the name of a target. For the macOS SDK it leads to my.app/Contents, my.framework, or my.bundle/Contents. For all other SDKs (e.g. iOS) it leads to my.app, my.framework, or my.bundle due to the flat bundle structure.

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on (see policy CMP0112).

$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,prop>: Value of the property prop on the target tgt.
Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is evaluated on.

$<TARGET_PROPERTY:prop>: Value of the property prop on the target for which the expression is being evaluated. Note that for generator expressions in Target Usage Requirements this is the consuming target rather than the target specifying the requirement.

$<TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS:tgt>

New in version 3.21.

List of DLLs that the target depends on at runtime. This is determined by the locations of all the SHARED and MODULE targets in the target's transitive dependencies. Using this generator expression on targets other than executables, SHARED libraries, and MODULE libraries is an error. On non-DLL platforms, it evaluates to an empty string.

This generator expression can be used to copy all of the DLLs that a target depends on into its output directory in a POST_BUILD custom command. For example:

find_package(foo CONFIG REQUIRED) # package generated by install(EXPORT)
add_executable(exe main.c)
target_link_libraries(exe PRIVATE foo::foo foo::bar)
add_custom_command(TARGET exe POST_BUILD
  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy $<TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS:exe> $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:exe>
  COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
  )

NOTE:

Imported Targets are supported only if they know the location of their .dll files. An imported SHARED or MODULE library must have IMPORTED_LOCATION set to its .dll file. See the add_library imported libraries section for details. Many Find Modules produce imported targets with the UNKNOWN type and therefore will be ignored.

$<INSTALL_PREFIX>: Content of the install prefix when the target is exported via install(EXPORT), or when evaluated in the INSTALL_NAME_DIR property or the INSTALL_NAME_DIR argument of install(RUNTIME_DEPENDENCY_SET), and empty otherwise.

Output-Related Expressions

$<TARGET_NAME:...>: Marks ... as being the name of a target. This is required if exporting targets to multiple dependent export sets. The ... must be a literal name of a target- it may not contain generator expressions.

$<LINK_ONLY:...>

New in version 3.1.

Content of ... except when evaluated in a link interface while propagating Target Usage Requirements, in which case it is the empty string. Intended for use only in an INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES target property, perhaps via the target_link_libraries() command, to specify private link dependencies without other usage requirements.

$<INSTALL_INTERFACE:...>: Content of ... when the property is exported using install(EXPORT), and empty otherwise.

$<BUILD_INTERFACE:...>: Content of ... when the property is exported using export(), or when the target is used by another target in the same buildsystem. Expands to the empty string otherwise.

$<MAKE_C_IDENTIFIER:...>: Content of ... converted to a C identifier. The conversion follows the same behavior as string(MAKE_C_IDENTIFIER).

$<TARGET_OBJECTS:objLib>

New in version 3.1.

List of objects resulting from build of objLib.

$<SHELL_PATH:...>

New in version 3.4.

Content of ... converted to shell path style. For example, slashes are converted to backslashes in Windows shells and drive letters are converted to posix paths in MSYS shells. The ... must be an absolute path.

New in version 3.14: The ... may be a semicolon-separated list of paths, in which case each path is converted individually and a result list is generated using the shell path separator (: on POSIX and ; on Windows). Be sure to enclose the argument containing this genex in double quotes in CMake source code so that ; does not split arguments.

$<OUTPUT_CONFIG:...>

New in version 3.20.

Only valid in add_custom_command() and add_custom_target() as the outer-most generator expression in an argument. With the Ninja Multi-Config generator, generator expressions in ... are evaluated using the custom command's "output config". With other generators, the content of ... is evaluated normally.

$<COMMAND_CONFIG:...>

New in version 3.20.

Only valid in add_custom_command() and add_custom_target() as the outer-most generator expression in an argument. With the Ninja Multi-Config generator, generator expressions in ... are evaluated using the custom command's "command config". With other generators, the content of ... is evaluated normally.

DEBUGGING

Since generator expressions are evaluated during generation of the buildsystem, and not during processing of CMakeLists.txt files, it is not possible to inspect their result with the message() command.

One possible way to generate debug messages is to add a custom target,

add_custom_target(genexdebug COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo "$<...>")

The shell command make genexdebug (invoked after execution of cmake) would then print the result of $<...>.

Another way is to write debug messages to a file:

file(GENERATE OUTPUT filename CONTENT "$<...>")

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