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Comments in a Makefile

 

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The latest version of this topic can be found at Comments in a Makefile.

Precede a comment with a number sign (#). NMAKE ignores text from the number sign to the next newline character. Examples:

# Comment on line by itself  
OPTIONS = /MAP  # Comment on macro definition line  
  
all.exe : one.obj two.obj  # Comment on dependency line  
    link one.obj two.obj  
# Comment in commands block  
#   copy *.obj \objects  # Command turned into comment  
    copy one.exe \release  
  
.obj.exe:  # Comment on inference rule line  
    link $<  
  
my.exe : my.obj ; link my.obj  # Err: cannot comment this  
 # Error: # must be the first character  
.obj.exe: ; link $<  # Error: cannot comment this  

To specify a literal number sign, precede it with a caret (^), as follows:

DEF = ^#define  #Macro for a C preprocessing directive  

See Also

Contents of a Makefile