Ubuntu Manpage: cmake-generator-expressions - CMake Generator Expressions

NAME

       cmake-generator-expressions - CMake Generator Expressions

INTRODUCTION

       Generator  expressions are evaluated during build system generation to produce information
       specific to each build configuration.  They have the form $<...>.  For example:

          target_include_directories(tgt PRIVATE /opt/include/$<CXX_COMPILER_ID>)

       This would expand to /opt/include/GNU, /opt/include/Clang,  etc.   depending  on  the  C++
       compiler used.

       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 can be nested:

          target_compile_definitions(tgt PRIVATE
            $<$<VERSION_LESS:$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION>,4.2.0>:OLD_COMPILER>
          )

       The  above  would  expand  to  OLD_COMPILER if the CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION is less than
       4.2.0.

WHITESPACE AND QUOTING

       Generator expressions are typically  parsed  after  command  arguments.   If  a  generator
       expression  contains  spaces,  new  lines,  semicolons  or  other  characters  that may be
       interpreted as command argument separators, the whole expression should be  surrounded  by
       quotes  when  passed  to  a  command.  Failure to do so may result in the expression being
       split and it may no longer be recognized as a generator expression.

       When  using  add_custom_command()   or   add_custom_target(),   use   the   VERBATIM   and
       COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS options to obtain robust argument splitting and quoting.

          # WRONG: Embedded space will be treated as an argument separator.
          # This ends up not being seen as a generator expression at all.
          add_custom_target(run_some_tool
            COMMAND some_tool -I$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>, -I>
            VERBATIM
          )

          # Better, but still not robust. Quotes prevent the space from splitting the
          # expression. However, the tool will receive the expanded value as a single
          # argument.
          add_custom_target(run_some_tool
            COMMAND some_tool "-I$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>, -I>"
            VERBATIM
          )

          # Nearly correct. Using a semicolon to separate arguments and adding the
          # COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS option means that paths with spaces will be handled
          # correctly. Quoting the whole expression ensures it is seen as a generator
          # expression. But if the target property is empty, we will get a bare -I
          # with nothing after it.
          add_custom_target(run_some_tool
            COMMAND some_tool "-I$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>,;-I>"
            COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
            VERBATIM
          )

       Using  variables  to  build  up  a more complex generator expression is also a good way to
       reduce errors and improve readability.  The above example can be improved further like so:

          # The $<BOOL:...> check prevents adding anything if the property is empty,
          # assuming the property value cannot be one of CMake's false constants.
          set(prop "$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>")
          add_custom_target(run_some_tool
            COMMAND some_tool "$<$<BOOL:${prop}>:-I$<JOIN:${prop},;-I>>"
            COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
            VERBATIM
          )

       Finally, the above example can be expressed in a more  simple  and  robust  way  using  an
       alternate generator expression:

          add_custom_target(run_some_tool
            COMMAND some_tool "$<LIST:TRANSFORM,$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>,PREPEND,-I>"
            COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
            VERBATIM
          )

       A  common  mistake  is  to  try to split a generator expression across multiple lines with
       indenting:

          # WRONG: New lines and spaces all treated as argument separators, so the
          # generator expression is split and not recognized correctly.
          target_compile_definitions(tgt PRIVATE
            $<$<AND:
                $<CXX_COMPILER_ID:GNU>,
                $<VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL:$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION>,5>
              >:HAVE_5_OR_LATER>
          )

       Again, use helper variables with well-chosen names  to  build  up  a  readable  expression
       instead:

          set(is_gnu "$<CXX_COMPILER_ID:GNU>")
          set(v5_or_later "$<VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL:$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION>,5>")
          set(meet_requirements "$<AND:${is_gnu},${v5_or_later}>")
          target_compile_definitions(tgt PRIVATE
            "$<${meet_requirements}:HAVE_5_OR_LATER>"
          )

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 ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo "$<...>")

       After running cmake, you can then build the genexdebug target to print the result  of  the
       $<...> expression (i.e. run the command cmake --build ... --target genexdebug).

       Another way is to write debug messages to a file with file(GENERATE):

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

GENERATOR EXPRESSION REFERENCE

NOTE:
This reference deviates from most of the CMake documentation in that it omits angular
brackets <...> around placeholders like condition, string, target, etc. This is to
prevent an opportunity for those placeholders to be misinterpreted as generator
expressions.

Conditional Expressions
A fundamental category of generator expressions relates to conditional logic. Two forms
of conditional generator expressions are supported:

$<condition:true_string>
Evaluates to true_string if condition is 1, or an empty string if condition
evaluates to 0. Any other value for condition results in an error.

$<IF:condition,true_string,false_string>
New in version 3.8.

Evaluates to true_string if condition is 1, or false_string if condition is 0. Any
other value for condition results in an error.

Typically, the condition is itself a generator expression. For instance, the following
expression expands to DEBUG_MODE when the Debug configuration is used, and the empty
string for all other configurations:

$<$<CONFIG:Debug>:DEBUG_MODE>

Boolean-like condition values other than 1 or 0 can be handled by wrapping them with the
$<BOOL:...> generator expression:

$<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.

The $<BOOL:...> generator expression is often used when a condition is provided by a CMake
variable:

$<$<BOOL:${HAVE_SOME_FEATURE}>:-DENABLE_SOME_FEATURE>

Logical Operators
The common boolean logic operators are supported:

$<AND:conditions>
where conditions is a comma-separated list of boolean expressions, all of which
must evaluate to either 1 or 0. The whole expression evaluates to 1 if all
conditions are 1. If any condition is 0, the whole expression evaluates to 0.

$<OR:conditions>
where conditions is a comma-separated list of boolean expressions. all of which
must evaluate to either 1 or 0. The whole expression evaluates to 1 if at least
one of the conditions is 1. If all conditions evaluate to 0, the whole expression
evaluates to 0.

$<NOT:condition>
condition must be 0 or 1. The result of the expression is 0 if condition is 1,
else 1.

Primary Comparison Expressions
CMake supports a variety of generator expressions that compare things. This section
covers the primary and most widely used comparison types. Other more specific comparison
types are documented in their own separate sections further below.

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. For example, the following evaluates to 1 if ${foo} is any of BAR,
Bar, bar, etc.

$<STREQUAL:$<UPPER_CASE:${foo}>,BAR>

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

Version 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.

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

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

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

List Expressions
Most of the expressions in this section are closely associated with the list() command,
providing the same capabilities, but in the form of a generator expression.

In each of the following list-related generator expressions, the list must not contain any
commas if that generator expression expects something to be provided after the list. For
example, the expression $<LIST:FIND,list,value> requires a value after the list. Since a
comma is used to separate the list and the value, the list cannot itself contain a comma.
This restriction does not apply to the list() command, it is specific to the list-handling
generator expressions only.

List Comparisons
$<IN_LIST:string,list>
New in version 3.12.

1 if string is an item in the semicolon-separated list, else 0. It uses
case-sensitive comparisons.

List Queries
$<LIST:LENGTH,list>
New in version 3.27.

The number of items in the list.

$<LIST:GET,list,index,...>
New in version 3.27.

Expands to the list of items specified by indices from the list.

$<LIST:SUBLIST,list,begin,length>
New in version 3.27.

A sublist of the given list. If length is 0, an empty list will be returned. If
length is -1 or the list is smaller than begin + length, the remaining items of the
list starting at begin will be returned.

$<LIST:FIND,list,value>
New in version 3.27.

The index of the first item in list with the specified value, or -1 if value is not
in the list.

List Transformations
$<LIST:JOIN,list,glue>
New in version 3.27.

Converts list to a single string with the content of the glue string inserted
between each item. This is conceptually the same operation as $<JOIN:list,glue>,
but the two have different behavior with regard to empty items.
$<LIST:JOIN,list,glue> preserves all empty items, whereas $<JOIN:list,glue> drops
all empty items from the list.

$<LIST:APPEND,list,item,...>
New in version 3.27.

The list with each item appended. Multiple items should be separated by commas.

$<LIST:PREPEND,list,item,...>
New in version 3.27.

The list with each item inserted at the beginning. If there are multiple items,
they should be separated by commas, and the order of the prepended items will be
preserved.

$<LIST:INSERT,list,index,item,...>
New in version 3.27.

The list with the item (or multiple items) inserted at the specified index.
Multiple items should be separated by commas.

It is an error to specify an out-of-range index. Valid indexes are 0 to N, where N
is the length of the list, inclusive. An empty list has length 0.

$<LIST:POP_BACK,list>
New in version 3.27.

The list with the last item removed.

$<LIST:POP_FRONT,list>
New in version 3.27.

The list with the first item removed.

$<LIST:REMOVE_ITEM,list,value,...>
New in version 3.27.

The list with all instances of the given value (or values) removed. If multiple
values are given, they should be separated by commas.

$<LIST:REMOVE_AT,list,index,...>
New in version 3.27.

The list with the item at each given index removed.

$<LIST:REMOVE_DUPLICATES,list>
New in version 3.27.

The list with all duplicated items removed. The relative order of items is
preserved, but if duplicates are encountered, only the first instance is preserved.
The result is the same as $<REMOVE_DUPLICATES:list>.

$<LIST:FILTER,list,INCLUDE|EXCLUDE,regex>
New in version 3.27.

A list of items from the list which match (INCLUDE) or do not match (EXCLUDE) the
regular expression regex. The result is the same as
$<FILTER:list,INCLUDE|EXCLUDE,regex>.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,ACTION[,SELECTOR]>
New in version 3.27.

The list transformed by applying an ACTION to all or, by specifying a SELECTOR, to
the selected list items.

NOTE:
The TRANSFORM sub-command does not change the number of items in the list. If a
SELECTOR is specified, only some items will be changed, the other ones will
remain the same as before the transformation.

ACTION specifies the action to apply to the items of the list. The actions have
exactly the same semantics as for the list(TRANSFORM) command. ACTION must be one
of the following:

APPEND, PREPEND
Append, prepend specified value to each item of the list.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,(APPEND|PREPEND),value[,SELECTOR]>

TOLOWER, TOUPPER
Convert each item of the list to lower, upper characters.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,(TOLOWER|TOUPPER)[,SELECTOR]>

STRIP Remove leading and trailing spaces from each item of the list.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,STRIP[,SELECTOR]>

REPLACE:
Match the regular expression as many times as possible and substitute the
replacement expression for the match for each item of the list.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,REPLACE,regular_expression,replace_expression[,SELECTOR]>

SELECTOR determines which items of the list will be transformed. Only one type of
selector can be specified at a time. When given, SELECTOR must be one of the
following:

AT Specify a list of indexes.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,ACTION,AT,index[,index...]>

FOR Specify a range with, optionally, an increment used to iterate over the
range.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,ACTION,FOR,start,stop[,step]>

REGEX Specify a regular expression. Only items matching the regular expression
will be transformed.

$<LIST:TRANSFORM,list,ACTION,REGEX,regular_expression>

$<JOIN:list,glue>
Joins the list with the content of the glue string inserted between each item.
This is conceptually the same operation as $<LIST:JOIN,list,glue>, but the two have
different behavior with regard to empty items. $<LIST:JOIN,list,glue> preserves
all empty items, whereas $<JOIN,list,glue> drops all empty items from the list.

$<REMOVE_DUPLICATES:list>
New in version 3.15.

Removes duplicated items in the given list. The relative order of items is
preserved, and if duplicates are encountered, only the first instance is retained.
The result is the same as $<LIST:REMOVE_DUPLICATES,list>.

$<FILTER:list,INCLUDE|EXCLUDE,regex>
New in version 3.15.

Includes or removes items from list that match the regular expression regex. The
result is the same as $<LIST:FILTER,list,INCLUDE|EXCLUDE,regex>.

List Ordering
$<LIST:REVERSE,list>
New in version 3.27.

The list with the items in reverse order.

$<LIST:SORT,list[,(COMPARE:option|CASE:option|ORDER:option)]...>
New in version 3.27.

The list sorted according to the specified options.

Use one of the COMPARE options to select the comparison method for sorting:

STRING Sorts a list of strings alphabetically. This is the default behavior if
the COMPARE option is not given.

FILE_BASENAME
Sorts a list of file paths by their basenames.

NATURAL
Sorts a list of strings using natural order (see the man page for
strverscmp(3)), such that contiguous digits are compared as whole
numbers. For example, the following list 10.0 1.1 2.1 8.0 2.0 3.1 will
be sorted as 1.1 2.0 2.1 3.1 8.0 10.0 if the NATURAL comparison is
selected, whereas it will be sorted as 1.1 10.0 2.0 2.1 3.1 8.0 with the
STRING comparison.

Use one of the CASE options to select a case-sensitive or case-insensitive sort
mode:

SENSITIVE
List items are sorted in a case-sensitive manner. This is the default
behavior if the CASE option is not given.

INSENSITIVE
List items are sorted in a case-insensitive manner. The order of items
which differ only by upper/lowercase is not specified.

To control the sort order, one of the ORDER options can be given:

ASCENDING
Sorts the list in ascending order. This is the default behavior when the
ORDER option is not given.

DESCENDING
Sorts the list in descending order.

Options can be specified in any order, but it is an error to specify the same
option multiple times.

$<LIST:SORT,list,CASE:SENSITIVE,COMPARE:STRING,ORDER:DESCENDING>

Path Expressions
Most of the expressions in this section are closely associated with the cmake_path()
command, providing the same capabilities, but in the form of a generator expression.

For all generator expressions in this section, paths are expected to be in cmake-style
format. The $<PATH:CMAKE_PATH> generator expression can be used to convert a native path
to a cmake-style one.

Path Comparisons
$<PATH_EQUAL:path1,path2>
New in version 3.24.

Compares the lexical representations of two paths. No normalization is performed on
either path. Returns 1 if the paths are equal, 0 otherwise.

See cmake_path(COMPARE) for more details.

Path Queries
These expressions provide the generation-time capabilities equivalent to the Query options
of the cmake_path() command. All paths are expected to be in cmake-style format.

$<PATH:HAS_*,path>
New in version 3.24.

The following operations return 1 if the particular path component is present, 0
otherwise. See Path Structure And Terminology for the meaning of each path
component.

$<PATH:HAS_ROOT_NAME,path>
$<PATH:HAS_ROOT_DIRECTORY,path>
$<PATH:HAS_ROOT_PATH,path>
$<PATH:HAS_FILENAME,path>
$<PATH:HAS_EXTENSION,path>
$<PATH:HAS_STEM,path>
$<PATH:HAS_RELATIVE_PART,path>
$<PATH:HAS_PARENT_PATH,path>

Note the following special cases:

• For HAS_ROOT_PATH, a true result will only be returned if at least one of
root-name or root-directory is non-empty.

• For HAS_PARENT_PATH, the root directory is also considered to have a parent,
which will be itself. The result is true except if the path consists of just a
filename.

$<PATH:IS_ABSOLUTE,path>
New in version 3.24.

Returns 1 if the path is absolute, 0 otherwise.

$<PATH:IS_RELATIVE,path>
New in version 3.24.

This will return the opposite of IS_ABSOLUTE.

$<PATH:IS_PREFIX[,NORMALIZE],path,input>
New in version 3.24.

Returns 1 if path is the prefix of input, 0 otherwise.

When the NORMALIZE option is specified, path and input are normalized before the
check.

Path Decomposition
These expressions provide the generation-time capabilities equivalent to the Decomposition
options of the cmake_path() command. All paths are expected to be in cmake-style format.

$<PATH:GET_*,...>
New in version 3.24.

The following operations retrieve a different component or group of components from
a path. See Path Structure And Terminology for the meaning of each path component.

Changed in version 3.27: All operations now accept a list of paths as argument.
When a list of paths is specified, the operation will be applied to each path.

$<PATH:GET_ROOT_NAME,path...>
$<PATH:GET_ROOT_DIRECTORY,path...>
$<PATH:GET_ROOT_PATH,path...>
$<PATH:GET_FILENAME,path...>
$<PATH:GET_EXTENSION[,LAST_ONLY],path...>
$<PATH:GET_STEM[,LAST_ONLY],path...>
$<PATH:GET_RELATIVE_PART,path...>
$<PATH:GET_PARENT_PATH,path...>

If a requested component is not present in the path, an empty string is returned.

Path Transformations
These expressions provide the generation-time capabilities equivalent to the Modification
and Generation options of the cmake_path() command. All paths are expected to be in
cmake-style format.

Changed in version 3.27: All operations now accept a list of paths as argument. When a
list of paths is specified, the operation will be applied to each path.

$<PATH:CMAKE_PATH[,NORMALIZE],path...>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path. If path is a native path, it is converted into a cmake-style path
with forward-slashes (/). On Windows, the long filename marker is taken into
account.

When the NORMALIZE option is specified, the path is normalized after the
conversion.

$<PATH:APPEND,path...,input,...>
New in version 3.24.

Returns all the input arguments appended to path using / as the
directory-separator. Depending on the input, the value of path may be discarded.

See cmake_path(APPEND) for more details.

$<PATH:REMOVE_FILENAME,path...>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path with filename component (as returned by $<PATH:GET_FILENAME>) removed.
After removal, any trailing directory-separator is left alone, if present.

See cmake_path(REMOVE_FILENAME) for more details.

$<PATH:REPLACE_FILENAME,path...,input>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path with the filename component replaced by input. If path has no filename
component (i.e. $<PATH:HAS_FILENAME> returns 0), path is unchanged.

See cmake_path(REPLACE_FILENAME) for more details.

$<PATH:REMOVE_EXTENSION[,LAST_ONLY],path...>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path with the extension removed, if any.

See cmake_path(REMOVE_EXTENSION) for more details.

$<PATH:REPLACE_EXTENSION[,LAST_ONLY],path...,input>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path with the extension replaced by input, if any.

See cmake_path(REPLACE_EXTENSION) for more details.

$<PATH:NORMAL_PATH,path...>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path normalized according to the steps described in Normalization.

$<PATH:RELATIVE_PATH,path...,base_directory>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path, modified to make it relative to the base_directory argument.

See cmake_path(RELATIVE_PATH) for more details.

$<PATH:ABSOLUTE_PATH[,NORMALIZE],path...,base_directory>
New in version 3.24.

Returns path as absolute. If path is a relative path ($<PATH:IS_RELATIVE> returns
1), it is evaluated relative to the given base directory specified by
base_directory argument.

When the NORMALIZE option is specified, the path is normalized after the path
computation.

See cmake_path(ABSOLUTE_PATH) for more details.

Shell Paths
$<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.

Configuration Expressions
$<CONFIG>
Configuration name. Use this instead of the deprecated CONFIGURATION generator
expression.

$<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 of an IMPORTED
target.

Changed in version 3.19: Multiple configurations can be specified for cfgs. CMake
3.18 and earlier only accepted a single configuration.

$<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.

Toolchain And Language Expressions
Platform
$<PLATFORM_ID>
The current system's CMake platform id. See also the CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME variable.

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

Compiler Version
See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_VERSION variable, which is closely related to the
expressions in this sub-section.

$<C_COMPILER_VERSION>
The version of the C compiler used.

$<C_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
1 if the version of the C compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION>
The version of the CXX compiler used.

$<CXX_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
1 if the version of the CXX compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_VERSION>
New in version 3.15.

The version of the CUDA compiler used.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
New in version 3.15.

1 if the version of the CXX compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_VERSION>
New in version 3.16.

The version of the OBJC compiler used.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
New in version 3.16.

1 if the version of the OBJC compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_VERSION>
New in version 3.16.

The version of the OBJCXX compiler used.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
New in version 3.16.

1 if the version of the OBJCXX compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION>
The version of the Fortran compiler used.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
1 if the version of the Fortran compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<HIP_COMPILER_VERSION>
New in version 3.21.

The version of the HIP compiler used.

$<HIP_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
New in version 3.21.

1 if the version of the HIP compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_VERSION>
New in version 3.19.

The version of the ISPC compiler used.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_VERSION:version>
New in version 3.19.

1 if the version of the ISPC compiler matches version, otherwise 0.

Compiler Language And ID
See also the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILER_ID variable, which is closely related to most of the
expressions in this sub-section.

$<C_COMPILER_ID>
CMake's compiler id of the C compiler used.

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

$<CXX_COMPILER_ID>
CMake's compiler id of the CXX compiler used.

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

$<CUDA_COMPILER_ID>
New in version 3.15.

CMake's compiler id of the CUDA compiler used.

$<CUDA_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>
New in version 3.15.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if CMake's compiler id of the CUDA
compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_ID>
New in version 3.16.

CMake's compiler id of the OBJC compiler used.

$<OBJC_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>
New in version 3.16.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if CMake's compiler id of the
Objective-C compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_ID>
New in version 3.16.

CMake's compiler id of the OBJCXX compiler used.

$<OBJCXX_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>
New in version 3.16.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if CMake's compiler id of the
Objective-C++ compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0.

$<Fortran_COMPILER_ID>
CMake's compiler id of the Fortran compiler used.

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

$<HIP_COMPILER_ID>
New in version 3.21.

CMake's compiler id of the HIP compiler used.

$<HIP_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>
New in version 3.21.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if CMake's compiler id of the HIP
compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_ID>
New in version 3.19.

CMake's compiler id of the ISPC compiler used.

$<ISPC_COMPILER_ID:compiler_ids>
New in version 3.19.

where compiler_ids is a comma-separated list. 1 if CMake's compiler id of the ISPC
compiler matches any one of the entries in compiler_ids, otherwise 0.

$<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.

$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:languages>
New in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.15: Multiple languages can be specified for languages. CMake
3.14 and earlier only accepted a single language.

1 when the language used for compilation unit matches any of the comma-separated
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)

$<COMPILE_LANG_AND_ID:language,compiler_ids>
New in version 3.15.

1 when the language used for compilation unit matches language and CMake's compiler
id of the language compiler matches any one of the comma-separated 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 Features
$<COMPILE_FEATURES:features>
New in version 3.1.

where features is a comma-separated 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 Context
$<COMPILE_ONLY:...>
New in version 3.27.

Content of ..., when collecting Transitive Usage Requirements, otherwise it is the
empty string. This is intended for use in an INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES and
LINK_LIBRARIES target properties, typically populated via the
target_link_libraries() command. Provides compilation usage requirements without
any linking requirements.

Use cases include header-only usage where all usages are known to not have linking
requirements (e.g., all-inline or C++ template libraries).

Note that for proper evaluation of this expression requires policy CMP0099 to be
set to NEW.

Linker Language And ID
$<LINK_LANGUAGE>
New in version 3.18.

The link language of the target when evaluating link options. See the related
boolean expression $<LINK_LANGUAGE:languages> 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.

$<LINK_LANGUAGE:languages>
New in version 3.18.

1 when the language used for link step matches any of the comma-separated 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.

$<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 comma-separated 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 Features
$<LINK_LIBRARY:feature,library-list>
New in version 3.24.

Specify a set of libraries to link to a target, along with a feature which provides
details about how they should be linked. For example:

add_library(lib1 STATIC ...)
add_library(lib2 ...)
target_link_libraries(lib2 PRIVATE "$<LINK_LIBRARY:WHOLE_ARCHIVE,lib1>")

This specifies that lib2 should link to lib1 and use the WHOLE_ARCHIVE feature when
doing so.

Feature names are case-sensitive and may only contain letters, numbers and
underscores. Feature names defined in all uppercase are reserved for CMake's own
built-in features. The pre-defined built-in library features are:

DEFAULT
This feature corresponds to standard linking, essentially equivalent to
using no feature at all. It is typically only used with the
LINK_LIBRARY_OVERRIDE and LINK_LIBRARY_OVERRIDE_<LIBRARY> target properties.

WHOLE_ARCHIVE
Force inclusion of all members of a static library. This feature is only
supported for the following platforms, with limitations as noted:

• Linux.

• All BSD variants.

• SunOS.

• All Apple variants. The library must be specified as a CMake target name,
a library file name (such as libfoo.a), or a library file path (such as
/path/to/libfoo.a). Due to a limitation of the Apple linker, it cannot be
specified as a plain library name like foo, where foo is not a CMake
target.

• Windows. When using a MSVC or MSVC-like toolchain, the MSVC version must
be greater than 1900.

• Cygwin.

• MSYS.

FRAMEWORK
This option tells the linker to search for the specified framework using the
-framework linker option. It can only be used on Apple platforms, and only
with a linker that understands the option used (i.e. the linker provided
with Xcode, or one compatible with it).

The framework can be specified as a CMake framework target, a bare framework
name, or a file path. If a target is given, that target must have the
FRAMEWORK target property set to true. For a file path, if it contains a
directory part, that directory will be added as a framework search path.

add_library(lib SHARED ...)
target_link_libraries(lib PRIVATE "$<LINK_LIBRARY:FRAMEWORK,/path/to/my_framework>")

# The constructed linker command line will contain:
# -F/path/to -framework my_framework

File paths must conform to one of the following patterns (* is a wildcard,
and optional parts are shown as [...]):

• [/path/to/]FwName[.framework]

• [/path/to/]FwName.framework/FwName[suffix]

• [/path/to/]FwName.framework/Versions/*/FwName[suffix]

Note that CMake recognizes and automatically handles framework targets, even
without using the $<LINK_LIBRARY:FRAMEWORK,...> expression. The generator
expression can still be used with a CMake target if the project wants to be
explicit about it, but it is not required to do so. The linker command line
may have some differences between using the generator expression or not, but
the final result should be the same. On the other hand, if a file path is
given, CMake will recognize some paths automatically, but not all cases.
The project may want to use $<LINK_LIBRARY:FRAMEWORK,...> for file paths so
that the expected behavior is clear.

New in version 3.25: The FRAMEWORK_MULTI_CONFIG_POSTFIX_<CONFIG> target
property as well as the suffix of the framework library name are now
supported by the FRAMEWORK features.

NEEDED_FRAMEWORK
This is similar to the FRAMEWORK feature, except it forces the linker to
link with the framework even if no symbols are used from it. It uses the
-needed_framework option and has the same linker constraints as FRAMEWORK.

REEXPORT_FRAMEWORK
This is similar to the FRAMEWORK feature, except it tells the linker that
the framework should be available to clients linking to the library being
created. It uses the -reexport_framework option and has the same linker
constraints as FRAMEWORK.

WEAK_FRAMEWORK
This is similar to the FRAMEWORK feature, except it forces the linker to
mark the framework and all references to it as weak imports. It uses the
-weak_framework option and has the same linker constraints as FRAMEWORK.

NEEDED_LIBRARY
This is similar to the NEEDED_FRAMEWORK feature, except it is for use with
non-framework targets or libraries (Apple platforms only). It uses the
-needed_library or -needed-l option as appropriate, and has the same linker
constraints as NEEDED_FRAMEWORK.

REEXPORT_LIBRARY
This is similar to the REEXPORT_FRAMEWORK feature, except it is for use
with non-framework targets or libraries (Apple platforms only). It uses the
-reexport_library or -reexport-l option as appropriate, and has the same
linker constraints as REEXPORT_FRAMEWORK.

WEAK_LIBRARY
This is similar to the WEAK_FRAMEWORK feature, except it is for use with
non-framework targets or libraries (Apple platforms only). It uses the
-weak_library or -weak-l option as appropriate, and has the same linker
constraints as WEAK_FRAMEWORK.

Built-in and custom library features are defined in terms of the following
variables:

• CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED

• CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>

• CMAKE_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED

• CMAKE_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>

The value used for each of these variables is the value as set at the end of the
directory scope in which the target was created. The usage is as follows:

1. If the language-specific CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED
variable is true, the feature must be defined by the corresponding
CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE> variable.

2. If no language-specific feature is supported, then the
CMAKE_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED variable must be true and the
feature must be defined by the corresponding CMAKE_LINK_LIBRARY_USING_<FEATURE>
variable.

The following limitations should be noted:

• The library-list can specify CMake targets or libraries. Any CMake target of
type OBJECT or INTERFACE will ignore the feature aspect of the expression and
instead be linked in the standard way.

• The $<LINK_LIBRARY:...> generator expression can only be used to specify link
libraries. In practice, this means it can appear in the LINK_LIBRARIES,
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES, and INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES_DIRECT target properties,
and be specified in target_link_libraries() and link_libraries() commands.

• If a $<LINK_LIBRARY:...> generator expression appears in the
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES property of a target, it will be included in the
imported target generated by a install(EXPORT) command. It is the responsibility
of the environment consuming this import to define the link feature used by this
expression.

• Each target or library involved in the link step must have at most only one kind
of library feature. The absence of a feature is also incompatible with all other
features. For example:

add_library(lib1 ...)
add_library(lib2 ...)
add_library(lib3 ...)

# lib1 will be associated with feature1
target_link_libraries(lib2 PUBLIC "$<LINK_LIBRARY:feature1,lib1>")

# lib1 is being linked with no feature here. This conflicts with the
# use of feature1 in the line above and would result in an error.
target_link_libraries(lib3 PRIVATE lib1 lib2)

Where it isn't possible to use the same feature throughout a build for a given
target or library, the LINK_LIBRARY_OVERRIDE and LINK_LIBRARY_OVERRIDE_<LIBRARY>
target properties can be used to resolve such incompatibilities.

• The $<LINK_LIBRARY:...> generator expression does not guarantee that the list of
specified targets and libraries will be kept grouped together. To manage
constructs like --start-group and --end-group, as supported by the GNU ld linker,
use the LINK_GROUP generator expression instead.

$<LINK_GROUP:feature,library-list>
New in version 3.24.

Specify a group of libraries to link to a target, along with a feature which
defines how that group should be linked. For example:

add_library(lib1 STATIC ...)
add_library(lib2 ...)
target_link_libraries(lib2 PRIVATE "$<LINK_GROUP:RESCAN,lib1,external>")

This specifies that lib2 should link to lib1 and external, and that both of those
two libraries should be included on the linker command line according to the
definition of the RESCAN feature.

RESCAN Some linkers are single-pass only. For such linkers, circular references
between libraries typically result in unresolved symbols. This feature
instructs the linker to search the specified static libraries repeatedly
until no new undefined references are created.

Normally, a static library is searched only once in the order that it is
specified on the command line. If a symbol in that library is needed to
resolve an undefined symbol referred to by an object in a library that
appears later on the command line, the linker would not be able to resolve
that reference. By grouping the static libraries with the RESCAN feature,
they will all be searched repeatedly until all possible references are
resolved. This will use linker options like --start-group and --end-group,
or on SunOS, -z rescan-start and -z rescan-end.

Using this feature has a significant performance cost. It is best to use it
only when there are unavoidable circular references between two or more
static libraries.

This feature is available when using toolchains that target Linux, BSD, and
SunOS. It can also be used when targeting Windows platforms if the GNU
toolchain is used.

Built-in and custom group features are defined in terms of the following variables:

• CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED

• CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE>

• CMAKE_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED

• CMAKE_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE>

The value used for each of these variables is the value as set at the end of the
directory scope in which the target was created. The usage is as follows:

1. If the language-specific CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED
variable is true, the feature must be defined by the corresponding
CMAKE_<LANG>_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE> variable.

2. If no language-specific feature is supported, then the
CMAKE_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE>_SUPPORTED variable must be true and the feature
must be defined by the corresponding CMAKE_LINK_GROUP_USING_<FEATURE> variable.

The LINK_GROUP generator expression is compatible with the LINK_LIBRARY generator
expression. The libraries involved in a group can be specified using the
LINK_LIBRARY generator expression.

Each target or external library involved in the link step is allowed to be part of
multiple groups, but only if all the groups involved specify the same feature.
Such groups will not be merged on the linker command line, the individual groups
will still be preserved. Mixing different group features for the same target or
library is forbidden.

add_library(lib1 ...)
add_library(lib2 ...)
add_library(lib3 ...)
add_library(lib4 ...)
add_library(lib5 ...)

target_link_libraries(lib3 PUBLIC "$<LINK_GROUP:feature1,lib1,lib2>")
target_link_libraries(lib4 PRIVATE "$<LINK_GROUP:feature1,lib1,lib3>")
# lib4 will be linked with the groups {lib1,lib2} and {lib1,lib3}.
# Both groups specify the same feature, so this is fine.

target_link_libraries(lib5 PRIVATE "$<LINK_GROUP:feature2,lib1,lib3>")
# An error will be raised here because both lib1 and lib3 are part of two
# groups with different features.

When a target or an external library is involved in the link step as part of a
group and also as not part of any group, any occurrence of the non-group link item
will be replaced by the groups it belongs to.

add_library(lib1 ...)
add_library(lib2 ...)
add_library(lib3 ...)
add_library(lib4 ...)

target_link_libraries(lib3 PUBLIC lib1)

target_link_libraries(lib4 PRIVATE lib3 "$<LINK_GROUP:feature1,lib1,lib2>")
# lib4 will only be linked with lib3 and the group {lib1,lib2}

Because lib1 is part of the group defined for lib4, that group then gets applied
back to the use of lib1 for lib3. The end result will be as though the linking
relationship for lib3 had been specified as:

target_link_libraries(lib3 PUBLIC "$<LINK_GROUP:feature1,lib1,lib2>")

Be aware that the precedence of the group over the non-group link item can result
in circular dependencies between groups. If this occurs, a fatal error is raised
because circular dependencies are not allowed for groups.

add_library(lib1A ...)
add_library(lib1B ...)
add_library(lib2A ...)
add_library(lib2B ...)
add_library(lib3 ...)

# Non-group linking relationships, these are non-circular so far
target_link_libraries(lib1A PUBLIC lib2A)
target_link_libraries(lib2B PUBLIC lib1B)

# The addition of these groups creates circular dependencies
target_link_libraries(lib3 PRIVATE
"$<LINK_GROUP:feat,lib1A,lib1B>"
"$<LINK_GROUP:feat,lib2A,lib2B>"
)

Because of the groups defined for lib3, the linking relationships for lib1A and
lib2B effectively get expanded to the equivalent of:

target_link_libraries(lib1A PUBLIC "$<LINK_GROUP:feat,lib2A,lib2B>")
target_link_libraries(lib2B PUBLIC "$<LINK_GROUP:feat,lib1A,lib1B>")

This creates a circular dependency between groups: lib1A --> lib2B --> lib1A.

The following limitations should also be noted:

• The library-list can specify CMake targets or libraries. Any CMake target of
type OBJECT or INTERFACE will ignore the feature aspect of the expression and
instead be linked in the standard way.

• The $<LINK_GROUP:...> generator expression can only be used to specify link
libraries. In practice, this means it can appear in the LINK_LIBRARIES,
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES,and INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES_DIRECT target properties,
and be specified in target_link_libraries() and link_libraries() commands.

• If a $<LINK_GROUP:...> generator expression appears in the
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES property of a target, it will be included in the
imported target generated by a install(EXPORT) command. It is the responsibility
of the environment consuming this import to define the link feature used by this
expression.

Link Context
$<LINK_ONLY:...>
New in version 3.1.

Content of ..., except while collecting Transitive Usage Requirements, in which
case it is the empty string. This is intended for use in an
INTERFACE_LINK_LIBRARIES target property, typically populated via the
target_link_libraries() command, to specify private link dependencies without other
usage requirements such as include directories or compile options.

New in version 3.24: LINK_ONLY may also be used in a LINK_LIBRARIES target
property. See policy CMP0131.

$<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.

Target-Dependent Expressions
These queries refer to a target tgt. Unless otherwise stated, 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 phrase "the tgt filename" means the name of the tgt binary file.
This has to be distinguished from the phrase "the target name", which is just the string
tgt.

$<TARGET_EXISTS:tgt>
New in version 3.12.

1 if tgt exists as a CMake target, else 0.

$<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_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.

$<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.

Changed in version 3.26: When encountered during evaluation of Transitive Usage
Requirements, typically in an INTERFACE_* target property, lookup of the tgt name
occurs in the directory of the target specifying the requirement, rather than the
directory of the consuming target for which the expression is being evaluated.

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

$<TARGET_OBJECTS:tgt>
New in version 3.1.

List of objects resulting from building tgt. This would typically be used on
object library targets.

$<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.

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

Note that tgt is not added as a dependency of the target this expression is
evaluated on, unless the expression is being used in add_custom_command() or
add_custom_target().

$<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).

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