HELP! $(wildcard ) function failed very strangely

[Chen Jun (陈军)]

 

Hi, everyone,

    I encountered a strange situation recently, $(wildard ) function seems failing to work. See my code below:

========================================================

all: first_target

outfile = out.txt

$(outfile):
    @echo nnn > $@

.PHONY: prj_count
prj_count: 
    @echo "[[$(outfile)]] <<$(wildcard $(outfile))>> "

.PHONY: first_target
first_target: $(outfile) prj_count
    @echo "[DONE]"

========================================================

First, delete out.txt and run make on that makefile, the output is

 

[[out.txt]] <<>>
[DONE]
　　

then, run make again, the output is

 

[[out.txt]] <<out.txt>>
[DONE]

Result of the first run is strange. When target prj_count is being made, out.txt should have been generated on my disk(because $(outfile) had been made before), then WHY $(wildcard out.txt) gives me null result ?

 

I've tested it on make 3.80 & 3.81 on Linux, both produce the same result.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 　　　　　　          Chen Jun (陈军)
                       address@hidden

                       2007-09-30