cmake/Help/command/configure_file.rst

configure_file
--------------

.. only:: html

   .. contents::

Copy a file to another location and modify its contents.

.. code-block:: cmake

  configure_file(<input> <output>
                 [NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS | USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS |
                  FILE_PERMISSIONS <permissions>...]
                 [COPYONLY] [ESCAPE_QUOTES] [@ONLY]
                 [NEWLINE_STYLE [UNIX|DOS|WIN32|LF|CRLF] ])

Copies an ``<input>`` file to an ``<output>`` file while performing
`transformations`_ of the input file content.

If the input file is modified the build system will re-run CMake to
re-configure the file and generate the build system again.
The generated file is modified and its timestamp updated on subsequent
cmake runs only if its content is changed.

Options
^^^^^^^

The options are:

``<input>``
  Path to the input file.  A relative path is treated with respect to
  the value of :variable:`CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR`.  The input path
  must be a file, not a directory.

``<output>``
  Path to the output file or directory.  A relative path is treated
  with respect to the value of :variable:`CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR`.
  If the path names an existing directory the output file is placed
  in that directory with the same file name as the input file.
  If the path contains non-existent directories, they are created.

``NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS``
  .. versionadded:: 3.19

  Do not transfer the permissions of the input file to the output file.
  The copied file permissions default to the standard 644 value
  (-rw-r--r--).

``USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS``
  .. versionadded:: 3.20

  Transfer the permissions of the input file to the output file.
  This is already the default behavior if none of the three permissions-related
  keywords are given (``NO_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS``, ``USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS``
  or ``FILE_PERMISSIONS``).  The ``USE_SOURCE_PERMISSIONS`` keyword mostly
  serves as a way of making the intended behavior clearer at the call site.

``FILE_PERMISSIONS <permissions>...``
  .. versionadded:: 3.20

  Ignore the input file's permissions and use the specified ``<permissions>``
  for the output file instead.

``COPYONLY``
  Copy the file without replacing any variable references or other
  content.  This option may not be used with ``NEWLINE_STYLE``.

``ESCAPE_QUOTES``
  Escape any substituted quotes with backslashes (C-style).

``@ONLY``
  Restrict variable replacement to references of the form ``@VAR@``.
  This is useful for configuring scripts that use ``${VAR}`` syntax.

``NEWLINE_STYLE <style>``
  Specify the newline style for the output file.  Specify
  ``UNIX`` or ``LF`` for ``\n`` newlines, or specify
  ``DOS``, ``WIN32``, or ``CRLF`` for ``\r\n`` newlines.
  This option may not be used with ``COPYONLY``.

Transformations
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

:ref:`Variables <CMake Language Variables>` referenced in the input
file content as ``@VAR@``, ``${VAR}``, ``$CACHE{VAR}``, and
:ref:`environment variables <CMake Language Environment Variables>`
referenced as ``$ENV{VAR}``, will each be replaced with the current value
of the variable, or the empty string if the variable is not defined.
Furthermore, input lines of the form

.. code-block:: c

  #cmakedefine VAR ...

will be replaced with either

.. code-block:: c

  #define VAR ...

or

.. code-block:: c

  /* #undef VAR */

depending on whether ``VAR`` is set in CMake to any value not considered
a false constant by the :command:`if` command.  The "..." content on the
line after the variable name, if any, is processed as above.

Unlike lines of the form ``#cmakedefine VAR ...``, in lines of the form
``#cmakedefine01 VAR``, ``VAR`` itself will expand to ``VAR 0`` or ``VAR 1``
rather than being assigned the value ``...``. Therefore, input lines of the form

.. code-block:: c

  #cmakedefine01 VAR

will be replaced with either

.. code-block:: c

  #define VAR 0

or

.. code-block:: c

  #define VAR 1

Input lines of the form ``#cmakedefine01 VAR ...`` will expand
as ``#cmakedefine01 VAR ... 0`` or ``#cmakedefine01 VAR ... 1``,
which may lead to undefined behavior.

.. versionadded:: 3.10
  The result lines (with the exception of the ``#undef`` comments) can be
  indented using spaces and/or tabs between the ``#`` character
  and the ``cmakedefine`` or ``cmakedefine01`` words. This whitespace
  indentation will be preserved in the output lines:

  .. code-block:: c

    #  cmakedefine VAR
    #  cmakedefine01 VAR

  will be replaced, if ``VAR`` is defined, with

  .. code-block:: c

    #  define VAR
    #  define VAR 1

Example
^^^^^^^

Consider a source tree containing a ``foo.h.in`` file:

.. code-block:: c

  #cmakedefine FOO_ENABLE
  #cmakedefine FOO_STRING "@FOO_STRING@"

An adjacent ``CMakeLists.txt`` may use ``configure_file`` to
configure the header:

.. code-block:: cmake

  option(FOO_ENABLE "Enable Foo" ON)
  if(FOO_ENABLE)
    set(FOO_STRING "foo")
  endif()
  configure_file(foo.h.in foo.h @ONLY)

This creates a ``foo.h`` in the build directory corresponding to
this source directory.  If the ``FOO_ENABLE`` option is on, the
configured file will contain:

.. code-block:: c

  #define FOO_ENABLE
  #define FOO_STRING "foo"

Otherwise it will contain:

.. code-block:: c

  /* #undef FOO_ENABLE */
  /* #undef FOO_STRING */

One may then use the :command:`target_include_directories` command to
specify the output directory as an include directory:

.. code-block:: cmake

  target_include_directories(<target> [SYSTEM] <INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE> "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")

so that sources may include the header as ``#include <foo.h>``.

See Also
^^^^^^^^

* :command:`file(GENERATE)`