patsubst, patsubsti NMAKE functions

Evaluates to a list of items with each item that matches a pattern replaced by a substitution, and items that don't match kept as-is.

Syntax

$(patsubst pattern,replacement,input)
$(patsubsti pattern,replacement,input)

Parameters

pattern
The pattern to search for.

replacement
The pattern to replace pattern with. If a wildcard is present in replacement, then it will be replaced with the text that the wildcard in pattern matched.

input
The list of items to be replaced or kept.

Return value

Returns input, but each item that matches pattern is replaced by replacement. Items that don't match pattern are kept as-is.

Remarks

patsubsti is the case-insensitive version of patsubst.

This macro function is available starting in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.1, in NMAKE version 14.31 or later.

Example

$(patsubst He%,_%_,Hello Hey Hi) # Evaluates to "_llo_ _y_ Hi"
# "He" matches "Hello" and "Hey", and so "llo" and "y" are matched by the wildcard
# and used to substitute the wildcard in the replacement. "Hi" is not matched and so is kept as-is

$(patsubst Hi,Bye,Hello Hey Hi) # Evaluates to "Hello Hey Bye" - No wildcard is required
$(patsubst %lo,Bye,Hello Hey Hi) # Evaluates to "Bye Hey Hi"
# A wildcard can be used in the pattern without a wildcard in the replacement

$(patsubst he%,_%_,Hello Hey Hi) # Evaluates to "Hello Hey Hi" - patsubst is case-sensitive, so no substitutions performed
$(patsubsti he%,_%_,Hello Hey Hi) # Evaluates to "_llo_ _y_ Hi" - patsubsti is case-insensitive

# patsubsti is commonly used to change the file extensions of a list of files
OBJ_FILES=$(patsubst %.c,%.obj,$(C_SOURCES)) $(patsubst %.cpp,%.obj,$(patsubst %.cxx,%.obj,$(CPP_SOURCES)))

See also

Macros and NMAKE
NMAKE functions by category