How do I exclude a single file from a cmake `file(GLOB ... )` pattern?

Question

My CMakeLists.txt contains this line:

file(GLOB lib_srcs Half/half.cpp Iex/*.cpp IlmThread/*.cpp Imath/*.cpp IlmImf/*.cpp)

and the IlmImf folder contains b44ExpLogTable.cpp, which I need to exclude from the build.

How to achieve that?

Answer 1

You can use the list function to manipulate the list, for example:

list(REMOVE_ITEM <list> <value> [<value> ...])

In your case, maybe something like this will work:

list(REMOVE_ITEM lib_srcs "IlmImf/b44ExpLogTable.cpp")

Answer 2

FILTER is another option which could be more convenient in some cases:

list(FILTER <list> <INCLUDE|EXCLUDE> REGEX <regular_expression>)

This line excludes every item ending with the required filename:

list(FILTER lib_srcs EXCLUDE REGEX ".*b44ExpLogTable\\.cpp$")

Here is Regex Specification for cmake:

The following characters have special meaning in regular expressions:

^         Matches at the beginning of input
$         Matches at the end of input
.         Matches any single character
[ ]       Matches any character(s) inside the brackets
[^ ]      Matches any character(s) not inside the brackets
 -        Inside brackets, specifies an inclusive range between
          characters on either side e.g. [a-f] is [abcdef]
          To match a literal - using brackets, make it the first
          or the last character e.g. [+*/-] matches basic
          mathematical operators.
*         Matches preceding pattern zero or more times
+         Matches preceding pattern one or more times
?         Matches preceding pattern zero or once only
|         Matches a pattern on either side of the |
()        Saves a matched subexpression, which can be referenced
          in the REGEX REPLACE operation. Additionally it is saved
          by all regular expression-related commands, including
          e.g. if( MATCHES ), in the variables CMAKE_MATCH_(0..9).

Answer 3

try this : CMakeLists.txt

install(DIRECTORY   ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/ 
            DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}
            COMPONENT   copy-files
            PATTERN     ".git*"   EXCLUDE
            PATTERN     "*.in"    EXCLUDE
            PATTERN     "*/build" EXCLUDE)

add_custom_target(copy-files
            COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -D COMPONENT=copy-files
            -P cmake_install.cmake)

$cmake <src_path> -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_path>
$cmake --build . --target copy-files