Trouble printing newline in makefile

Question

How can I print a newline in a makefile?

For instance, if I have a target:

printIt:
        @echo "Compiling..."

How could I print out

Compiling...

I had read somewhere that you can define one. But I have tried what is mentioned here:

define \n

endef



printit:
        @echo "${\n}Compiling..."

But this doesn't print the newline. I have also tried a c++ style "\n". I'm using GNU Make 3.81.

Answer 1

Use:

@echo ""; echo "Compiling..."

The first echo echoes a newline; the second echoes the message.

Answer 2

In some implementations of echo eg. Bash, you can use echo -e to interpret escape characters. Use

printIt:
        @echo -e "\nCompiling..."