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How do I simplify the following slice of a Makefile?

Submitted by: @import:stackexchange-codereview·Mar 10, 2026·

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themakefilefollowingsimplifyhowslice

Problem

Considering the following Makefile:

%.o: %.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Audio/%.o: Audio/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Game/%.o: Game/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Generation/%.o: Generation/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Input/%.o: Input/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Particle/%.o: Particle/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Screen/%.o: Screen/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

Utility/%.o: Utility/%.cpp
    $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

How can I simplify it so that it only depends on a list of directories, such as:

SUBD = Audio/\
 Game/\
 Generation/\
 Input/\
 Particle/\
 Screen/\
 Utility/

Solution

All of these rules

Audio/%.o: Audio/%.cpp
        $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_0%%lt; -o $@

# etc.

are redundant! Your first pattern rule

%.o: %.cpp
        $(C) $(CF) -c %%CODEBLOCK_1%%lt; -o $@

already covers them all.

Code Snippets

Audio/%.o: Audio/%.cpp
        $(C) $(CF) -c $< -o $@

# etc.

%.o: %.cpp
        $(C) $(CF) -c $< -o $@

Context

StackExchange Code Review Q#32249, answer score: 3

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