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====== Programming - Make - Fake Target ======

By default, make __only__ tries to build the first thing it finds.

<file bash Makefile>
hello: hello.c
</file>

<WRAP infp>
**NOTE:**  Here:

  * **hello**:  The target.
  * **hello.c**.  The source.

</WRAP>

----

====== Fake Target ======

A fake target can be provided:

<file bash Makefile>
all : hello hello2 hello3
</file>

<WRAP info>
**NOTE:**  This shows the target as **all**, probably not what is really wanted:

This actually works as long as there is never a file named **all** in the working directory.

This assumes that there are other rules elsewhere in the Makefile for the 3 hello programs so they can be built.

</WRAP>

----

====== Prevent problems using all ======

To prevent this usage of **all** being a problem, you can declare that target as phony by using this statement in the makefile:

<file bash Makefile>
.PHONY: all
</file>

**NOTE:**  Actions can be attached to phony targets as well.  For example:

<file bash Makefile>
.PHONY: clean
clean: 
  rm *.o
</file>

<WRAP info>
**NOTE:**  You can issue **make clean** from the command line to remove all the object files.
</WRAP>