NMAKE accepts options for controlling the NMAKE session. Options are not case sensitive and can be preceded by either a slash (/) or a dash (–).
You can specify some options in the makefile or in TOOLS.INI. For information on TOOLS.INI, see topic . For information on specifying options with the !CMDSWITCHES directive, see topic .
/A
Forces NMAKE to build all evaluated targets, even if the targets are not out-of-date with respect to their dependents. This option does not force NMAKE to build unrelated targets.
/B
Tells NMAKE to execute a dependency even if time stamps are equal. Most operating systems assign time stamps with a resolution of 2 seconds. If your commands execute quickly, NMAKE may conclude that a file is up-to-date when in fact it is not. This option may result in some unnecessary build steps but is recommended when running NMAKE on very fast systems.
/C
Suppresses default NMAKE output, including nonfatal NMAKE error or warning messages, time stamps, and the NMAKE copyright message. If both /C and /K are specified, /C suppresses the warnings issued by /K.
/D
Displays information during the NMAKE session. The information is interspersed in NMAKE's default output to the screen. NMAKE displays the time stamp of each target and dependent evaluated in the build and issues a message when a target does not exist. Dependents for a target precede the target and are indented. The /D and /P options are useful for debugging a makefile.
To set or clear /D for part of a makefile, use the !CMDSWITCHES directive; see “Preprocessing Directives”.
/E
Causes environment variables to override macro definitions in the makefile. See “Macros”.
/F filename
Specifies filename as the name of the makefile. Zero or more spaces or tabs precede filename. If you supply a dash (–) instead of a filename, NMAKE gets makefile input from the standard input device. (End keyboard input with either F6 or CTRL+Z.) NMAKE accepts more than one makefile; use a separate /F specification for each makefile input.
If you omit /F, NMAKE searches the current directory for a file called MAKEFILE (with no extension) and uses it as the makefile. If MAKEFILE doesn't exist, NMAKE uses inference rules for the command-line targets.
/HELP
Calls the QuickHelp utility. If NMAKE cannot locate the Help file or QuickHelp, it displays a brief summary of NMAKE command-line syntax.
/I
Ignores exit codes from all commands listed in the makefile. NMAKE processes the whole makefile even if errors occur. To ignore exit codes for part of a makefile, use the dash (–) command modifier or the .IGNORE directive; see “Command Modifiers” and “Dot Directives”. To set or clear /I for part of a makefile, use the !CMDSWITCHES directive; see “Preprocessing Directives”. To ignore errors for unrelated parts of the build, use the /K option; /I overrides /K if both are specified.
/K
Continues the build for unrelated parts of the dependency tree if a command terminates with an error. By default, NMAKE halts if any command returns a nonzero exit code. If this option is specified and a command returns a nonzero exit code, NMAKE ceases to execute the block containing the command. It does not attempt to build the targets that depend on the results of that command; instead, it issues a warning and builds other targets. When /K is specified and the build is not complete, NMAKE returns an exit code of 1. This differs from the /I option, which ignores exit codes entirely; /I overrides /K if both are specified. The /C option suppresses the warnings issued by /K.
/M
Swaps NMAKE to disk to conserve extended or expanded memory under DOS. By default, NMAKE leaves room for commands to be executed in low memory by swapping itself to extended memory (if enough space exists there) or to expanded memory (if there is not sufficient extended memory but there is enough expanded memory) or to disk. The /M option tells NMAKE to ignore any extended or expanded memory and to swap only to disk.
/N
Displays but does not execute the commands that would be executed by the build. Preprocessing commands are executed. This option is useful for debugging makefiles and checking which targets are out-of-date. To set or clear /N for part of a makefile, use the !CMDSWITCHES directive; see “Preprocessing Directives”.
/NOLOGO
Suppresses the NMAKE copyright message.
/P
Displays NMAKE information to the standard output device, including all macro definitions, inference rules, target descriptions, and the .SUFFIXES list, before running the NMAKE session. If /P is specified without a makefile or command-line target, NMAKE displays the information and does not issue an error. The /P and /D options are useful for debugging a makefile.
/Q
Checks time stamps of targets that would be updated by the build but does not run the build. NMAKE returns a zero exit code if the targets are up-to-date and a nonzero exit code if any target is out-of-date. Only preprocessing commands in the makefile are executed. This option is useful when running NMAKE from a batch file.
/R
Clears the .SUFFIXES list and ignores inference rules and macros that are defined in the TOOLS.INI file or that are predefined.
/S
Suppresses the display of all executed commands. To suppress the display of commands in part of a makefile, use the @ command modifier or the .SILENT directive; see “Command Modifiers” and “Dot Directives”. To set or clear /S for part of a makefile, use the !CMDSWITCHES directive; see “Preprocessing Directives”.
/T
Changes time stamps of command-line targets (or first target in the makefile if no command-line targets are specified) to the current time and executes preprocessing commands but does not run the build. Contents of target files are not modified.
/V
Causes all macros to be inherited when recursing. By default, only macros defined on the command line and environment-variable macros are inherited when NMAKE is called recursively. This option makes all macros available to the recursively called NMAKE session. See “Inherited Macros”.
/X filename
Sends all error output (from both NMAKE and the executed commands) to filename, which can be a file or a device. Zero or more spaces or tabs precede filename. If you supply a dash (–) instead of a filename, error output is sent to the standard output device. By default, NMAKE sends errors to standard error.
/?
Displays a brief summary of NMAKE command-line syntax and exits to the operating system.
Example
The following command line specifies two NMAKE options:
NMAKE /F sample.mak /C targ1 targ2
The /F option tells NMAKE to read the makefile SAMPLE.MAK. The /C option tells NMAKE not to display nonfatal error messages and warnings. The command specifies two targets (targ1 and targ2) to update.