Trouble with Filenames With a Dollar Sign ($) in Inline Files

Last reviewed: July 17, 1997
Article ID: Q59409

1.01 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.20 1.30 1.40 | 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.21

MS-DOS                             | OS/2

kbtool kberrmsg

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft NMAKE Utility for MS-DOS, versions 1.01, 1.1, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4
Microsoft NMAKE Utility for OS/2, versions 1.01, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, and 1.21

SUMMARY

If you use a filename that contains a dollar sign ($) in a NMAKE description file, you can use the escape character (^) to tell NMAKE that the dollar sign is part of your filename, not a macro character. However, to use the dollar sign in an inline response file or as a literal character in a command, use two dollar signs ($$) instead.

MORE INFORMATION

Consider the following NMAKE description file:

   all:test^$.exe

   test^$.obj: test^$.c
      cl /c test^$.c

   test^$.exe: test^$.obj
      link @<<
            test^$.obj,
            test^$.exe,
            NUL,;
      <<

In this file, the escape character (^) is used to tell NMAKE that the $ is part of the filename TEST$.* and does not denote a macro. When TEST$.C is compiled, everything works correctly. However, the inline response file for LINK does not work as expected. NMAKE does not interpret the ^ character, but instead passes it on to LINK.EXE. LINK then tries to link TEST^$.OBJ instead of TEST$.OBJ and fails. If you eliminate the ^ to pass TEST$.OBJ to link, NMAKE fails. NMAKE version 1.4 generates the following error:

   U1002: syntax error: invalid macro invocation '$'

The following presents two methods to work around this situation:

Use an external response file. Change the LINK command in the make file to something similar to "LINK @FILE.RES" (without quotation marks). You can put the filename TEST$.OBJ directly in the response file.

-or-

Use $$ as the escape sequence in the inline response file and in other command blocks instead of ^$. For example, change the example above as follows:
```
      link @<<
          test$$.obj,
          test$$.exe,
          NUL,;
      <<

   NMAKE correctly passes TEST$.OBJ to LINK.
```

Additional reference words: kbinf kbinf 1.20 1.30 1.40
KBCategory: kbtool kberrmsg
KBSubcategory: NmakeIss
Keywords : kb16bitonly

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Last reviewed: July 17, 1997
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