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

ID: Q59409

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, 1.4
Microsoft NMAKE Utility for OS/2, versions 1.01, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 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. You can put the filename TEST$.OBJ directly in the response file.

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 query words: kbinf 1.20 1.30 1.40

Keywords : kb16bitonly
Version : MS-DOS:1.01,1.1,1.11,1.12,1.13,1.2,1.3,1.4; OS/2:1.01,1.11,1.12,1.13,1.21
Platform : MS-DOS OS/2
Issue type :