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Command Echoing

Normally make prints each command line before it is executed. We call this echoing because it gives the appearance that you are typing the commands yourself.

When a line starts with ‘@’, the echoing of that line is suppressed. The ‘@’ is discarded before the command is passed to the shell. Typically you would use this for a command whose only effect is to print something, such as an echo command to indicate progress through the makefile:

@echo About to make distribution files

When make is given the flag ‘-n’ or ‘--just-print’, echoing is all that happens with no execution. See Summary of Options. In this case and only this case, even the commands starting with ‘@’ are printed. This flag is useful for finding out which commands make thinks are necessary without actually doing them.

The ‘-s’ or‘--silent’ flag to make prevents all echoing, as if all commands started with ‘@’. A rule in the makefile for the special target, .SILENT, without dependencies has the same effect (see Special Built-in Target Names). .SILENT is essentially obsolete since ‘@’ is more flexible.