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The file() Command

The file() Command

Let's learn about the file() command in CMake.

This command provides all kinds of operations related to files:

  • Reading

  • Writing

  • Transferring

  • Locking

  • Archiving

It also provides modes to inspect the filesystem and operations on strings representing paths. Full details can be found in the online documentation.

Reading

The following modes are available:

  • file(READ <filename> <out> [OFFSET <o>] [LIMIT <max>] [HEX]) reads the file from <filename> to the <out> variable. The read optionally starts at offset <o> and follows the optional limit of <max> bytes. The HEX flag specifies that output should be converted to hexadecimal representation.

  • file(STRINGS <filename> <out>) reads strings from the file at <filename> to the <out> variable.

  • file(<algorithm> <filename> <out>) computes the <algorithm> hash from the file at <filename> and stores the result in the <out> variable. ...