Question

I have a variable stoppoint defined in my makefile.
I want to set this variable using the output of awk from withing my Makefile.

I want to see if the second argument is main or not

I have tried:

stoppoint = $(awk '$$2 ~ /main/ {print $$1}' file)  
stoppoint = "$(awk '$$2 ~ /main/ {print $$1}' file)"  
stoppoint = 'awk '$$2 ~ /main/ {print $$1}' file'
awk '$$2 ~ /main/ {print $$1}' file > stoppoint
awk '$$2 ~ /main/ {print $$1}' file > $(stoppoint)

However, I am unable to set this variable.
Kindly tell me how one can set a variable using awk inside a Makefile

PS: On command line, the awk command gives me the output I desire…

Thanks,
Tejas

Answer 1

The solution is simple:
Makefile assumed the format

target: dependencies followed on the next line by actions after a TAB

In the above case, we cannot set a variable in the next line after a TAB because it assumes it to be an action. Just remove the TAB and set it.
That would solve the issue