[SOLVED] How to set the global variable in a function for cmake?

Issue

I'm writing a CMakeLists.txt to generate files and compile the generated files. I create a function to add some file path strings to a global list variable.

My CMakeLists.txt:

set(source_list "nothing")
function(test file_path)
    list(APPEND source_list ${file_path})
endfunction(test)
test(abc.txt)
test(def.txt)
message("At last, the source_list is:\"${source_list}\"")

The cmake output:

At last, the source_list is:"nothing"

Someone suggested that to use macro instead of function, but I do need use local variable, so I need to use the function instead of macro.

How can I correctly set the global variable source_list in the function test()? Can't cmake do it in a simple and normal way?

Solution

You need to use set instead of list to affect the variable in the parent scope.

So replace your list command with:

set(source_list ${source_list} ${file_path} PARENT_SCOPE)

Answered By - Fraser

Answer Checked By - Mary Flores (WPSolving Volunteer)