21.3 Output File

21.3.1 Synopsis

outputfile ()
outputfile ("prefix")

21.3.2 Description

Return name of output file.

If constant string prefix is provided, a concatenation of prefix and output file is returned. Generally, you can simply use the former syntax and concatenate the strings (prefix + outputfile ()) but - if you use Cows-mkgen to create makefiles - functions introducing dependencies (verbatim (), include (), fdate (), fsize ()) need a constant string or the inputfile () and outputfile () functions.

So, the expression fdate (outputfile ("../")) is safe, while fdate ("../" + outputfile ()) will result in a wrong dependency. Remember that Cows-mkgen tells you about this wrong dependency raising a warning.

This discussion is here in analogy with inputfile () features but is purely academical: I don't think you'll ever make some operation on output file since it has not been created yet ! This function is useful to get output file's name, but the file will be created after parsing so you can't do any operation on it.

21.3.3 Example

print (outputfile ());

Display name of output file.