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I want to write a Makefile to find specific files and run a Python script on each file. The Python script accepts sys.stdin input.

find $(W)/$(OVE) -name "*.xml" -print | \
while read x ; do \
  cat $x | /opt/exp/bin/python2.7 process_results.py > $(W)/$(OVE)/$(dirname $x)_$(basename $x).xml \
done

The output is $(dirname $x)_$(basename $x).xml file which is an empty _.xml file.

When I run this command on command line, it works properly but in Makefile it doesn't work.

Can you help me what is wrong with this command?

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  • Also, what is the exact output from your make invocation? (You may want to do this in a directory with only one or a few files, to minimize clutter.) Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 11:57
  • I want to run a python script on a few xml files in the directory and save the results in a new xml file Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 13:55

3 Answers 3

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First, you need to quote the dollar signs that are supposed to be interpreted by the shell. As it is, $x and $(dirname $x) and $(basename $x) are parsed by make. You're also missing a semicolon at the end of the body of the while loop. Check the output from running make, you should see the shell complaining about that.

find $(W)/$(OVE) -name "*.xml" -print | \
while read x ; do \
  cat $$x | /opt/exp/bin/python2.7 process_results.py > $(W)/$(OVE)/$$(dirname $$x)_$$(basename $$x).xml; \
done

Another likely problem is that $(dirname $x) already contains the $(W)/$(OVE) part. For example, if $(W) is foo and $(OVE) is bar and $x is subdir/subsubdir/wibble.xml, you'll end up trying to write files like foo/bar/foo/bar/subdir/subsubdir_wibble.xml.xml, whereas you probably mean to write foo/bar/foo/bar/subdir/subsubdir_wibble.xml.xml. It's also weird that you're transforming a .xml file into a .xml.xml file. If you meant to strip the original .xml extension, you need to write basename $$x .xml, but it's pointless to remove the extension only to add it again. So you probably meant to write:

find $(W)/$(OVE) -name "*.xml" -print | \
while read x ; do \
  /opt/exp/bin/python2.7 process_results.py <$$x >$$(dirname $$x)_$$(basename $$x); \
done

A further problem is that if any of the runs of process_results.py fails, make will continue running and still report a successful build. Tell the shell to stop if an error occurs:

set -e; \
find $(W)/$(OVE) -name "*.xml" -print | \
while read x ; do \
  /opt/exp/bin/python2.7 process_results.py <$$x >$$(dirname $$x)_$$(basename $$x); \
done
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  • when I use /opt/exp/bin/python2.7 process_results.py <$$x >$$(dirname $$x)_$$(basename $$x); the output is an empty file. It seems no input has been passed th the script, the script reads input from stdin. how can I change this line? thanks Commented Nov 25, 2012 at 12:07
  • @Hamideh Works for me. Are you sure your script is producing output? Add a trace whenever it reads a line or something. Commented Nov 25, 2012 at 19:03
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$x, $(dirname $x) etc... will all get mangled by make as it interprets them as its own variables. Best to wrap this in a one-line shellscript and call that from the Makefile.

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  • Thanks Dennis, I'm new to scripting and makefile. Can you give me a straight forward guideline. Thanks. Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 14:05
  • @Hamideh. What Dennis is suggesting is to get your script to work as a pure bash .sh file first. Then take the additional step of embedding it in the Makefile. I recommend this approach too. 'get it working, then get it right, then get it fast'. Commented Nov 27, 2012 at 4:23
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You need to quote the dollar-signs that you want to pass through to the shell, otherwise make will try to interpret them.

-find $(W)/$(OVE) -name -print | \
  while read x ; do \
      cat $$x | /opt/exp/bin/python2.7 process_results.py \
        > $(W)/$(OVE)/$$(dirname $$x)_$$(basename $$x).xml; \
  done

The single dollar-signs are make variable expansions. The double dollar-signs are passed through to the command line as a single dollar-sign.

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  • Thanks for your reply Camh. But when I use $$x, in this case, even empty _.xml file is not created. Commented Nov 24, 2012 at 14:03

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