How to Get the Directory That Contains the Executable In Cmake?

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In CMake, you can get the directory that contains the executable by using the CMAKE_BINARY_DIR variable. This variable stores the path to the directory where the compiled executable will be placed after the build process. By accessing the value of CMAKE_BINARY_DIR, you can determine the directory in which the executable will reside and use it in your CMake scripts as needed.


How do I get the directory of the executable in CMake?

You can use the CMake function get_target_property to retrieve the directory of the executable target. Here's an example:

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get_target_property(EXE_LOC your_executable_target_name LOCATION)
message("Executable location: ${EXE_LOC}")


Replace your_executable_target_name with the name of your executable target. This code will get the location of the executable target and print it to the console.


What is the key CMake command for obtaining the executable directory?

The key CMake command for obtaining the executable directory is CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR. This command represents the directory where the built executable files will be stored.


What is the output format when obtaining the directory containing the executable in CMake?

When obtaining the directory containing the executable in CMake, the output format is typically the full path to the directory where the executable will be located. This path can be stored in a CMake variable or used directly in CMake commands and scripts. For example:

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get_target_property(EXECUTABLE_DIR MyExecutable RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)
message("Directory containing the executable: ${EXECUTABLE_DIR}")


This will output the full path to the directory where the executable "MyExecutable" will be located when built using CMake.


What is the variable name for the directory containing the executable in CMake?

CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY


How to get the directory path of the executable in CMake using a single command?

You can get the directory path of the executable in CMake using the following line of code:

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get_filename_component(EXECUTABLE_DIR "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR}" DIRECTORY)


This command will assign the directory path of the current executable to the variable EXECUTABLE_DIR. You can then use this variable in your CMake scripts as needed.


How to programmatically access the directory of the executable in CMake?

You can access the directory of the executable in CMake using the CMake built-in variable CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR. This variable holds the current output directory where the executable is being built.


You can use the CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR variable in your CMakeLists.txt file to access the directory of the executable like this:

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message("Executable directory: ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")


This will output the directory of the executable in the CMake console when you run CMake to build your project.


You can also use the CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY variable to set the output directory for the executable in your CMakeLists.txt file. For example:

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set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/bin)


This will set the output directory for the executable to a bin directory inside your project source directory.

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