4.4 Using Wildcard Characters in File Names
A single file name can specify many files using wildcard characters.
The wildcard characters in make are `*', `?' and
`[...]', the same as in the Bourne shell. For example, `*.c'
specifies a list of all the files (in the working directory) whose names
end in `.c'.
The character `~' at the beginning of a file name also has special
significance. If alone, or followed by a slash, it represents your home
directory. For example `~/bin' expands to `/home/you/bin'.
If the `~' is followed by a word, the string represents the home
directory of the user named by that word. For example `~john/bin'
expands to `/home/john/bin'. On systems which don't have a home
directory for each user (such as MS-DOS or MS-Windows), this
functionality can be simulated by setting the environment variable
HOME.
Wildcard expansion happens automatically in targets, in prerequisites,
and in commands (where the shell does the expansion). In other
contexts, wildcard expansion happens only if you request it explicitly
with the wildcard function.
The special significance of a wildcard character can be turned off by
preceding it with a backslash. Thus, `foo\*bar' would refer to a
specific file whose name consists of `foo', an asterisk, and
`bar'.
