A pseudotarget is a target in a description block that is not a file. It is a name that serves as a handle for building a group of files or executing a command block. There are two types of pseudotargets recognized by NMAKE32, predefined and user defined.

Predefined pseudotargets start with a period (.) and are used to control NMAKE32 processing characteristics. NMAKE32 provided pseudotargets and function follow:

┌─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│.IGNORE: [targets]       │Tells NMAKE32 to ignore return codes from    │
│                         │invoked commands. Same function as /i option │
│                         │on the command line.  If  specified with     │
│                         │targets, only return codes of those targets  │
│                         │are ignored.                                 │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.MAKEINIT: [command]     │The commands of this target are executed just│
│                         │before the first real target is  examined    │
│                         │(after the command line and the description  │
│                         │file have been processed).                   │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.INIT: [command]         │The commands of this target are executed just│
│                         │before the first real target is built (just  │
│                         │before the first user command is invoked).   │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.MAKEDEINIT: [command]   │The commands of this target are executed just│
│                         │before NMAKE32 terminates.                   │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.DEINIT: [command]       │The commands of this target are executed just│
│                         │before the commands of the .MAKEDEINIT:      │
│                         │target are executed, but only if the commands│
│                         │of the .INIT: target and at least one user   │
│                         │command have been executed.                  │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.RECHECK:                │Instructs NMAKE32 to recheck the date, time  │
│                         │and path of each target (the check occurs    │
│                         │after all commands for that target have been │
│                         │executed).                                   │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.NORECHECK:              │Instructs NMAKE32 to not recheck the date,   │
│                         │time and path of each target. This is the    │
│                         │default behavior.                            │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.PRECIOUS: [targets]     │Instructs NMAKE32 not to delete the targets  │
│                         │if the command completes with a nonzero      │
│                         │return code.    If  specified with targets,  │
│                         │only those targets are saved for nonzero     │
│                         │return codes.                                │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.SILENT:                 │Instructs NMAKE32 not to echo commands. Same │
│                         │function as /s option on the command line.   │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│.SUFFIXES: [exts]        │Used to change the defined extensions that   │
│                         │NMAKE32 recognizes for inference rule        │
│                         │processing. If specified without extensions, │
│                         │resets the defined extensions to null. If    │
│                         │followed by extensions, these are added to   │
│                         │the defined recognized extensions.           │
└─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Example:

# Example of .SUFFIXES and .PRECIOUS

.sav.exe:
    -copy keep.sav keepthis.exe

.SUFFIXES:                 # This set .SUFFIXES to null
.SUFFIXES: .sav .exe       # These two extensions can be used
                           # in inference rules

.PRECIOUS:   keepthis.exe  # This protects keepthis.exe from
                           # being deleted

keepthis.exe :keep.sav
                           #  Inference rule will be used here

User defined pseudotargets are used when you wish to invoke a block of commands without having them associated to a target. This would allow you to invoke the block of commands either from the command line by specifying the pseudotarget name, or from the description file via a dependency. (The commands for a pseudotarget without dependencies are always executed.)

Example:

ALWAYS:
  @echo  These commands will always execute if you
  @echo  specify the pseudotarget ALWAYS on the NMAKE32
  @echo  invocation, or you run a description file where
  @echo  ALWAYS appears as a dependent, or the only target
  @echo  in the description file.  There is no actual
  @echo  file named ALWAYS.