# Feature Request: Access global properties from generator expression

**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-access-global-properties-from-generator-expression/11677
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [September 13, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-access-global-properties-from-generator-expression/11677 "2024-09-13T22:37:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![dbs4261](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/dbs4261/32/4938_2.png) [@dbs4261](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/dbs4261)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-access-global-properties-from-generator-expression/11677/1 "2024-09-13T22:37:17Z")

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A simple example:  
Currently the global property must be assigned to a variable before being using in a generator expression:

```CMake
get_property(IS_MULTI_CONFIG GLOBAL PROPERTY GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG)
set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/bin$<$<BOOL:${IS_MULTI_CONFIG}>:/$<CONFIG>>)

```

We can already access properties on a target with `$<TARGET_PROPERTY:tgt,prop>`. It would be good to have a similar mechanism to access global properties directly from generator expressions. Using an expression like `$<GLOBAL_PROPERTY:prop>` makes the above snippet:

```CMake
set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/bin$<$<GLOBAL_PROPERTY:GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG>:/$<CONFIG>>)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/feature-request-access-global-properties-from-generator-expression/11677/2 "2025-07-19T14:37:20Z")

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See [this issue](https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/26641) I have filed since this was first posted.