# how to cleanup random byproducts

**URL:** <https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-cleanup-random-byproducts/3154>\
**Category:** Code\
**Created:** [April 15, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-cleanup-random-byproducts/3154 "2021-04-15T17:25:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/hex/32/363_2.png) [@hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hex)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-cleanup-random-byproducts/3154/1 "2021-04-15T17:25:21Z")

</div>

i have several files with a random counter in the filename that i want to remove on clean.

```auto
add_custom_target(foo ALL
	COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E touch afile{1..3}.bar
	BYPRODUCTS
		*.bar
)

```

however, CMake does not allow wildchars, every byproduct must be set explicitly. I am using Makefile generator. Maybe i can glob a list of files and mark them as generated, or add them as additional clean files.

What is the best way to do it?

Update: semi working solution:

```auto
add_custom_target(foo ALL
	COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E touch afile{1..3}.bar
)

file( GLOB barlist CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/*.bar" )
set_target_properties(foo PROPERTIES ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES "${barlist}")

```

The file list on glob is updated before `COMMAND` is executed, therefore contains the set of files from the previous build.

---

<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:** [April 15, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-cleanup-random-byproducts/3154/2 "2021-04-15T20:05:34Z")

</div>

Globs are not supported in Ninja, so you’ll need to explicitly list the names of the created byproduct files.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/hex/32/363_2.png) [@hex](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hex)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-cleanup-random-byproducts/3154/3 "2021-04-15T21:32:45Z")

</div>

I am not familiar with Ninja. It seems to be working. I can observe the following:

there are no `afilen.bar` files at first  
then i build the project  
the files were generated  
then i clean the project  
no `afilen.bar` files after that

Here is the build output:

```auto
user@machine: $ ls -l src/*.bar
ls: cannot access 'src/*.bar': No such file or directory
user@machine: $ ninja
[0/2] Re-checking globbed directories...
-- GLOB mismatch!
[1/2] Re-running CMake...
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/user/build
[0/2] Re-checking globbed directories...
[1/1] cd /home/user/src && /snap/cmake/858/bin/cmake -E touch afile{1..5}.bar
user@machine: $ ls -l src/*.bar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 0 Apr 15 15:22 src/afile1.bar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 0 Apr 15 15:22 src/afile2.bar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 0 Apr 15 15:22 src/afile3.bar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 0 Apr 15 15:22 src/afile4.bar
-rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 0 Apr 15 15:22 src/afile5.bar
user@machine: $ ninja clean
[0/2] Re-checking globbed directories...
-- GLOB mismatch!
[1/2] Re-running CMake...
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/user/build
[0/2] Re-checking globbed directories...
[2/2] Cleaning all built files...
Cleaning... 0 files.
user@machine: $ ls -l src/*.bar
ls: cannot access 'src/*.bar': No such file or directory
user@machine: $ 

```

Edit: it seems to work reliably with Ninja but not with Unix Makefile. In both generators when i read out target property `ADDITIONAL_CLEAN_FILES` after `set_target_properties` it always shows for the glob list for the previous build.

---

<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:** [April 15, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/how-to-cleanup-random-byproducts/3154/4 "2021-04-15T22:53:01Z")

</div>

Yes, this makes sense. The globbing is done at CMake configure time. If that changes, the glob is likely to be inaccurate in the future (e.g., a new `.bar` file is made during the build by some other process.