CMake has its own basic scripting language. A new user of CMake, learning this language, mostly needs to know about commands like SET, IF and MESSAGE. Sometimes, the details become lost. How does one manipulate variables? How do quotes and escapes work? Why do FOREACH and MACRO parameters behave strangely? What is the syntax?

CMake bug 6295 asked for documentation of the core syntax. Thus the CMake web site now has a quick introduction to CMake syntax.

This wiki page (formerly 1) contains an overview of the CMake language, its quirks and its limitations. Anyone may contribute to this page. You may edit, rewrite, refactor, correct or otherwise improve this page. Help other CMake users understand the language and avoid mistakes, contribute to this wiki.

There is another wiki page, CMake:VariablesListsStrings, that has more details about variables and regular expressions.

cmake -P

The script mode cmake -P