DEFINE_SYMBOL — CMake 4.4.20260621-gcc70e9e-dirty Documentation

# DEFINE_SYMBOL

Define a preprocessor symbol when compiling this target's sources.

CMake adds this definition when compiling sources of a `SHARED` library, a `MODULE` library, or an `EXECUTABLE` with `ENABLE_EXPORTS` enabled. If `DEFINE_SYMBOL` is not set, the default definition is of the form `<target>_EXPORTS` (with some substitutions if the target is not a valid C identifier).

The symbol is only defined while compiling the target itself and is not propagated to dependent targets.

On POSIX platforms, this can optionally be used to control the visibility of symbols.

CMake provides support for such decorations with the `GenerateExportHeader` module.

See also the `COMPILE_DEFINITIONS` under Target Compile Properties.