Re: help with pattern rules

[Paul Smith]

On Wed, 2016-01-13 at 18:39 +0000, Kevin Barry wrote:
> %.pdf: %.txt
>         $(COMMAND) $<
> 
> But I get an error saying there is "No rule to make target 
> 'foo.pdf'". What am I doing wrong?

Nothing, according to this makefile.  So, there must be something wrong
that you didn't describe for us.

What did you name your makefile?  Is it Makefile or makefile or
GNUMakefile?  If not, you have to tell make to use it with "-f".

Where are your .txt files?  If they're not in the current directory
then you have to tell make where to find them (maybe with vpath, or by
writing the source directory explicitly in your makefile).

What version of make are you using on what platform (make --version)?

If still confused please show us a "cat Makefile", an "ls .", and the
make command you run and the error message you get (all cut and paste
from your terminal)... this assumes UNIX-like system of course.