# find_file

A short-hand signature is:

    find_file (<VAR> name1 [path1 path2 ...])

The general signature is:

    find_file (
              <VAR>
              name | NAMES name1 [name2 ...]
              [HINTS [path | ENV var]... ]
              [PATHS [path | ENV var]... ]
              [PATH_SUFFIXES suffix1 [suffix2 ...]]
              [DOC "cache documentation string"]
              [NO_CACHE]
              [REQUIRED]
              [NO_DEFAULT_PATH]
              [NO_PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH]
              [NO_CMAKE_PATH]
              [NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
              [NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH]
              [NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH]
              [CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH |
               ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH |
               NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH]
             )

This command is used to find a full path to named file. A cache entry, or a normal variable if `NO_CACHE` is specified, named by `<VAR>` is created to store the result of this command. If the full path to a file is found the result is stored in the variable and the search will not be repeated unless the variable is cleared. If nothing is found, the result will be `<VAR>-NOTFOUND`.

Options include:

`NAMES`

  Specify one or more possible names for the full path to a file.

  When using this to specify names with and without a version suffix, we recommend specifying the unversioned name first so that locally-built packages can be found before those provided by distributions.

`HINTS`, `PATHS`

  Specify directories to search in addition to the default locations. The `ENV var` sub-option reads paths from a system environment variable.

`PATH_SUFFIXES`

  Specify additional subdirectories to check below each directory location otherwise considered.

`DOC`

  Specify the documentation string for the `<VAR>` cache entry.

`NO_CACHE`

  New in version 3.21.

  The result of the search will be stored in a normal variable rather than a cache entry.

  Note

  If the variable is already set before the call (as a normal or cache variable) then the search will not occur.

  Warning

  This option should be used with caution because it can greatly increase the cost of repeated configure steps.

`REQUIRED`

  New in version 3.18.

  Stop processing with an error message if nothing is found, otherwise the search will be attempted again the next time find_file is invoked with the same variable.

If `NO_DEFAULT_PATH` is specified, then no additional paths are added to the search. If `NO_DEFAULT_PATH` is not specified, the search process is as follows:

1. New in version 3.12: If called from within a find module or any other script loaded by a call to `find_package(<PackageName>)`, search prefixes unique to the current package being found. Specifically, look in the `<PackageName>_ROOT` CMake variable and the `<PackageName>_ROOT` environment variable. The package root variables are maintained as a stack, so if called from nested find modules or config packages, root paths from the parent's find module or config package will be searched after paths from the current module or package. In other words, the search order would be `<CurrentPackage>_ROOT`, `ENV{<CurrentPackage>_ROOT}`, `<ParentPackage>_ROOT`, `ENV{<ParentPackage>_ROOT}`, etc. This can be skipped if `NO_PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH` is passed or by setting the `CMAKE_FIND_USE_PACKAGE_ROOT_PATH` to `FALSE`. See policy `CMP0074`.

   - `<prefix>/include/<arch>` if `CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE` is set, and `<prefix>/include` for each `<prefix>` in the `<PackageName>_ROOT` CMake variable and the `<PackageName>_ROOT` environment variable if called from within a find module loaded by `find_package(<PackageName>)`

2. Search paths specified in cmake-specific cache variables. These are intended to be used on the command line with a `-DVAR=value`. The values are interpreted as semicolon-separated lists. This can be skipped if `NO_CMAKE_PATH` is passed or by setting the `CMAKE_FIND_USE_CMAKE_PATH` to `FALSE`.

   - `<prefix>/include/<arch>` if `CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE` is set, and `<prefix>/include` for each `<prefix>` in `CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH`

   - `CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH`

   - `CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH`

3. Search paths specified in cmake-specific environment variables. These are intended to be set in the user's shell configuration, and therefore use the host's native path separator (`;` on Windows and `:` on UNIX). This can be skipped if `NO_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH` is passed or by setting the `CMAKE_FIND_USE_CMAKE_ENVIRONMENT_PATH` to `FALSE`.

   - `<prefix>/include/<arch>` if `CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE` is set, and `<prefix>/include` for each `<prefix>` in `CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH`

   - `CMAKE_INCLUDE_PATH`

   - `CMAKE_FRAMEWORK_PATH`

4. Search the paths specified by the `HINTS` option. These should be paths computed by system introspection, such as a hint provided by the location of another item already found. Hard-coded guesses should be specified with the `PATHS` option.

5. Search the standard system environment variables. This can be skipped if `NO_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH` is passed or by setting the `CMAKE_FIND_USE_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_PATH` to `FALSE`.

   - The directories in `INCLUDE` and `PATH`.

   - On Windows hosts: `<prefix>/include/<arch>` if `CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE` is set, and `<prefix>/include` for each `<prefix>/[s]bin` in `PATH`, and `<entry>/include` for other entries in `PATH`.

6. Search cmake variables defined in the Platform files for the current system. This can be skipped if `NO_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH` is passed or by setting the `CMAKE_FIND_USE_CMAKE_SYSTEM_PATH` to `FALSE`.

   - `<prefix>/include/<arch>` if `CMAKE_LIBRARY_ARCHITECTURE` is set, and `<prefix>/include` for each `<prefix>` in `CMAKE_SYSTEM_PREFIX_PATH`

   - `CMAKE_SYSTEM_INCLUDE_PATH`

   - `CMAKE_SYSTEM_FRAMEWORK_PATH`

   The platform paths that these variables contain are locations that typically include installed software. An example being `/usr/local` for UNIX based platforms.

7. Search the paths specified by the PATHS option or in the short-hand version of the command. These are typically hard-coded guesses.

The `CMAKE_IGNORE_PATH`, `CMAKE_IGNORE_PREFIX_PATH`, `CMAKE_SYSTEM_IGNORE_PATH` and `CMAKE_SYSTEM_IGNORE_PREFIX_PATH` variables can also cause some of the above locations to be ignored.

New in version 3.16: Added `CMAKE_FIND_USE_<CATEGORY>_PATH` variables to globally disable various search locations.

On macOS the `CMAKE_FIND_FRAMEWORK` and `CMAKE_FIND_APPBUNDLE` variables determine the order of preference between Apple-style and unix-style package components.

The CMake variable `CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH` specifies one or more directories to be prepended to all other search directories. This effectively "re-roots" the entire search under given locations. Paths which are descendants of the `CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX` are excluded from this re-rooting, because that variable is always a path on the host system. By default the `CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH` is empty.

The `CMAKE_SYSROOT` variable can also be used to specify exactly one directory to use as a prefix. Setting `CMAKE_SYSROOT` also has other effects. See the documentation for that variable for more.

These variables are especially useful when cross-compiling to point to the root directory of the target environment and CMake will search there too. By default at first the directories listed in `CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH` are searched, then the `CMAKE_SYSROOT` directory is searched, and then the non-rooted directories will be searched. The default behavior can be adjusted by setting `CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_MODE_INCLUDE`. This behavior can be manually overridden on a per-call basis using options:

`CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH_BOTH`

  Search in the order described above.

`NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH`

  Do not use the `CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH` variable.

`ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH`

  Search only the re-rooted directories and directories below `CMAKE_STAGING_PREFIX`.

The default search order is designed to be most-specific to least-specific for common use cases. Projects may override the order by simply calling the command multiple times and using the `NO_*` options:

    find_file (<VAR> NAMES name PATHS paths... NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
    find_file (<VAR> NAMES name)

Once one of the calls succeeds the result variable will be set and stored in the cache so that no call will search again.