src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/runtime/commands/target-syntax.txt

Target pattern syntax
=====================

The BUILD file label syntax is used to specify a single target. Target
patterns generalize this syntax to sets of targets, and also support
working-directory-relative forms, recursion, subtraction and filtering.
Examples:

Specifying a single target:

  //foo/bar:wiz     The single target '//foo/bar:wiz'.
  foo/bar/wiz       Equivalent to:
                      '//foo/bar/wiz:wiz' if foo/bar/wiz is a package,
                      '//foo/bar:wiz' if foo/bar is a package,
                      '//foo:bar/wiz' otherwise.
  //foo/bar         Equivalent to '//foo/bar:bar'.

Specifying all rules in a package:

  //foo/bar:all       Matches all rules in package 'foo/bar'.

Specifying all rules recursively beneath a package:

  //foo/...:all     Matches all rules in all packages beneath directory 'foo'.
  //foo/...           (ditto)

  By default, directory symlinks are followed when performing this recursive traversal, except
  those that point to under the output base (for example, the convenience symlinks that are created
  in the root directory of the workspace) But we understand that your workspace may intentionally
  contain directories with weird symlink structures that you don't want consumed. As such, if a
  directory has a file named
  'DONT_FOLLOW_SYMLINKS_WHEN_TRAVERSING_THIS_DIRECTORY_VIA_A_RECURSIVE_TARGET_PATTERN'
  then symlinks in that directory won't be followed when evaluating recursive
  target patterns.

Working-directory relative forms:  (assume cwd = 'workspace/foo')

  Target patterns which do not begin with '//' are taken relative to
  the working directory.  Patterns which begin with '//' are always
  absolute.

  ...:all           Equivalent to  '//foo/...:all'.
  ...                 (ditto)

  bar/...:all       Equivalent to  '//foo/bar/...:all'.
  bar/...             (ditto)

  bar:wiz           Equivalent to '//foo/bar:wiz'.
  :foo              Equivalent to '//foo:foo'.

  bar               Equivalent to '//foo/bar:bar'.
  foo/bar           Equivalent to '//foo/foo/bar:bar'.

  bar:all           Equivalent to '//foo/bar:all'.
  :all              Equivalent to '//foo:all'.

Summary of target wildcards:

  :all,             Match all rules in the specified packages.
  :*, :all-targets  Match all targets (rules and files) in the specified
                      packages, including .par and _deploy.jar files.

Subtractive patterns:

  Target patterns may be preceded by '-', meaning they should be
  subtracted from the set of targets accumulated by preceding
  patterns. (Note that this means order matters.) For example:

    % %{product} build -- foo/... -foo/contrib/...

  builds everything in 'foo', except 'contrib'.  In case a target not
  under 'contrib' depends on something under 'contrib' though, in order to
  build the former %{product} has to build the latter too. As usual, the '--' is
  required to prevent '-f' from being interpreted as an option.

  When running the test command, test suite expansion is applied to each target
  pattern in sequence as the set of targets is evaluated. This means that
  individual tests from a test suite can be excluded by a later target pattern.
  It also means that an exclusion target pattern which matches a test suite will
  exclude all tests which that test suite references. (Targets that would be
  matched by the list of target patterns without any test suite expansion are
  also built unless --build_tests_only is set.)

%{options}