A target is usually the name of a file that is generated by a program; examples of targets are executable or object files. A target can also be the name of an action to carry out, such as ‘clean’ (see Phony Targets). A prerequisite is a file that is used as input to create the target. A target often depends on several files. A recipe is an action that make carries out. A recipe may have more than one command, either on the same line or each on its own line. Please note: you need to put a tab character at the beginning of every recipe line! This is an obscurity that catches the unwary. If you prefer to prefix your recipes with a character other than tab, you can set the .RECIPEPREFIX variable to an alternate character.