foo:="this is a long file name" and some more text bar := hello other_files := foo.c bar.c baz.c files:= src/file-a.c src/file\ with\ space.c "src/fully quoted file.c" src/$foo.c $other_files cflags :=-g -O3 -DTITLE="Hello World" cflags += these values will be appended cflags =+ these values will be prepended