# LINK_LIBRARIES

List of direct link dependencies.

This property specifies the list of libraries or targets which will be used for linking. In addition to accepting values from the `target_link_libraries()` command, values may be set directly on any target using the `set_property()` command.

The value of this property is used by the generators to set the link libraries for the compiler.

Contents of `LINK_LIBRARIES` may use “generator expressions” with the syntax `$<...>`. See the `cmake-generator-expressions(7)` manual for available expressions. See the `cmake-buildsystem(7)` manual for more on defining buildsystem properties.

Note

A call to `target_link_libraries(<target> ...)` may update this property on `<target>`. If `<target>` was not created in the same directory as the call then `target_link_libraries()` will wrap each entry with the form `::@(directory-id);...;::@`, where the `::@` is literal and the `(directory-id)` is unspecified. This tells the generators that the named libraries must be looked up in the scope of the caller rather than in the scope in which the `<target>` was created. Valid directory ids are stripped on export by the `install(EXPORT)` and `export()` commands.