title: What does a percent symbol do in a makefile?
body: <p>I have a makefile  that looks like this :</p>
  
  <pre><code>include $(patsubst %,$(src)/%/Make.tests, $(TEST_SUBDIRS))
  
  %-test: 
         Something here
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I understand what it is intended for in the target rule line.  What is the <code>%</code> sign doing in the first line ? Does it have anything to do percent sign in the target rule line ? </p>
  
  <p>When I write <code>make sometarget</code>, are the lines in the makefile that are not written as part of any rule (like the first line in this makefile) executed at all ? If yes, then what is the order of execution ?</p>