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# function

Start recording a function for later invocation as a command:

    function(<name> [arg1 [arg2 [arg3 ...]]])
      COMMAND1(ARGS ...)
      COMMAND2(ARGS ...)
      ...
    endfunction(<name>)

Define a function named `<name>` that takes arguments named `arg1`, `arg2`, `arg3`, (...). Commands listed after function, but before the matching `endfunction()`, are not invoked until the function is invoked. When it is invoked, the commands recorded in the function are first modified by replacing formal parameters (`${arg1}`) with the arguments passed, and then invoked as normal commands. In addition to referencing the formal parameters you can reference the `ARGC` variable which will be set to the number of arguments passed into the function as well as `ARGV0`, `ARGV1`, `ARGV2`, ... which will have the actual values of the arguments passed in. This facilitates creating functions with optional arguments. Additionally `ARGV` holds the list of all arguments given to the function and `ARGN` holds the list of arguments past the last expected argument. Referencing to `ARGV#` arguments beyond `ARGC` have undefined behavior. Checking that `ARGC` is greater than `#` is the only way to ensure that `ARGV#` was passed to the function as an extra argument.

A function opens a new scope: see `set(var PARENT_SCOPE)` for details.

See the `cmake_policy()` command documentation for the behavior of policies inside functions.

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