makefile backreference to matched text

Question

Suppose, I have 2 files, dependent upon each other:

./pictures/1_data.tex
           |
           V
      ./data/1.pl

So, 1_data.tex is generated from the Perl file. To do it I have the following rule in the makefile:

./pictures/1_data.tex: ./data/1.pl
    perl given.pl 1 > $@

If I have multiple files with this pattern:

./data/1.pl
./data/2.pl
...
./data/n.pl

I'd like to use wildcards to process them. I tried this:

./pictures/*_data.tex: ./data/*.pl
    perl given.pl $* > $@

But it generates incorrect command:

perl given.pl pictures/1_data > pictures/1_data.tex

Is it possible to have a backreference only to 1, and not to the whole target? As $* does.

Answer 1

Use pattern rules:

all: $(patsubst ./data/%.pl,./pictures/%_data.tex,$(wildcard ./data/*.pl))

./pictures/%_data.tex : ./data/%.pl
        perl given.pl $* > $@