Node: Output Section Discarding, Next: Output Section Attributes, Previous: Output Section Keywords, Up: SECTIONS

### Output Section Discarding

The linker will not create output section which do not have any contents. This is for convenience when referring to input sections that may or may not be present in any of the input files. For example:

         .foo { *(.foo) }

will only create a `.foo` section in the output file if there is a `.foo` section in at least one input file.

If you use anything other than an input section description as an output section command, such as a symbol assignment, then the output section will always be created, even if there are no matching input sections.

The special output section name `/DISCARD/` may be used to discard input sections. Any input sections which are assigned to an output section named `/DISCARD/` are not included in the output file.