what is the use of #ifndefs

[Ahmed Soliman]

currently I started reading through the linux kernel and I started
reading liunx/include/linux/list.h> I understood some of the functions
but still I dont know what does these lines of code do
#ifndef _LINUX_LIST_H
#define _LINUX_LIST_H
which exist at the very beginning of the file
I also noticed that there is many similar ifndefs in almost any .h
file in the kernel
note that I understand wnat does ifndef do bu I dont understand what
goal is it supposed to achieve at the beginning of the headerfile