README_BODY.md

C# script tool

This is a repository of dotnet-csi which is an interactive tool for running C# scripts. It can installed as a command-line tool on Windows, Linux, or macOS.

Prerequisites

The tool requires .NET 6+ runtime.

Usage

Script runner

After installing tool you can use this tool to run C# scripts from the command line. dotnet-csi is available as a NuGet package.

Before installing dotnet-csi as a local tool dot not forget to create .NET local tool manifest file if it is not exist:

dotnet new tool-manifest

Install the tool and add to the local tool manifest:

dotnet tool install dotnet-csi

Or install the tool for the current user:

dotnet tool install dotnet-csi -g

Launch the tool in the interactive mode:

dotnet csi

Run a specified script with a given argument:

dotnet csi Samples/Scripts/hello.csx World 

Run a single script located in the MyDirectory directory:

dotnet csi Samples/Build

Usage:

dotnet csi [options] [--] [script] [script arguments]

Executes a script if specified, otherwise launches an interactive REPL (Read Eval Print Loop).

Supported arguments:

Option	Description	Alternative form
script	The path to the script file to run. If no such file is found, the command will treat it as a directory and look for a single script file inside that directory.
script arguments	Script arguments are accessible in a script via the global list Args[index] by an argument index.
--	Indicates that the remaining arguments should not be treated as options.
--help	Show how to use the command.	/?, -h, /h, /help
--version	Display the tool version.	/version
--source	Specify the NuGet package source to use. Supported formats: URL, or a UNC directory path.	-s, /s, /source
--property <key=value>	Define a key-value pair(s) for the script properties called Props, which is accessible in scripts.	-p, /property, /p
--property:<key=value>	Define a key-value pair(s) in MSBuild style for the script properties called Props, which is accessible in scripts.	-p:<key=value>, /property:<key=value>, /p:<key=value>, --property:key1=val1;key2=val2
@file	Read the response file for more options.

using HostApi; directive in a script allows you to use host API types without specifying the fully qualified namespace of these types.

.NET application

Install the C# script template CSharpInteractive.Templates

dotnet new -i CSharpInteractive.Templates

Create a console project "Build" containing a script from the template build

dotnet new build -o ./Build

This projects contains the script ./Build/Program.csx. To run this script from the command line from the directory Build:

dotnet csi Build

To run as a .NET console application:

dotnet run --project Build