readlinesfromfile-task.md

title	ReadLinesFromFile Task
description	Learn how MSBuild uses the ReadLinesFromFile task to read a list of items from a text file. The file must have one item on each line.
ms.date	11/04/2016
ms.topic	reference
f1_keywords	http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003#ReadLinesFromFile
dev_langs	VB CSharp C++
helpviewer_keywords	MSBuild, ReadLinesFromFile task ReadLinesFromFile task [MSBuild]
author	ghogen
ms.author	ghogen
manager	mijacobs
ms.subservice	msbuild

ReadLinesFromFile task

Reads a list of items from a text file.

Parameters

The following table describes the parameters of the ReadLinesFromFile task.

Parameter	Description
File	Required xref:Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem parameter. Specifies the file to read. The file must have one item on each line.
Lines	Optional xref:Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem[] output parameter. Contains the lines read from the file.

Remarks

In addition to the parameters listed above, this task inherits parameters from the xref:Microsoft.Build.Tasks.TaskExtension class, which itself inherits from the xref:Microsoft.Build.Utilities.Task class. For a list of these additional parameters and their descriptions, see TaskExtension base class.

Example

The following example uses the ReadLinesFromFile task to create items from a list in a text file. The items read from the file are stored in the ItemsFromFile item collection.

<Project>

    <ItemGroup>
        <MyTextFile Include="Items.txt"/>
    </ItemGroup>

    <Target Name="ReadFromFile">
        <ReadLinesFromFile
            File="@(MyTextFile)" >
            <Output
                TaskParameter="Lines"
                ItemName="ItemsFromFile"/>
        </ReadLinesFromFile>
    </Target>

</Project>

See also

• Task reference
• MSBuild concepts
• Tasks