how to replace string in file using msbuild?

Question

I want to replace a string such "how r u" in file test.xml with a string "i am fine" in another file xy.xml.using regular expression in ms build.

ie i have to read string from one file(xy.xml) and replace it in another file test.xml. so please provide necessary steps to solve this issue with example

csharptest.net · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-22 00:01:14Z

113

This is no longer required... you can now inject C# into the project/build file...

Define a custom task and parameters as follows:

<UsingTask TaskName="ReplaceFileText" TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0.dll">
  <ParameterGroup>
    <InputFilename ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
    <OutputFilename ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
    <MatchExpression ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
    <ReplacementText ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
  </ParameterGroup>
  <Task>
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Using Namespace="System" />
    <Using Namespace="System.IO" />
    <Using Namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions" />
    <Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs">
      <![CDATA[
            File.WriteAllText(
                OutputFilename,
                Regex.Replace(File.ReadAllText(InputFilename), MatchExpression, ReplacementText)
                );
          ]]>
    </Code>
  </Task>
</UsingTask>

Then simply call it like any other MSBuild task

<Target Name="AfterBuild">
  <ReplaceFileText 
    InputFilename="$(OutputPath)File.exe.config" 
    OutputFilename="$(OutputPath)File.exe.config" 
    MatchExpression="\$version\$" 
    ReplacementText="1.0.0.2" />
</Target>

The above example replaces "$version$" with "1.0.0.2" in the "File.exe.config" located in the output directory.

answered Mar 22, 2014 at 0:01

csharptest.net

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8 Comments

Kiquenet Over a year ago

How pass List<string> as parameter for do multiple replaces ?

Giulio Vian Over a year ago

See blogs.clariusconsulting.net/kzu/… for an enhanced version supporting Items and Regex options

CamHart Over a year ago

I had to add ToolsVersion="4.0" to my project tag in order to get it to look in the correct MSBuildToolsPath directory.

Zastai Over a year ago

Note that the version of MSBuild that comes with .NET Core does not support CodeTaskFactory, so this is not a portable solution.

Ondrej Janacek Over a year ago

For .NET Core just edit the UsingTask element to contain TaskFactory="RoslynCodeTaskFactory" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core.dll" instead.

|

Dmitriy Ivanov · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-29 08:09:13Z

25

There is very simple approach to just replace string in a file:

  <Target Name="Replace" AfterTargets="CoreCompile">
      <PropertyGroup>
          <InputFile>c:\input.txt</InputFile>
          <OutputFile>c:\output.txt</OutputFile>
      </PropertyGroup>
      <WriteLinesToFile
          File="$(OutputFile)"
          Lines="$([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText($(InputFile)).Replace('from','to'))"
          Overwrite="true"
          Encoding="Unicode"/>
  </Target>

See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/property-functions?view=vs-2019 to explore inlinable C# code. [System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex] included into the list.

answered Jun 29, 2020 at 8:09

Dmitriy Ivanov

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4 Comments

Jinjinov Over a year ago

Be careful with Encoding="Unicode"! For example, the default for app.config is Encoding="UTF-8" and it will not work with Unicode!

pschlz Over a year ago

Using Regex for replacing the version number:

<PropertyGroup>       <FilePath>Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs</FilePath> </PropertyGroup> <WriteLinesToFile       File="$(FilePath)"    Lines="$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Replace($([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('$(FilePath)')), 'AssemblyVersion\(&quot;\d+.\d+.\d+.\d+&quot;\)', 'AssemblyVersion(&quot;$(VersionTag)&quot;)'))"           Overwrite="true" />

Sorry for the bad formatting!

Hendrik Over a year ago

Love it! Can I also pass RegexOptions? I need RegexOptions.Multiline.

Hendrik Over a year ago

Answering my own question: yes, it's actuallly easy. Just pass "RegexOptions.Multiline" as a fourth parameter to Replace().

James · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-30 20:31:35Z

The answer from @csharptest.net is good, but it doesn't work on DotNetCore. I would have added this as a comment, but I don't have enough reputation.

On DotNetCore you have to update:

Task Factory to "RoslynCodeTaskFactory"
Task Assembly to "$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core.dll"
Remove the reference to "System.Core"
The consuming Target has to specify the "AfterTargets" attribute as "Build"

Everything else should be the same:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
  ...

  <UsingTask
    TaskName="ReplaceFileText"
    TaskFactory="RoslynCodeTaskFactory"
    AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core.dll">
    <ParameterGroup>
      <InputFilename ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
      <OutputFilename ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
      <MatchExpression ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
      <ReplacementText ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
    </ParameterGroup>
    <Task>
      <Using Namespace="System"/>
      <Using Namespace="System.IO"/>
      <Using Namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions" />
      <Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs">
        <![CDATA[  
          File.WriteAllText(
            OutputFilename,
            Regex.Replace(File.ReadAllText(InputFilename), MatchExpression, ReplacementText)
            );
        ]]>
      </Code>
    </Task>
  </UsingTask>

  <Target Name="AfterBuildStep" AfterTargets="Build">
    <ReplaceFileText
       InputFilename="$(OutputPath)File.exe.config" 
       OutputFilename="$(OutputPath)File.exe.config" 
       MatchExpression="\$version\$" 
       ReplacementText="1.0.0.2" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Ludwo · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-29 06:53:18Z

4

EDIT: This answer is obsolete. Use solution below...

Use ReadLinesFromFile task to get replacement string from the xy.xml file. Check this

Then use value from xy.xml as a replacement string for FileUpdate task. Check this

And put it all together ;)

edited May 29, 2017 at 6:53

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 11:36

Ludwo

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2 Comments

Nithin Over a year ago

i have to read a particular node with attribute name object from file and replace this node another one? how to handle this issue?

makhdumi Over a year ago

These tasks are from the MSBuildCommunityTasks project, which can be pretty undesirable to install for a simple task like this.

McX · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-14 15:34:52Z

If you prefer not using third party (community) binaries, nor embedding code into your msbuild project, I'd suggest creating a simple task library which implements File.WriteAllText and can later host other tasks :

using System.IO;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;

public class FileWriteAllText : Task
{
    [Required]
    public string Path { get; set; }
    [Required]
    public string Contents { get; set; }

    public override bool Execute()
    {
        File.WriteAllText(Path, Contents);
        return true;
    }
}

Then you can replace, append, etc. in msbuild :

<UsingTask TaskName="FileWriteAllText" AssemblyFile="MyTasks.dll" />
<FileWriteAllText Path="test.xml"
     Contents="$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Replace(
         $([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('test.xml')), 'how r u', 'i am fine'))" />

Tom · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-20 16:34:10Z

0

I ran the both replacements against same file that sits on a Unix drive and used the unc path to it \server\path...:

<ReplaceFileText
  InputFilename="$(fileToUpdate)"
  OutputFilename="$(fileToUpdate)"
  MatchExpression="15.0.0"
  ReplacementText="15.3.1"/>


<FileUpdate Files="$(fileToUpdate2)"
            Regex="15.0.0"
            ReplacementText="15.3.1" />

and the cs custom action above does not add the bom; however the FileUpdate did:

%head -2 branding.h branding2.h
==> branding.h <==
ï»¿#/* branding.h
#** This file captures common branding strings in a format usable by both sed and C-preprocessor.

==> branding2.h <==
#/* branding.h
#** This file captures common branding strings in a format usable by both sed and C-preprocessor.

Thanks csharptest.net - I was doing doing exec's with perl subtitute commands for unix builds.

answered Mar 20, 2015 at 16:34

Tom

1

1 Comment

csharptest.net Over a year ago

You can pass the encoding parameter to File.WriteAllText to add the BOM, but either way gets it done :)

vikas pachisia · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-27 18:44:49Z

0

An updated to answer from James

  <UsingTask TaskName="ReplaceTextInFiles" TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.$(VsBuildTaskBinarySuffix).dll">
<ParameterGroup>
  <MatchExpression ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
  <ReplacementExpression ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
  <InputFile ParameterType="Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem" Required="true" />      
  <IsTextReplaced ParameterType="System.Boolean"  Output="True"/>
</ParameterGroup>
<Task>
  <Reference Include="System.Core" />
  <Using Namespace="System" />
  <Using Namespace="System.IO" />
  <Using Namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions" />
  <Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs">
    <![CDATA[
      bool isMatchFound = false;
      string filecontent = "";
      string path = InputFile.ItemSpec;

      Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.High, "[ReplaceTextInFiles]: Match= " + MatchExpression);
      Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.High, "[ReplaceTextInFiles]: Replace= " + ReplacementExpression);

      IsTextReplaced = false;
      using(StreamReader rdr = new StreamReader(path))
      {
        filecontent = rdr.ReadToEnd();
        if (Regex.Match(filecontent, MatchExpression).Success)
        {
          filecontent = Regex.Replace(filecontent, MatchExpression, ReplacementExpression);
          isMatchFound = true;            
        }
      }

      if(isMatchFound){
        using(StreamWriter wrtr = new StreamWriter(path))
        {
          wrtr.Write(filecontent);
          IsTextReplaced = true;
          Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.Normal, "[ReplaceTextInFiles]: Replaced text in file:" + path);
        }
      }       
    ]]>
  </Code>
</Task>

answered May 27, 2020 at 18:44

vikas pachisia

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2 Comments

tronda Over a year ago

Given that you have changed the parameters from the James' example you should probably show how you are using this custom task. Are you missing a closing UsingTask tag?

vikas pachisia Over a year ago

looks like a lot has happened since I wrote the post. Also, a new approach is recommended on James answer. So please check that.

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