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MSBuild Reference

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Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

MSBuild is the build system for Visual Studio. The following links lead to topics that contain MSBuild reference information.

In This Section

Project File Schema Reference
Describes the XML elements that make up the MSBuild file format.

Task Reference
Describes some of the typical tasks that are included with MSBuild.

Conditions
Describes the conditions that are available in MSBuild files.

Conditional Constructs
Describes how to use the Choose, When, and Otherwise elements.

MSBuild Reserved and Well-Known Properties
Describes the MSBuild reserved properties.

Common MSBuild Project Properties
Describes project properties that are common to all project types, and also properties that are often used by particular project types.

Common MSBuild Project Items
Describes project items that are common to all project types, and also items that are often used by particular project types.

Command-Line Reference
Describes the arguments and switches that can be used with MSBuild.exe.

.Targets Files
Describes the .Targets file that is included in MSBuild.

Well-known Item Metadata
Lists the metadata that is created together with every item.

Response Files
Explains the .rsp files that contain command-line switches.

Additional Resources
Provides links to MSBuild Web sites and newsgroups.

WPF MSBuild Reference
Contains an MSBuild targets and task reference for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Special Characters to Escape
Lists the characters that may have to be "escaped" to be interpreted correctly. An escape sequence is a series of characters that signifies that what follows is an alternative interpretation.

MSBuild Overview Introduces MSBuild and provides links to topics that explain how to use it to build projects.

Microsoft.Build.Conversion
Contains the Conversion namespace reference

Microsoft.Build.Evaluation
Contains the Evaluation namespace reference

Microsoft.Build.Execution
Contains the Execution namespace reference

Microsoft.Build.Framework
Contains the Framework namespace reference

Microsoft.Build.Logging
Contains the Logging namespace reference

Microsoft.Build.Tasks
Contains the Tasks namespace reference

Microsoft.Build.Utilities
Contains the Utilities namespace reference