Running a .cmd file from ANT

Question

Hi,

Is it possible to run a command (.cmd file) from Ant? Would I need to write Java code for this?

Thanks

Answer 1

You can do this by using the exec task. From the ant exec documentation:

Note that .bat files cannot in general by executed directly. One normally needs to execute the command shell executable cmd using the /c switch.

So you would need to do something like:

<exec executable="cmd">
  <arg value="/c"/>
  <arg value="batchfile.cmd"/>
</exec>

Note that by doing this you have created a dependency of running your ant script in windows.

Answer 2

<exec executable="cmd" os="Windows XP">
  <arg value="/C"/>
  <arg value="command to run"/>
</exec>