Java Tips - How to use Pathconvert task

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How to use Pathconvert task

Pathconvert

Description

Converts a nested <path> or reference to a Path, FileSet, DirSet, or FileList into a path form for a particular platform, and stores the result in a given property. It can also be used when you need to convert a Path, FileSet, or DirSet into a list, separated by a given character, such as a comma or space, or, conversely, to convert a list of files in a FileList into a path.

Nested <map> elements can be specified to map Windows drive letters to Unix paths, and vice-versa.

More complex transformations can be achieved using a nested <mapper> (since Ant 1.6.2).

Parameters

Attribute	Description	Required
targetos	The target architecture. Must be one of 'unix', 'windows', 'netware', 'tandem' or 'os/2'. This is a shorthand mechanism for specifying both `pathsep` and `dirsep` according to the specified target architecture.	No
dirsep	The character(s) to use as the directory separator in the generated paths.	No, defaults to current JVM `File.separator`
pathsep	The character(s) to use as the path-element separator in the generated paths.	No, defaults to current JVM `File.pathSeparator`
property	The name of the property in which to place the converted path.	Yes
refid	What to convert, given as a reference to a `<path>`, `<fileset>`, `<dirset>`, or `<filelist>` defined elsewhere	No; if omitted, a nested `<path>` element must be supplied.
setonempty	Should the property be set, even if the result is the empty string?	No; default is "true".

Parameters specified as nested elements

map

Specifies the mapping of path prefixes between Unix and Windows.

Attribute	Description	Required
from	The prefix to match. Note that this value is case-insensitive when the build is running on a Windows platform and case-sensitive when running on a Unix platform.	Yes
to	The replacement text to use when `from` is matched.	Yes

Each map element specifies a single replacement map to be applied to the elements of the path being processed. If no map entries are specified, then no path prefix mapping is performed.

Note: The map elements are applied in the order specified, and only the first matching map element is applied. So, the ordering of your map elements can be important, if any from values are prefixes of other from values.

path

If the refid attribute is not specified, then a nested <path> element must be supplied. See Path-like Structures for details.

mapper

A single nested <mapper> element can be specified to perform any of various filename transformations (since Ant 1.6.2).

Examples

In the examples below, assume that the ${wl.home} property has the value d:\weblogic, and ${wl.home.unix} has the value /weblogic.

Example 1

    <path id="wl.path">
      <pathelement location="${wl.home}/lib/weblogicaux.jar"/>
      <pathelement location="${wl.home}/classes"/>

      <pathelement location="${wl.home}/mssqlserver4/classes"/>
      <pathelement location="c:\winnt\System32"/>
    </path>
    
    <pathconvert targetos="unix" property="wl.path.unix" refid="wl.path">

      <map from="${wl.home}" to="${wl.home.unix}"/>
      <map from="c:" to=""/>
    </pathconvert>

will generate the path shown below and store it in the property named wl.path.unix.

/weblogic/lib/weblogicaux.jar:/weblogic/classes:
/weblogic/mssqlserver4/classes:/WINNT/SYSTEM32

Example 2

Given a FileList defined as:

  <filelist id="custom_tasks.jars"

        dir="${env.HOME}/ant/lib"
        files="njavac.jar,xproperty.jar"/>

then:

    <pathconvert targetos="unix" 
    property="custom_tasks.jars" 
    refid="custom_tasks.jars">

      <map from="${env.HOME}" to="/usr/local"/>
    </pathconvert>

will convert the list of files to the following Unix path:

/usr/local/ant/lib/njavac.jar:/usr/local/ant/lib/xproperty.jar

Example 3

    <fileset dir="${src.dir}" id="src.files">
      <include name="**/*.java"/>
    </fileset>

  
    <pathconvert pathsep="," property="javafiles" refid="src.files"/>

This example takes the set of files determined by the fileset (all files ending in .java), joins them together separated by commas, and places the resulting list into the property javafiles. The directory separator is not specified, so it defaults to the appropriate character for the current platform. Such a list could then be used in another task, like javadoc, that requires a comma separated list of files.

Source: Apache Ant