Question

How can I create a dynamic list of files in Ant, then save this list for later use in the build process? What I am thinking of is something like an immutable Fileset. Filelist won’t work since it doesn’t accept wildcards.

In other words, I want to create a list of files based on include/excludes wildcards that does not change once it’s created. That is, even if more files are added later that pass the inclusion/exclusion rules — I want to preserve the initial Fileset result (specifically for deletion later in the build process). Is this possible?

Answer 1

Well, here’s what I came up with. Store fileset to property using pathconvert. Then iterate over files later in the build, doing whatever you need to with them. In my case, deleting them.

<macrodef name="storeBuildState">
    <sequential>
        <fileset dir="${build.dir}" id="current.fileset">
            <include name="**/*.jar" />
        </fileset>

        <pathconvert pathsep="," property="current.fileset.prop" refid="current.fileset"/>
    </sequential>
</macrodef> 



<macrodef name="deleteStoredBuildState">
    <sequential>
        <for list="${current.fileset.prop}" param="file">
            <sequential>
                <delete file="@{file}" verbose="true" />
            </sequential>
        </for>
    </sequential>
</macrodef>