get a list of directories with apache ant

[Ellen fish]

any one know how to get a list of directories file and file size with apache ant similar to "ls -la".
I need it quite urgent.
Thank you very very much.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Ellen,
What are you dong with that data? Writing to a file or something else?

If you have to, you could use the exec task to run ls. There might be a better way depending on what you are planning to do with the output though.

[Ellen fish]

Thank you very very much,

Right now I have a program print out current directories, I'm try to figure out how can I make a loop and print out folders and files under each folder?
I also want to distinguish the path difference for folder and files.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again

<target name="test">
<exec dir="${src.dir}" executable="ls" output="dir.txt">
<arg line="-la" ></arg>
</exec>
</target>

I'm trying to work out if command "find" will work for me in both unix and windows.
and also the "dir" command, but couldn't get it to work.
<target name="test">
<exec dir="${src.dir}" executable="dir" output="dir.txt">
<arg line="* /s" ></arg>
</exec>
</target>


[ November 28, 2008: Message edited by: Ellen fish ]
[ November 28, 2008: Message edited by: Ellen fish ]

[Peter Johnson]

I think that Ant is the wrong tool for this job because it has no built-in support for this sort of thing. Perhaps a simple Java app would be better suited for your purposes. Or if you are adventurous you could look into writing an Ant task to do the job.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Ellen,
I agree with Peter. Ant is a build tool. Trying to make it do much more than that is just awkward.

[Peter Johnson]

Ellen, are you by any chance trying to migrate from using makefiles to using Ant scripts? I ask because some of the questions you are asking remind me of the types of questions I asked when I made that same transition. If so, I recommend that you first learn how to do things the Ant way (for that I highly recommend the book Ant in Action) and start off with simple build scripts to learn how Ant works. I know that when I made that transition that it took me a while, and many Ant scrips, to get accustomed to doing things the Ant way. When I now look at some of the earlier Ant scripts I wrote I am thoroughly embarrassed by what a mess they are.