Skip to content

Add documentation for the dotnet build -t|--target option to dotnet-build.md. #53673

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
classyk12 wants to merge 6 commits into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+19 −2
Open

Add documentation for the dotnet build -t|--target option to dotnet-build.md. #53673

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
6 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
b68d637
documented -t for build options
classyk12 May 10, 2026
4f176ed
made code changes based on PR reviews
classyk12 May 11, 2026
f129879
updated examples for -t in build docs
classyk12 May 12, 2026
245209f
added docs update
classyk12 May 12, 2026
6b7bf2d
added build target link
classyk12 May 14, 2026
ed3a779
Apply suggestions from code review
gewarren May 18, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
21 changes: 19 additions & 2 deletions docs/core/tools/dotnet-build.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
---
title: dotnet build command
description: The dotnet build command builds a project and all of its dependencies.
ms.date: 09/24/2025
ms.date: 05/18/2026
---

# dotnet build

**This article applies to:** ✔️ .NET 6 SDK and later versions
Expand All @@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ dotnet build [<PROJECT>|<SOLUTION>|<FILE>] [-a|--arch <ARCHITECTURE>]
[--no-dependencies] [--no-incremental] [--no-restore] [--nologo]
[--no-self-contained] [-o|--output <OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>] [--os <OS>]
[-p|--property:<PROPERTYNAME>=<VALUE>] [-r|--runtime <RUNTIME_IDENTIFIER>]
[--sc|--self-contained] [--source <SOURCE>]
[--sc|--self-contained] [--source <SOURCE>] [-t|--target:<TARGET>]
[--tl:[auto|on|off]] [ --ucr|--use-current-runtime]
Comment thread
gewarren marked this conversation as resolved.
[-v|--verbosity <LEVEL>] [--version-suffix <VERSION_SUFFIX>]

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -155,6 +156,16 @@ Running `dotnet build` is equivalent to running `dotnet msbuild -restore`; howev

The URI of the NuGet package source to use during the restore operation.

- **`-t|--target:<TARGET>`**

Specifies one or more MSBuild targets to run during the build instead of the default target. Specify multiple targets by separating them with a semicolon or comma, or by repeating the option for each target. Corresponds to the MSBuild `-target` option. Common targets include `Build` (default), `Clean`, and `Rebuild`. For more information, see [MSBuild Targets](/visualstudio/msbuild/msbuild-targets).

Comment thread
classyk12 marked this conversation as resolved.
```dotnetcli
dotnet build -t:"Clean;RunTests"
dotnet build -t:Clean -t:GenerateApiClients
dotnet build -t:RunCodeGeneration
```
Comment thread
adegeo marked this conversation as resolved.
Comment thread
classyk12 marked this conversation as resolved.
Comment thread
classyk12 marked this conversation as resolved.

- [!INCLUDE [tl](includes/cli-tl.md)]

- [!INCLUDE [use-current-runtime](includes/cli-use-current-runtime.md)]
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -206,3 +217,9 @@ Running `dotnet build` is equivalent to running `dotnet msbuild -restore`; howev
```dotnetcli
dotnet build -p:Version=1.2.3.4
```

- Run the `Clean` target to remove previous build outputs:

```dotnetcli
dotnet build -t:Clean
```
Loading