dotnet sln

This article applies to: ✔️ .NET Core 3.1 SDK and later versions

Name

dotnet sln - Lists or modifies the projects in a .NET solution file.

Synopsis

dotnet sln [<SOLUTION_FILE>] [command]

dotnet sln [command] -h|--help

Description

The dotnet sln command provides a convenient way to list and modify projects in a solution file.

Create a solution file

To use the dotnet sln command, the solution file must already exist. If you need to create one, use the dotnet new command with the sln template name.

The following example creates a .sln file in the current folder, with the same name as the folder:

dotnet new sln

The following example creates a .sln file in the current folder, with the specified file name:

dotnet new sln --name MySolution

The following example creates a .sln file in the specified folder, with the same name as the folder:

dotnet new sln --output MySolution

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file to use. If this argument is omitted, the command searches the current directory for one. If it finds no solution file or multiple solution files, the command fails.

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

Commands

list

Lists all projects in a solution file.

Synopsis

dotnet sln list [-h|--help]

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file to use. If this argument is omitted, the command searches the current directory for one. If it finds no solution file or multiple solution files, the command fails.

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

add

Adds one or more projects to the solution file.

Synopsis

dotnet sln [<SOLUTION_FILE>] add [--in-root] [-s|--solution-folder <PATH>] <PROJECT_PATH> [<PROJECT_PATH>...]
dotnet sln add [-h|--help]

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file to use. If it is unspecified, the command searches the current directory for one and fails if there are multiple solution files.

• PROJECT_PATH

  The path to the project or projects to add to the solution. Unix/Linux shell globbing pattern expansions are processed correctly by the dotnet sln command.

  If PROJECT_PATH includes folders that contain the project folder, that portion of the path is used to create solution folders. For example, the following commands create a solution with myapp in solution folder folder1/folder2:

  dotnet new sln
  dotnet new console --output folder1/folder2/myapp
  dotnet sln add folder1/folder2/myapp
  

  You can override this default behavior by using the --in-root or the -s|--solution-folder <PATH> option.

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

• --in-root

  Places the projects in the root of the solution, rather than creating a solution folder. Can't be used with -s|--solution-folder.

• -s|--solution-folder <PATH>

  The destination solution folder path to add the projects to. Can't be used with --in-root.

remove

Removes a project or multiple projects from the solution file.

Synopsis

dotnet sln [<SOLUTION_FILE>] remove <PROJECT_PATH> [<PROJECT_PATH>...]
dotnet sln [<SOLUTION_FILE>] remove [-h|--help]

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file to use. If it is unspecified, the command searches the current directory for one and fails if there are multiple solution files.

• PROJECT_PATH

  The path to the project or projects to remove from the solution. Unix/Linux shell globbing pattern expansions are processed correctly by the dotnet sln command.

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

Examples

• List the projects in a solution:

  dotnet sln todo.sln list
  

• Add a C# project to a solution:

  dotnet sln add todo-app/todo-app.csproj
  

• Remove a C# project from a solution:

  dotnet sln remove todo-app/todo-app.csproj
  

• Add multiple C# projects to the root of a solution:

  dotnet sln todo.sln add todo-app/todo-app.csproj back-end/back-end.csproj --in-root
  

• Add multiple C# projects to a solution:

  dotnet sln todo.sln add todo-app/todo-app.csproj back-end/back-end.csproj
  

• Remove multiple C# projects from a solution:

  dotnet sln todo.sln remove todo-app/todo-app.csproj back-end/back-end.csproj
  

• Add multiple C# projects to a solution using a globbing pattern (Unix/Linux only):

  dotnet sln todo.sln add **/*.csproj
  

• Add multiple C# projects to a solution using a globbing pattern (Windows PowerShell only):

  dotnet sln todo.sln add (ls -r **/*.csproj)
  

• Remove multiple C# projects from a solution using a globbing pattern (Unix/Linux only):

  dotnet sln todo.sln remove **/*.csproj
  

• Remove multiple C# projects from a solution using a globbing pattern (Windows PowerShell only):

  dotnet sln todo.sln remove (ls -r **/*.csproj)
  

• Create a solution, a console app, and two class libraries. Add the projects to the solution, and use the --solution-folder option of dotnet sln to organize the class libraries into a solution folder.

  dotnet new sln -n mysolution
  dotnet new console -o myapp
  dotnet new classlib -o mylib1
  dotnet new classlib -o mylib2
  dotnet sln mysolution.sln add myapp\myapp.csproj
  dotnet sln mysolution.sln add mylib1\mylib1.csproj --solution-folder mylibs
  dotnet sln mysolution.sln add mylib2\mylib2.csproj --solution-folder mylibs
  

  The following screenshot shows the result in Visual Studio 2019 Solution Explorer:

  

See also

• dotnet/sdk GitHub repo (.NET CLI source)