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, or migrates the file to an .slnx file.

Synopsis

.NET CLI

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:

.NET CLI

dotnet new sln

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

.NET CLI

dotnet new sln --name MySolution

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

.NET CLI

dotnet new sln --output MySolution

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file to use (either an .sln or .slnx file).

  If unspecified, the command searches the current directory for an .sln or .slnx file and, if it finds exactly one, uses that file. If multiple solution files are found, the user is prompted to specify a file explicitly. If none are found, the command fails.

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

Commands

The following commands are available:

• list
• add
• remove
• migrate

list

Lists all projects in a solution file.

Synopsis

.NET CLI

dotnet sln list [-h|--help]

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file (.sln or .slnx file) or solution filter (.slnf file) to use.

  If unspecified, the command searches the current directory for an .sln, .slnx, or .slnf file and, if it finds exactly one, uses that file. If multiple solution files or filters are found, the user is prompted to specify a file explicitly. If none are found, the command fails.

  (Support for .slnf files was added in .NET SDK 9.0.3xx.)

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

add

Adds one or more projects to the solution file.

Synopsis

.NET CLI

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 (either an .sln or .slnx file).

  If unspecified, the command searches the current directory for an .sln or .slnx file and, if it finds exactly one, uses that file. If multiple solution files are found, the user is prompted to specify a file explicitly. If none are found, the command fails.

• 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:

  .NET CLI

  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

.NET CLI

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

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The solution file to use (either an .sln or .slnx file).

  If unspecified, the command searches the current directory for an .sln or .slnx file and, if it finds exactly one, uses that file. If multiple solution files are found, the user is prompted to specify a file explicitly. If none are found, the command fails.

• PROJECT_PATH or PROJECT_NAME

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

  If a project name is provided instead of a path, the project in the solution that matches the name, regardless of its path, is removed. If more than one matching project is found in the solution, the command errors out. Omit the project file extension in the name. (Support for removing projects by name was added in .NET 10.)

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

migrate

Generates an .slnx solution file from an .sln file.

Synopsis

.NET CLI

dotnet sln [<SOLUTION_FILE>] migrate
dotnet sln [<SOLUTION_FILE>] migrate [-h|--help]

Arguments

• SOLUTION_FILE

  The .sln solution file to migrate.

  If unspecified, the command searches the current directory for an .sln file and, if it finds exactly one, uses that file. If multiple .sln files are found, the user is prompted to specify a file explicitly. If none are found, the command fails.

  If you specify an .slnx file instead of an .sln file, or if an .slnx file with the same file name (minus the .sln extension) already exists in the directory, the command fails.

Options

• -?|-h|--help

  Prints out a description of how to use the command.

Examples

• List the projects in a solution:

  .NET CLI

  dotnet sln todo.slnx list
  

• Add a C# project to a solution:

  .NET CLI

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

• Remove a C# project from a solution:

  .NET CLI

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

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

  .NET CLI

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

• Add multiple C# projects to a solution:

  .NET CLI

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

• Remove multiple C# projects from a solution:

  .NET CLI

  dotnet sln todo.slnx 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):

  .NET CLI

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

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

  .NET CLI

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

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

  .NET CLI

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

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

  .NET CLI

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

• Generate an .slnx file from a .sln file:

  .NET CLI

  dotnet sln todo.sln migrate
  

• 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.

  .NET CLI

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