How to put double quotes in VS2010 post build step

buildmacrosmsbuildquotingvisual studio 2010

I'm trying to create a post build file copy step in VS2010 which handles path macros when they have embedded spaces. I've tried surrounding the copy commands in double quotes but I get error from when copy is invoked if $(SolutionDir) contains a space. the echoed command line in the error message does not show the double quotes.

copy "$(SolutionDir)$(Configuration)\*" "$(TargetDir)"

I also tried separately \" and "" but both of these cause the 2 character escape sequence to appear in the echoed command line? How does one properly escape a double quote in a build step?

Best Answer

I was having trouble using double quotes with a pre-build event command in Visual Studio. I have seen the batch file solutions to this problem, but it seems a batch file would not solve all problems and is not elegant. I found the solution was to put a space before the closing double quote. The details are as follows.

The following command worked, but would not support spaces in the path:

subwcrev $(SolutionDir) $(SolutionDir)subwcrev_template.txt $(SolutionDir)version.h

I have little control over where other developers will place the solution, so I had to support spaces in the path. Trying to use quotes around paths to support spaces, I came up with the following command. It always fails.

subwcrev "$(SolutionDir)" "$(SolutionDir)subwcrev_template.txt" "$(SolutionDir)version.h"

Almost by accident, I found the solution, put a space between the last character of the path and the double quote.

subwcrev "$(SolutionDir) " "$(SolutionDir)subwcrev_template.txt " "$(SolutionDir)version.h "

This worked. I tested this in AVR Studio 6.1, which uses a Visual Studio Shell.

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