Visual C# - Compiler Options

Below are the list of commands/options available for the Visual C# compiler. These options can be used through the csc.exe executable available along with the .NET framework.

In general case, the executable will be under %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\<Framework-version>. In this path %SystemRoot% is the windows directory.

OUTPUT FILES

• /out:<file> - Specify output file name (default: base name of file with main class or first file)
• /target:exe - Build a console executable (default) (Short form: /t:exe)
• /target:winexe - Build a Windows executable (Short form: /t:winexe)
• /target:library - Build a library (Short form: /t:library)
• /target:module - Build a module that can be added to another assembly (Short form: /t:module)
• /target:appcontainerexe - Build an Appcontainer executable (Short form: /t:appcontainerexe)
• /target:winmdobj - Build a Windows Runtime intermediate file that is consumed by WinMDExp (Short form: /t:winmdobj)
• /doc:<file> - XML Documentation file to generate
• /platform:<string> - Limit which platforms this code can run on: x86, Itanium, x64, arm, anycpu32bitpreferred, or anycpu. The default is anycpu.

INPUT FILES

• /recurse:<wildcard> - Include all files in the current directory and subdirectories according to the wildcard specifications
• /reference:<alias>=<file> - Reference metadata from the specified assembly file using the given alias (Short form: /r)
• /reference:<file list> - Reference metadata from the specified assembly files (Short form: /r)
• /addmodule:<file list> - Link the specified modules into this assembly
• /link:<file list> - Embed metadata from the specified interop assembly files (Short form: /l)

RESOURCES

• /win32res:<file> - Specify a Win32 resource file (.res)
• /win32icon:<file> - Use this icon for the output
• /win32manifest:<file> - Specify a Win32 manifest file (.xml)
• /nowin32manifest - Do not include the default Win32 manifest
• /resource:<resinfo> - Embed the specified resource (Short form: /res)
• /linkresource:<resinfo> - Link the specified resource to this assembly (Short form: /linkres), Where the resinfo format is <file>[,<string name>[,public|private]]

CODE GENERATION

• /debug[+|-] - Emit debugging information
• /debug:{full|pdbonly} - Specify debugging type ('full' is default, and enables attaching a debugger to a running program)
• /optimize[+|-] - Enable optimizations (Short form: /o)

ERRORS AND WARNINGS

• /warnaserror[+|-] - Report all warnings as errors
• /warnaserror[+|-]:<warn list> - Report specific warnings as errors
• /warn:<n> - Set warning level (0-4) (Short form: /w)
• /nowarn:<warn list> - Disable specific warning messages

LANGUAGE

• /checked[+|-] - Generate overflow checks
• /unsafe[+|-] - Allow 'unsafe' code
• /define:<symbol list> - Define conditional compilation symbol(s) (Short form: /d)
• /langversion:<string> - Specify language version mode: ISO-1, ISO-2, 3, 4, 5, or Default

SECURITY

• /delaysign[+|-] - Delay-sign the assembly using only the public portion of the strong name key
• /keyfile:<file> - Specify a strong name key file
• /keycontainer:<string> - Specify a strong name key container
• /highentropyva[+|-] - Enable high-entropy ASLR

MISCELLANEOUS

• @<file> - Read response file for more options
• /help - Display this usage message (Short form: /?)
• /nologo - Suppress compiler copyright message
• /noconfig - Do not auto include CSC.RSP file

ADVANCED

• /baseaddress:<address> - Base address for the library to be built
• /bugreport:<file> - Create a 'Bug Report' file
• /codepage:<n> - Specify the codepage to use when opening source files
• /utf8output - Output compiler messages in UTF-8 encoding
• /main:<type> - Specify the type that contains the entry point (ignore all other possible entry points) (Short form: /m)
• /fullpaths - Compiler generates fully qualified paths
• /filealign:<n> - Specify the alignment used for output file sections
• /pdb:<file> - Specify debug information file name (default: output file name with .pdb extension)
• /errorendlocation - Output line and column of the end location of each error
• /preferreduilang - Specify the preferred output language name.
• /nostdlib[+|-] - Do not reference standard library (mscorlib.dll)
• /subsystemversion:<string> - Specify subsystem version of this assembly
• /lib:<file list> - Specify additional directories to search in for references
• /errorreport:<string> - Specify how to handle internal compiler errors: prompt, send, queue, or none. The default is queue.
• /appconfig:<file> - Specify an application configuration file containing assembly binding settings
• /moduleassemblyname:<string> - Name of the assembly which this module will be a part of