# Ant User Manual

## PatternSet

Patterns can be grouped to sets and later be referenced by their `id` attribute. They are defined via a `patternset` element, which can appear nested into a FileSet or a directory-based task that constitutes an implicit FileSet. In addition, `patternset`s can be defined at the same level as `target` — i.e., as children of `project`.

Patterns can be specified by nested `<include>` or `<exclude>` elements or the following attributes.

Attribute | Description
includes | comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be included. All files are included when omitted.
includesfile | the name of a file; each line of this file is taken to be an include pattern.
excludes | comma-separated list of patterns of files that must be excluded; no files (except default excludes) are excluded when omitted.
excludesfile | the name of a file; each line of this file is taken to be an exclude pattern.

#### Examples

>     <patternset id="non.test.sources" >
>       <include name="**/*.java"/>
>       <exclude name="**/*Test*"/>
>     </patternset>

Builds a set of patterns that matches all `.java` files that do not contain the text `Test` in their name. This set can be referred to via `<patternset refid="non.test.sources"/>`, by tasks that support this feature, or by FileSets.

Note that while the `includes` and `excludes` attributes accept multiple elements separated by commas or spaces, the nested <include> and <exclude> elements expect their name attribute to hold a single pattern.

The nested <include> and <exclude> elements allow you to use if and unless arguments to specify that the element should only be used if a property is set, or that it should be used only if a property is not set.

For example

>     <patternset id="sources" >
>       <include name="std/**/*.java"/>
>       <include name="prof/**/*.java" if="professional"/>
>       <exclude name="**/*Test*"/>
>     </patternset>

will only include the files in the sub-directory prof if the property professional is set to some value.

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