How to build the project to specific folder with visual studio command line tools?

Question

I've got this simplified folders structure for c++ project named project_name.

project_name
    -build
    -headers
    -sources 
    -resources

If I do cl /EHsc /W4 sources/source1.cpp sources/source2.cpp /link /out:project_name ... it creates build files in current directory only which is project_name, resulting this:

project_name
    -build
    -headers
    -sources 
    -resources
     project_name.exe         
     source1.obj
     source2.obj
     etc

What I want is to specify the folder where all the build files have to be placed, in my case in a build folder.

What options are needed for cl or link to do that that from project_name directory ?

Did you read [this](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f35ctcxw.aspx) and especially [this](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/610ecb4h.aspx) and [this](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y0zzbyt4.aspx) arcticles? — mvidelgauz, Jun 25 '16 at 12:14
@mvidelgauz what's the reason for downvoting my question ?? Yes I did read those articles — ampawd, Jun 25 '16 at 12:19
The reason downvoting in this case is _"question does not show any research effort"_. I think those articles (found in few seconds) clearly answer your question — mvidelgauz, Jun 25 '16 at 12:23
@mvidelgauz you are wroung, if they answer my question I woudn't have posted it here on so. The research effort can be achieved by thinking of a solution to my problem — ampawd, Jun 25 '16 at 12:28
You specified output for linker only, but not for `cl` - that's why .obj files are in root. Read [this](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yb8e9b8y.aspx). And for other output files read [this](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f1cb223a.aspx) — mvidelgauz, Jun 25 '16 at 12:29
@mvidelgauz That is the *actual* answer to this question; you should post it as one. — Cody Gray - on strike, Jun 25 '16 at 13:15
@CodyGray The answer given by yngum is better (that's me who upvoted it) if we think about ***actual solution for the problem***. My answer is more formal and more to explain OP why I downvoted this question — mvidelgauz, Jun 25 '16 at 14:30

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 25 '16 at 12:25

Place a .bat file in your project directory and use that to build your project.

pushd %~dp0/build
cl %~dp0/sources/source1.cpp %~dp0/sources/source2.cpp
popd

%~dp0 automatically expands to full path of your project directory so you can execute this .bat file from anywhere.

How to build the project to specific folder with visual studio command line tools?

1 Answers1