Difference between build, rebuild, and clean

[steve_rm]

Hello,

I am using VS 2005 and I am wondering what is the difference between build, rebuild, and clean.

Many thanks,

Steve

[jmcilhinney]

I just opened my MSDN library, changed the filter to Visual Studio and entered clean into the index. Near the top of the list was a topic entitled Clean Solution command. I clicked it and it took me to a topic named "How to: Prepare and Manage Builds" that included a description of the commands on the Build menu. From go to woah it took about 10 seconds. I'm fairly sure that one day soon someone will believe me that MSDN is easy to use and contains almost all the information a .NET developer needs.

Choose Build or Build Solution to compile only those project files and components that have changed since the last build.
Choose Rebuild Solution to "clean" the solution first, and then build all project files and components.
Choose Clean Solution to delete any intermediate and output files, leaving only the project and component files, from which new instances of the intermediate and output files can then be built.

[ponvanaraja]

Build means compile and link only the source files that have changed since the last build, while Rebuild means compile and link all source files regardless of whether they changed or not. Build is the normal thing to do and is faster. Sometimes the versions of project target components can get out of sync and rebuild is necessary to make the build successful. In practice, you never need to Clean.

[jmcilhinney]

Build means compile and link only the source files that have changed since the last build, while Rebuild means compile and link all source files regardless of whether they changed or not. Build is the normal thing to do and is faster. Sometimes the versions of project target components can get out of sync and rebuild is necessary to make the build successful. In practice, you never need to Clean.

Welcome to the forums, but dredging up a 2 year old thread and essentially repeating what had already been said is a bit of an inauspicious start to your time here.