C# Compiler Options Listed by Category

The following compiler options are sorted by category. For an alphabetical list, see C# Compiler Options Listed Alphabetically.

Optimization

Option	Purpose
/filealign	Specifies the size of sections in the output file.
/optimize	Enables/disables optimizations.

Output Files

Option	Purpose
/doc	Specifies an XML file where processed documentation comments are to be written.
/out	Specifies the output file.
/pdb	Specifies the file name and location of the .pdb file.
/platform	Specify the output platform.
/preferreduilang	Specify a language for compiler output.
/target	Specifies the format of the output file using one of five options: /target:appcontainerexe, /target:exe, /target:library, /target:module, /target:winexe, or /target:winmdobj.

.NET Framework Assemblies

Option	Purpose
/addmodule	Specifies one or more modules to be part of this assembly.
/delaysign	Instructs the compiler to add the public key but to leave the assembly unsigned.
/keycontainer	Specifies the name of the cryptographic key container.
/keyfile	Specifies the filename containing the cryptographic key.
/lib	Specifies the location of assemblies referenced by means of /reference.
/nostdlib	Instructs the compiler not to import the standard library (mscorlib.dll).
/reference	Imports metadata from a file that contains an assembly.

Debugging/Error Checking

Option	Purpose
/bugreport	Creates a file that contains information that makes it easy to report a bug.
/checked	Specifies whether integer arithmetic that overflows the bounds of the data type will cause an exception at run time.
/debug	Instruct the compiler to emit debugging information.
/errorreport	Sets error reporting behavior.
/fullpaths	Specifies the absolute path to the file in compiler output.
/nowarn	Suppresses the compiler's generation of specified warnings.
/warn	Sets the warning level.
/warnaserror	Promotes warnings to errors.

Preprocessor

Option	Purpose
/define	Defines preprocessor symbols.

Resources

Option	Purpose
/link	Makes COM type information in specified assemblies available to the project.
/linkresource	Creates a link to a managed resource.
/resource	Embeds a .NET Framework resource into the output file.
/win32icon	Specifies an .ico file to insert into the output file.
/win32res	Specifies a Win32 resource to insert into the output file.

Miscellaneous

Option	Purpose
@	Specifies a response file.
/?	Lists compiler options to stdout.
/baseaddress	Specifies the preferred base address at which to load a DLL.
/codepage	Specifies the code page to use for all source code files in the compilation.
/help	Lists compiler options to stdout.
/highentropyva	Specifies that the executable file supports address space layout randomization (ASLR).
/langversion	Specifies what version of the language to use.
/main	Specifies the location of the Main method.
/noconfig	Instructs the compiler not to compile with csc.rsp.
/nologo	Suppresses compiler banner information.
/recurse	Searches subdirectories for source files to compile.
/subsystemversion	Specifies the minimum version of the subsystem that the executable file can use.
/unsafe	Enables compilation of code that uses the unsafe keyword.
/utf8output	Displays compiler output using UTF-8 encoding.

Obsolete Options

/incremental

Enables incremental compilation.