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[Grunt homepage](https://github.com/gruntjs/grunt) | [Documentation table of contents](toc.md)
# concat (built-in task)
Concatenate one or more input files (and/or [directives](helpers_directives.md) output, like `<banner>`) into an output file.
## About
This task is a [multi task](types_of_tasks.md), meaning that grunt will automatically iterate over all `concat` targets if a target is not specified.
_Need some help getting started with grunt? Visit the [getting started](getting_started.md) page. And if you're creating your own tasks or helpers, be sure to check out the [types of tasks](types_of_tasks.md) page as well as the [API documentation](api.md)._
## A Very Important Note
Your `grunt.js` gruntfile **must** contain this code, once and **only** once. If it doesn't, grunt won't work. For the sake of brevity, this "wrapper" code has been omitted from all examples on this page, but it needs to be there.
```javascript module.exports = function(grunt) { // Your grunt code goes in here. }; ```
## Project configuration
This example shows a brief overview of the [grunt.js gruntfile](getting_started.md) config properties used by the `concat` task. For a more in-depth explanation, see the usage examples.
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ // Project metadata, used by the <banner> directive. meta: {}, // Lists of files to be concatenated. concat: {} }); ```
## Usage examples
### Concatenating multiple files
In this example, running `grunt concat:dist` (or `grunt concat` because `concat` is a [multi task](types_of_tasks.md)) will simply concatenate the three specified source files, in order, writing the output to `dist/built.js`.
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ concat: { dist: { src: ['src/intro.js', 'src/project.js', 'src/outro.js'], dest: 'dist/built.js' } } }); ```
With a slight modification, running `grunt concat` will join the specified source files using `;` instead of the default newline character.
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ concat: { dist: { src: ['src/intro.js', 'src/project.js', 'src/outro.js'], dest: 'dist/built.js', separator: ';' } } }); ```
### Banner comments
In this example, running `grunt concat:dist` (or `grunt concat` because `concat` is a [multi task](types_of_tasks.md)) will first strip any preexisting banner comment from the `src/project.js` file, then concatenate the result with a newly-generated banner comment, writing the output to `dist/built.js`.
This generated banner will be the contents of the `meta.banner` underscore template string interpolated with the config object. In this case, those properties are the values imported from the `package.json` file (which are available via the `pkg` config property) plus today's date.
_Note: you don't have to use an external JSON file. It's completely valid to create the `pkg` object inline in the config. That being said, if you already have a JSON file, you might as well reference it. See the [directives](helpers_directives.md) page for more information on the `<banner>` and `<json>` directives and their options._
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ pkg: '<json:package.json>', meta: { banner: '/*! <%= pkg.name %> - v<%= pkg.version %> - ' + '<%= grunt.template.today("yyyy-mm-dd") %> */' }, concat: { dist: { src: ['<banner>', '<file_strip_banner:src/project.js>'], dest: 'dist/built.js' } } }); ```
### Multiple build targets
In this example, running `grunt concat` will build two separate files. One "basic" version, with the main file essentially just copied to `dist/basic.js`, and another "with_extras" concatenated version written to `dist/with_extras.js`.
While each concat target can be built individually by running `grunt concat:basic` or `grunt concat:extras`, running `grunt concat` will build all concat targets. This is because `concat` is a [multi task](types_of_tasks.md).
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ concat: { basic: { src: ['src/main.js'], dest: 'dist/basic.js' }, extras: { src: ['src/main.js', 'src/extras.js'], dest: 'dist/with_extras.js' } } }); ```
### Dynamic filenames
Filenames can be generated dynamically by using `<%= %>` delimited underscore templates as filenames.
In this example, running `grunt concat:dist` generates a destination file whose name is generated from the `name` and `version` properties of the referenced `package.json` file (via the `pkg` config property).
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ pkg: '<json:package.json>', concat: { dist: { src: ['src/main.js'], dest: 'dist/<%= pkg.name %>-<%= pkg.version %>.js' } }, }); ```
### Advanced dynamic filenames
In this more involved example, running `grunt concat` will build two separate files (because `concat` is a [multi task](types_of_tasks.md)). The destination file paths will be expanded dynamically based on the specified underscore templates, recursively if necessary.
For example, if the `package.json` file contained `{"name": "awesome", "version": "1.0.0"}`, the files `dist/awesome/1.0.0/basic.js` and `dist/awesome/1.0.0/with_extras.js` would be generated.
```javascript // Project configuration. grunt.initConfig({ pkg: '<json:package.json>', dirs: { src: 'src/files', dest: 'dist/<%= pkg.name %>/<%= pkg.version %>' }, concat: { basic: { src: ['<%= dirs.src %>/main.js'], dest: '<%= dirs.dest %>/basic.js' }, extras: { src: ['<%= dirs.src %>/main.js', '<%= dirs.src %>/extras.js'], dest: '<%= dirs.dest %>/with_extras.js' } } }); ```
## Helpers
A generic `concat` helper is available for use in any other task where file and/or [directive](helpers_directives.md) concatenation might be useful. In this example, a `;` separator is specified, although it defaults to linefeed if omitted:
```javascript var fooPlusBar = grunt.helper('concat', ['foo.txt', 'bar.txt'], {separator: ';'}); ```
See the [concat task source](../tasks/concat.js) for more information.
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