Visual Basic compiler options listed by category

Article
09/15/2021

The Visual Basic command-line compiler is provided as an alternative to compiling programs from within the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE). The following is a list of the Visual Basic command-line compiler options sorted by functional category.

Every compiler option is available in two forms: -option and /option. The documentation only shows the -option form.

Compiler output

Option	Purpose
-nologo	Suppresses compiler banner information.
-utf8output	Displays compiler output using UTF-8 encoding.
-verbose	Outputs extra information during compilation.
`-modulename:<string>`	Specify the name of the source module
-preferreduilang	Specify a language for compiler output.

Optimization

Option	Purpose
-filealign	Specifies where to align the sections of the output file.
-optimize	Enables/disables optimizations.

Output files

Option	Purpose
-doc	Process documentation comments to an XML file.
-deterministic	Causes the compiler to output an assembly whose binary content is identical across compilations if inputs are identical.
-netcf	Sets the compiler to target the .NET Compact Framework.
-out	Specifies an output file.
-refonly	Outputs only a reference assembly.
-refout	Specifies the output path of a reference assembly.
-target	Specifies the format of the output.

.NET assemblies

Option	Purpose
-addmodule	Causes the compiler to make all type information from the specified file(s) available to the project you are currently compiling.
-delaysign	Specifies whether the assembly will be fully or partially signed.
-imports	Imports a namespace from a specified assembly.
-keycontainer	Specifies a key container name for a key pair to give an assembly a strong name.
-keyfile	Specifies a file containing a key or key pair to give an assembly a strong name.
-libpath	Specifies the location of assemblies referenced by the -reference option.
-reference	Imports metadata from an assembly.
-moduleassemblyname	Specifies the name of the assembly that a module will be a part of.
`-analyzer`	Run the analyzers from this assembly (Short form: -a)
`-additionalfile`	Names additional files that don't directly affect code generation but may be used by analyzers for producing errors or warnings.

Debugging/error checking

Option	Purpose
-bugreport	Creates a file that contains information that makes it easy to report a bug.
-debug	Produces debugging information.
-nowarn	Suppresses the compiler's ability to generate warnings.
-quiet	Prevents the compiler from displaying code for syntax-related errors and warnings.
-removeintchecks	Disables integer overflow checking.
-warnaserror	Promotes warnings to errors.
`-ruleset:<file>`	Specify a ruleset file that disables specific diagnostics.

Help

Option	Purpose
-?	Displays the compiler options. This command is the same as specifying the `-help` option. No compilation occurs.
-help	Displays the compiler options. This command is the same as specifying the `-?` option. No compilation occurs.

Language

Option	Purpose
-langversion	Specify language version: 9\|9.0\|10\|10.0\|11\|11.0.
-optionexplicit	Enforces explicit declaration of variables.
-optionstrict	Enforces strict type semantics.
-optioncompare	Specifies whether string comparisons should be binary or use locale-specific text semantics.
-optioninfer	Enables the use of local type inference in variable declarations.

Preprocessor

Option	Purpose
-define	Defines symbols for conditional compilation.

Resources

Option	Purpose
-linkresource	Creates a link to a managed resource.
-resource	Embeds a managed resource in an assembly.
-win32icon	Inserts an .ico file into the output file.
-win32resource	Inserts a Win32 resource into the output file.

Miscellaneous

Option	Purpose
@ (Specify Response File)	Specifies a response file.
-baseaddress	Specifies the base address of a DLL.
-codepage	Specifies the code page to use for all source code files in the compilation.
-errorreport	Specifies how the Visual Basic compiler should report internal compiler errors.
-highentropyva	Tells the Windows kernel whether a particular executable supports high entropy Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR).
-main	Specifies the class that contains the `Sub Main` procedure to use at startup.
-noconfig	Do not compile with Vbc.rsp
-nostdlib	Causes the compiler not to reference the standard libraries.
-nowin32manifest	Instructs the compiler not to embed any application manifest into the executable file.
-platform	Specifies the processor platform the compiler targets for the output file.
-recurse	Searches subdirectories for source files to compile.
-rootnamespace	Specifies a namespace for all type declarations.
-sdkpath	Specifies the location of Mscorlib.dll and Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll.
-vbruntime	Specifies that the compiler should compile without a reference to the Visual Basic Runtime Library, or with a reference to a specific runtime library.
-win32manifest	Identifies a user-defined Win32 application manifest file to be embedded into a project's portable executable (PE) file.
`-parallel[+\|-]`	Specifies whether to use concurrent build (+).
`-checksumalgorithm:<alg>`	Specify the algorithm for calculating the source file checksum stored in PDB. Supported values are: SHA1 (default) or SHA256. Due to collision problems with SHA1, Microsoft recommends SHA256 or better.