MSBuild Item order when using wildcards

Question

When creating MSBuild Items from files using wildcards, such as,

<ItemGroup>
  <Scripts>$(ScriptsDirectory)\**\*.sql</Scripts>
</ItemGroup>

the files seem to always be sorted alphabetically by path.

However, is this sort order guaranteed - can I rely on it?

Answer 1

Yes, MSBuild will always sort alphabetically by path, in order to guarantee repeatability. (This is covered in my new book, "MSBuild Trickery")