Why apktool is not decoding versionCode and versionName?

Question

I'm using apktool using the following command

apktool decode "[APK PATH]"

For some reason the decoded androidmanifest.xml doesn't contain attributes versionCode and versionName. I know they are there on the original file since, if I open the encoded file, I can see the attribute in the middle of the encrypted text.

I need to verify if the versionCode is automatically updated by gradle after implementing some code to do this.

Answer 1

it is saved to another file. as I remember, some extension with .yml. when you again encode the package, apktool command uses this file for versionCode