# Task inputs: add support for many directories as inputs

**URL:** <https://discuss.gradle.org/t/task-inputs-add-support-for-many-directories-as-inputs/12984>\
**Category:** Help/Discuss\
**Created:** [November 30, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/task-inputs-add-support-for-many-directories-as-inputs/12984 "2015-11-30T07:21:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Deepscorn](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/deepscorn/32/3761_2.png) [@Deepscorn](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Deepscorn)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/task-inputs-add-support-for-many-directories-as-inputs/12984/1 "2015-11-30T07:21:14Z")

</div>

We can write a task which have a directory as inputs, for example:

task unityImport {  
File inpDir = file(’…/MyBestGame/Assets’)  
inputs.dir inpDir  
outputs.dir file(‘src/main/assets/bin/Data’)  
\<…\>  
}

We can even define one or several files as inputs, using:  
inputs.file  
inputs.files  
But why there is no “inputs.dir **s** ”? Please, consider adding it.

PS: My usecase is as follows. I’m making a gradle task for importing Unity build into android and need to add one more directory. And I can’t just use game root directory - there are many locked files by Visual Studio and Unity and I don’t want to close them just to be able to build apk by gradle

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lance\_Java](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/lance_java/32/787_2.png) [@Lance\_Java](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/Lance_Java)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/task-inputs-add-support-for-many-directories-as-inputs/12984/2 "2015-12-01T00:05:40Z")

</div>

You can invoke `inputs.dir` multiple times

[https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/tasks/TaskInputs.html](https://docs.gradle.org/current/javadoc/org/gradle/api/tasks/TaskInputs.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![renatoathaydes](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/gradle/user_avatar/discuss.gradle.org/renatoathaydes/32/808_2.png) [@renatoathaydes](https://discuss.gradle.org/u/renatoathaydes)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2016, 9:18am UTC](https://discuss.gradle.org/t/task-inputs-add-support-for-many-directories-as-inputs/12984/3 "2016-10-01T09:18:40Z")

</div>

Why not just add `dirs()`? You’ve added `files()`, not having `dirs()` is just silly. And not having the `@InputDirectories` annotation is really annoying too.
