Specify basedir
<?xml version="1.0"?> <project name="Apache Ant Properties Project" default="properties.built-in" basedir="."> <target name="properties.built-in"> <echo message="The base directory: ${basedir}"/> <echo message="This file: ${ant.file}"/> <echo message="Ant version: ${ant.version}"/> <echo message="Project name: ${ant.project.name}"/> <echo message="Java version: ${ant.java.version}"/> </target> </project>