ANT filter token

ANT's default filtering placeholders are in the form :

@token@

where beginToken="@" and endToken="@" (see http://ant.apache.org/manual/CoreTypes/filterset.html)

As with maven, property files may have tokens in the form

${some.property}

Sadly the following: 

<copy file="${build.dir}/version.txt" toFile="${dist.dir}/version.txt">
  <filterset begintoken="${" endtoken="}">
    <filter token="DATE" value="${TODAY}"/>
  </filterset>
</copy>

will fail : "Syntax error in property: ${"

Solution:

<property name="dollar" value="$"/>
<copy file="${build.dir}/version.txt" toFile="${dist.dir}/version.txt">
  <filterset begintoken="${dollar}{" endtoken="}">
    <filter token="DATE" value="${TODAY}"/>
  </filterset>
</copy>