Is there a reason why: <property file="${specjbbScriptsHome}/specjbb.properties"/> <echo message="${timeoutSeconds.${level}}"/> doesn't work? this code: <property file="${specjbbScriptsHome}/specjbb.properties"/> <echo message="${timeoutSeconds.${level}}"/> <echo message="${timeoutSeconds.sanity}"/> <echo message="${level}"/> <echo message="${timeoutProperty}"/> and the contents in specjbb.properties: timeoutSeconds.sanity=10