I created a simple build.xml based upon what you gave:
I created two jar files in the classpath, foo.jar and bar.jar. When I
run ant, I get the following output:
/Users/david$ ant
Buildfile: build.xml
compile:
[echo] b
Hello ant dev, commit, gurus and users, I have a strange element in a
build.xml file. The element is included below. Regardless of what I do to
remedy the situation the path is constructed with the single directory file
path token: webapps. For example if the project property basedir="." and th