How do i check if a file is within any folder and all its subfolders in C#?

Question

I have this code

foreach (syncspec.Attribute attr in attributes)
{
      string fullPath = location + "\\" + attr.link;
      if (File.Exists(fullPath))
}

and i am checking a know location and an example fullpath is listed below

// fullPath = "C:\\Users\\matt\\Desktop\\shard\\all/file30005"

What i want to do is look in the all folder and any subfolders within the all folder...any ideas on how to achieve this

Similar problem and solution here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3994448/how-to-check-if-a-specific-file-exists-in-directory-or-any-of-its-subdirectories — Davio, May 15 '12 at 14:20

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered May 15 '12 at 14:20

4

System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(location, attr.link, SearchOption.AllDirectories);

Read more on GetFiles via MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143316

answered May 15 '12 at 14:20

roken

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '12 at 14:22

Your friend is

DirectoryInfo.GetFiles("filename", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

as in this example:

DirectoryInfo info = new DirectoryInfo(location);
FileInfo[] results = info.GetFiles(attr.Link, SearchOption.AllDirectories);
foreach(FileInfo fi in results)
    ....

See the MSDN docs for reference

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 15 '12 at 14:25

You can either use GetFiles(..) as suggested by the others or use a recursive method like this (fully working solution btw):

bool FileExists(string path, string filename)
{
  string fullPath = Path.Combine(path, filename);
  return File.Exists(fullPath) && Directory.GetDirectories(path).All(x => FileExists(x, filename));
}

Tigran · Answer 4 · 2012-05-15T14:47:22.703

1

First do not use simple concatenation on paths, but use Path.Combine:

string parentDirPath = Path.Combine(location , attr.link);

And second, for iterating over all sub-directories, can use

Directory.EnumerateDirectories

Example:

foreach (var dir in  Directory.EnumerateDirectories(parentDirPath))
{
     //do something here
}

edited May 15 '12 at 14:47

answered May 15 '12 at 14:28

Tigran

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Why do you use System.Environment.NewLine and not Path.Combine(location, attr.link)? – Brunner May 15 '12 at 14:42

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 15 '12 at 14:32

This solution is a bit heavier, but I use a variant of it because it allows you to catch any exceptions while searching and continue. GetFiles() will error out entirely if it encounters a directory that it does not have permissions to traverse.

Check this: Safe File Enumeration

How do i check if a file is within any folder and all its subfolders in C#?

5 Answers5