Directory.GetFiles Method (String)
Returns the names of files (including their paths) in the specified directory.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Parameters
- path
- Type: System.String
The directory from which to retrieve the files.
Return Value
Type: System.String[]An array of the full names (including paths) for the files in the specified directory.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| IOException | path is a file name. -or- A network error has occurred. |
| UnauthorizedAccessException | The caller does not have the required permission. |
| ArgumentException | path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars. |
| ArgumentNullException | path is null. |
| PathTooLongException | The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length. For example, on Windows-based platforms, paths must be less than 248 characters and file names must be less than 260 characters. |
| DirectoryNotFoundException | The specified path is invalid (for example, it is on an unmapped drive). |
The EnumerateFiles and GetFiles methods differ as follows: When you use EnumerateFiles, you can start enumerating the collection of names before the whole collection is returned; when you use GetFiles, you must wait for the whole array of names to be returned before you can access the array. Therefore, when you are working with many files and directories, EnumerateFiles can be more efficient.
The returned file names are appended to the supplied path parameter.
If there are no files, this method returns an empty array.
This method is identical to GetFiles with the asterisk (*) specified as the search pattern.
The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.
The order of the returned file names is not guaranteed; use the Sort() method if a specific sort order is required.
The path parameter is not case-sensitive.
For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.
The following example demonstrates how to use the GetFiles method to return file names from a user-specified location. The example is configured to catch all errors common to this method.
// For Directory.GetFiles and Directory.GetDirectories // For File.Exists, Directory.Exists using System; using System.IO; using System.Collections; public class RecursiveFileProcessor { public static void Main(string[] args) { foreach(string path in args) { if(File.Exists(path)) { // This path is a file ProcessFile(path); } else if(Directory.Exists(path)) { // This path is a directory ProcessDirectory(path); } else { Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a valid file or directory.", path); } } } // Process all files in the directory passed in, recurse on any directories // that are found, and process the files they contain. public static void ProcessDirectory(string targetDirectory) { // Process the list of files found in the directory. string [] fileEntries = Directory.GetFiles(targetDirectory); foreach(string fileName in fileEntries) ProcessFile(fileName); // Recurse into subdirectories of this directory. string [] subdirectoryEntries = Directory.GetDirectories(targetDirectory); foreach(string subdirectory in subdirectoryEntries) ProcessDirectory(subdirectory); } // Insert logic for processing found files here. public static void ProcessFile(string path) { Console.WriteLine("Processed file '{0}'.", path); } }
- FileIOPermission
for access to path information for the current directory. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.PathDiscovery
Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.