Directory.GetDirectories Method (String)
Gets the names of subdirectories (including their paths) in the specified directory.
Namespace: System.IO
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Parameters
- path
- Type: System.String
The path for which an array of subdirectory names is returned.
Return Value
Type: System.String[]An array of the full names (including paths) of subdirectories in the specified path.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| IOException | path is a file name. |
| DirectoryNotFoundException | The specified path is invalid (for example, it is on an unmapped drive). |
The EnumerateDirectories and GetDirectories methods differ as follows: When you use EnumerateDirectories, you can start enumerating the collection of names before the whole collection is returned; when you use GetDirectories, 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, EnumerateDirectories can be more efficient.
If there are no subdirectories, this method returns an empty array.
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.
This method is identical to GetDirectories(String, String) with the asterisk (*) specified as the search pattern, so it returns all subdirectories but searches only the top directory.
The names returned by this method are prefixed with the directory information provided in path.
The path parameter is not case-sensitive.
For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.
The following example takes an array of file or directory names on the command line, determines what kind of name it is, and processes it appropriately.
// 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 accessing 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.