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GetAttr Function

Visual Studio 2008

Returns a FileAttribute value representing the attributes of a file, directory, or folder.

The My feature gives you greater productivity and performance in file I/O operations than FileAttribute. For more information, see My.Computer.FileSystem Object.

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Public Function GetAttr(ByVal PathName As String) As FileAttribute

Parameters

PathName: Required. String expression that specifies a file, directory, or folder name. PathName can include the directory or folder, and the drive.

Return Value

The value returned by GetAttr is the sum of the following enumeration values:

Value	Constant	Description
Normal	vbNormal	Normal.
ReadOnly	vbReadOnly	Read-only.
Hidden	vbHidden	Hidden.
System	vbSystem	System file.
Directory	vbDirectory	Directory or folder.
Archive	vbArchive	File has changed since last backup.
Alias	vbAlias	File has a different name.

Note:
These enumerations are specified by the Visual Basic language. The names can be used anywhere in your code in place of the actual values.

Exceptions

Exception type	Error number	Condition
IOException	52	Pathname is invalid or contains wildcards.
FileNotFoundException	53	Target file does not exist.

See the "Error number" column if you are upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 applications that use unstructured error handling. (You can compare the error number against the Number Property (Err Object).) However, when possible, you should consider replacing such error control with Structured Exception Handling Overview for Visual Basic.

Remarks

To determine which attributes are set, use the And operator to perform a bitwise comparison of the value returned by the GetAttr function and the value of the individual file attribute you want. If the result is not zero, that attribute is set for the named file. For example, the return value of the following And expression is zero if the Archive attribute is not set:

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Result = GetAttr(FName) And vbArchive

A nonzero value is returned if the Archive attribute is set.

Example

This example uses the GetAttr function to determine the attributes of a file and directory or folder.

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Dim MyAttr As FileAttribute
' Assume file TESTFILE is normal and readonly.
MyAttr = GetAttr("C:\TESTFILE.txt")   ' Returns vbNormal.

' Test for normal.
If (MyAttr And FileAttribute.Normal) = FileAttribute.Normal Then
   MsgBox("This file is normal.")
End If

' Test for normal and readonly.
Dim normalReadonly As FileAttribute
normalReadonly = FileAttribute.Normal Or FileAttribute.ReadOnly
If (MyAttr And normalReadonly) = normalReadonly Then
   MsgBox("This file is normal and readonly.")
End If

' Assume MYDIR is a directory or folder.
MyAttr = GetAttr("C:\MYDIR")
If (MyAttr And FileAttribute.Directory) = FileAttribute.Directory Then
   MsgBox("MYDIR is a directory")
End If