Directory.GetDirectories Method (String, String, SearchOption)
Gets the names of the subdirectories (including their paths) that match the specified search pattern in the current directory, and optionally searches subdirectories.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
public static string[] GetDirectories( string path, string searchPattern, SearchOption searchOption )
Parameters
- path
- Type: System.String
The path to search.
- searchPattern
- Type: System.String
The search string to match against the names of files in path. The parameter cannot end in two periods ("..") or contain two periods ("..") followed by DirectorySeparatorChar or AltDirectorySeparatorChar, nor can it contain any of the characters in InvalidPathChars.
- searchOption
- Type: System.IO.SearchOption
One of the enumeration values that specifies whether the search operation should include all subdirectories or only the current directory.
Return Value
Type: System.String[]An array of the full names (including paths) of the subdirectories that match the search pattern.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentException | path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars. -or- searchPattern does not contain a valid pattern. |
| ArgumentNullException | path or searchPattern is null. |
| ArgumentOutOfRangeException | searchOption is not a valid SearchOption value. |
| UnauthorizedAccessException | The caller does not have the required permission. |
| 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.
The following wildcard specifiers are permitted in the searchPattern parameter.
Wildcard character | Description |
|---|---|
* | Zero or more characters. |
? | Exactly one character. |
Characters other than the wildcard specifiers represent themselves. For example, the searchPattern string "*t" searches for all names in the path parameter ending with the letter "t". The searchPattern string "s*" searches for all names in path beginning with the letter "s".
If there are no subdirectories, or no subdirectories match the searchPattern parameter, 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.
The path parameter is not case-sensitive.
For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.
The following example counts the number of directories that begin with the specified letter in a path. Only the top-level directory is searched.
using System; using System.IO; class Test { public static void Main() { try { string[] dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(@"c:\", "p*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly); Console.WriteLine("The number of directories starting with p is {0}.", dirs.Length); foreach (string dir in dirs) { Console.WriteLine(dir); } } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString()); } } }
- 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.
