Directory.GetFiles Method (String, String, SearchOption)
Returns the names of files (including their paths) that match the specified search pattern in the specified directory, using a value to determine whether to search subdirectories.
Namespace: System.IO
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
public static string[] GetFiles( string path, string searchPattern, SearchOption searchOption )
Parameters
- path
- Type: System.String
The directory 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) for the files in the specified directory that match the specified search pattern and option.
| 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. |
| DirectoryNotFoundException | The specified path is invalid (for example, it is on an unmapped drive). |
| 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. -or- A network error has occurred. |
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 file names include the full path.
If there are no files, or no files match the searchPattern parameter, this method returns an empty array.
The order of the returned file names is not guaranteed; use the Sort() method if a specific sort order is required.
The following wildcard specifiers are permitted in the searchPattern parameter.
Wildcard character | Description |
|---|---|
* | Zero or more characters. |
? | Exactly zero or 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".
 Note |
|---|
When using the asterisk wildcard character in a searchPattern, such as "*.txt", the matching behavior when the extension is exactly three characters long is different than when the extension is more or less than three characters long. A searchPattern with a file extension of exactly three characters returns files having an extension of three or more characters, where the first three characters match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. A searchPattern with a file extension of one, two, or more than three characters returns only files having extensions of exactly that length that match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. When using the question mark wildcard character, this method returns only files that match the specified file extension. For example, given two files, "file1.txt" and "file1.txtother", in a directory, a search pattern of "file?.txt" returns just the first file, while a search pattern of "file*.txt" returns both files. |
| Note |
|---|
Because this method checks against file names with both the 8.3 file name format and the long file name format, a search pattern similar to "*1*.txt" may return unexpected file names. For example, using a search pattern of "*1*.txt" returns "longfilename.txt" because the equivalent 8.3 file format is "LONGFI~1.TXT". |
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.
- 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.
