Determines whether the specified file exists.
Namespace:
System.IO
Assembly:
mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Shared Function Exists ( _
path As String _
) As Boolean
Dim path As String
Dim returnValue As Boolean
returnValue = File.Exists(path)
public static bool Exists(
string path
)
public:
static bool Exists(
String^ path
)
public static function Exists(
path : String
) : boolean
Return Value
Type:
System..::.Boolean
true if the caller has the required permissions and path contains the name of an existing file; otherwise, false. This method also returns false if path is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), an invalid path, or a zero-length string. If the caller does not have sufficient permissions to read the specified file, no exception is thrown and the method returns false regardless of the existence of path.
The Exists method should not be used for path validation, this method merely checks if the file specified in path exists. Passing an invalid path to Existsl returns false.
Be aware that another process can potentially do something with the file in between the time you call the Exists method and perform another operation on the file, such as Delete.
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.
If path describes a directory, this method returns false. Trailing spaces are removed from the path parameter before determining if the file exists.
The following example determines if a file exists.
Dim curFile As String = "c:\temp\test.txt"
Console.WriteLine(If(File.Exists(curFile), "File exists.", "File does not exist."))
string curFile = @"c:\temp\test.txt";
Console.WriteLine(File.Exists(curFile) ? "File exists." : "File does not exist.");
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune
The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
.NET Framework
Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0
.NET Compact Framework
Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0
XNA Framework
Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
Reference
Other Resources