Provides attributes for files and directories.
This enumeration has a FlagsAttribute attribute that allows a bitwise combination of its member values.
Namespace:
System.IO
Assembly:
mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
<SerializableAttribute> _
<FlagsAttribute> _
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
Public Enumeration FileAttributes
Dim instance As FileAttributes
[SerializableAttribute]
[FlagsAttribute]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public enum FileAttributes
[SerializableAttribute]
[FlagsAttribute]
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
public enum class FileAttributes
public enum FileAttributes
| Member name | Description |
|---|
.gif) .gif) | ReadOnly | The file is read-only. |
| Hidden | The file is hidden, and thus is not included in an ordinary directory listing. |
| System | The file is a system file. The file is part of the operating system or is used exclusively by the operating system. |
| Directory | The file is a directory. |
| Archive | The file's archive status. Applications use this attribute to mark files for backup or removal. |
| Device | Reserved for future use. |
| Normal | The file is normal and has no other attributes set. This attribute is valid only if used alone. |
| Temporary | The file is temporary. File systems attempt to keep all of the data in memory for quicker access rather than flushing the data back to mass storage. A temporary file should be deleted by the application as soon as it is no longer needed. |
| SparseFile | The file is a sparse file. Sparse files are typically large files whose data are mostly zeros. |
| ReparsePoint | The file contains a reparse point, which is a block of user-defined data associated with a file or a directory. |
| Compressed | The file is compressed. |
| Offline | The file is offline. The data of the file is not immediately available. |
| NotContentIndexed | The file will not be indexed by the operating system's content indexing service. |
| Encrypted | The file or directory is encrypted. For a file, this means that all data in the file is encrypted. For a directory, this means that encryption is the default for newly created files and directories. |
For an example of creating a file and writing text to a file, see How to: Write Text to a File. For an example of reading text from a file, see How to: Read Text from a File. For an example of reading from and writing to a binary file, see How to: Read and Write to a Newly Created Data File.
All these attributes correspond to those in WinNT.h. Not all attributes are applicable to both files and directories.
It is not possible to change the compression status of a File object using the SetAttributes method.
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