FileSystemInfo.Attributes Property (System.IO)

Attributes Property

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

.NET Framework Class Library

FileSystemInfo..::.Attributes Property

Gets or sets the FileAttributes of the current FileSystemInfo.

Namespace: System.IO
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Property Attributes As FileAttributes

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As FileSystemInfo
Dim value As FileAttributes

value = instance.Attributes

instance.Attributes = value

public FileAttributes Attributes { get; set; }

Visual C++

public:
property FileAttributes Attributes {
    FileAttributes get ();
    void set (FileAttributes value);
}

JScript

public function get Attributes () : FileAttributes
public function set Attributes (value : FileAttributes)

Property Value

Type: System.IO..::.FileAttributes
FileAttributes of the current FileSystemInfo.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
FileNotFoundException	The specified file does not exist.
DirectoryNotFoundException	The specified path is invalid, such as being on an unmapped drive.
SecurityException	The caller does not have the required permission.
ArgumentException	The caller attempts to set an invalid file attribute.
IOException	Refresh cannot initialize the data.

Remarks

When first called, FileSystemInfo calls Refresh and returns the cached information on APIs to get attributes and so on. On subsequent calls, you must call Refresh to get the latest copy of the information.

The value of this property is a combination of the archive, compressed, directory, hidden, offline, read-only, system, and temporary file attribute flags.

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the Attributes property. This code example is part of a larger example provided for the FileSystemInfo class.

Visual Basic

Sub DisplayFileSystemInfoAttributes(ByVal fsi As IO.FileSystemInfo)
    ' Assume that this entry is a file.
    Dim entryType As String = "File"

    ' Determine if this entry is really a directory.
    If fsi.Attributes = FileAttributes.Directory Then
        entryType = "Directory"
    End If

    ' Show this entry's type, name, and creation date.
    Console.WriteLine("{0} entry {1} was created on {2:D}", _
        entryType, fsi.FullName, fsi.CreationTime)
End Sub

static void DisplayFileSystemInfoAttributes(FileSystemInfo fsi)
{
    //  Assume that this entry is a file.
    string entryType = "File";

    // Determine if entry is really a directory
    if (fsi.Attributes == FileAttributes.Directory)
    {
        entryType = "Directory";
    }
    //  Show this entry's type, name, and creation date.
    Console.WriteLine("{0} entry {1} was created on {2:D}", entryType, fsi.FullName, fsi.CreationTime);
}

.NET Framework Security

FileIOPermission
for writing files and directories. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess..::.Write Security action: Demand

Platforms

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.

Version Information

.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

FileSystemInfo Class

FileSystemInfo Members

System.IO Namespace

Other Resources

File and Stream I/O

How to: Read Text from a File

How to: Write Text to a File

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Annotations

Dealing with multiple attributes in one file

PolishPaul | Edit | Show History

The above example does only works if the file has only 1 attribute. If it has multiple attributes like (hidden | archive | system) this will not work:

file.attribute == FileAttributes.Hidden

since the file.attribute's value will be (hidden | archive | system).

The following code will work instead.

foreach (FileInfo file in fileList)

{

if ( ((file.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden) ||
( (file.Attributes &
FileAttributes.System) == FileAttributes.System) ||
( (file.Attributes &
FileAttributes.ReadOnly) == FileAttributes.ReadOnly) ||
( (file.Attributes &
FileAttributes.Directory) == FileAttributes.Directory) )
{
currentFileListTotalSize += file.Length;
}
}

This example looks to see if the file has one of the above attributes and will be true if just one of them exists.

So the first line:
(file.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden)
looks to see if the attribute HIDDEN is in the list of that particular file's attributes and if so, the statement returns "FileAttributes.Hidden" which can then be == to FileAttributes.Hidden as above, resulting in a TRUE value; Otherwise the result is 0.

Another simpler example:

if ( file.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden)
{
// file has a hidden attribute, but maybe others too
}else
{
// file does NOT have a hidded attribute, but may have others
}

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: attributes (x) file (x) multiple (x) Add a tag

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Dealing with multiple attributes in one file

PolishPaul | Edit | Show History

foreach (FileInfo file in fileList)

{

if ( ((file.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden) ||

( (file.Attributes &

FileAttributes.System) == FileAttributes.System) ||

( (file.Attributes &

FileAttributes.ReadOnly) == FileAttributes.ReadOnly) ||

( (file.Attributes &

FileAttributes.Directory) == FileAttributes.Directory) )

{
currentFileListTotalSize += file.Length;
}

}

This example looks to see if the file has one of the above attributes and will be true if just one of them exists.

So the first line:
(file.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden)
looks to see if the attribute HIDDEN is in the list of that particular file's attributes and if so, the statement returns "FileAttributes.Hidden" which can then be == to FileAttributes.Hidden as above, resulting in a TRUE value; Otherwise the result is 0.

Another simpler example:

if ( file.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden)
{
// file has a hidden attribute, but maybe others too
}else
{
// file does NOT have a hidded attribute, but may have others
}

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Working with Multiple Attributes in VB.NET by VBRocks

VBRocks | Edit | Show History

Here's an alternative approach:

'Get all of the files on the C:\

Dim fileList As IO.FileInfo() = New IO.DirectoryInfo("C:\").GetFiles()

'Stores a file's attributes as a string

Dim atts AsString = String.Empty

'Files marked as Hidden

'------------------------------

Debug.WriteLine("Files marked as Hidden")

Debug.WriteLine(NewString("-"c, 30))

'Loop through each file in the list (on C:\)

ForEach file As IO.FileInfo In fileList

'Get the file's attributes
atts = file.Attributes.ToString()

'View only Hidden Files
If atts.IndexOf(IO.FileAttributes.Hidden.ToString()) > -1 Then _
Debug.WriteLine(file.Name.PadRight(30) & file.Attributes.ToString())

'Files marked as Hidden, System or Archive

'------------------------------

Debug.WriteLine(System.Environment.NewLine)

Debug.WriteLine("Files marked as Hidden, System or Archive")

Debug.WriteLine(NewString("-"c, 30))

'Loop through each file in the list (on C:\)

ForEach file As IO.FileInfo In fileList

'Get the file's attributes
atts = file.Attributes.ToString()

'View Hidden, System, Archive (Use the enumerator's .ToString() method)
If atts.IndexOf(IO.FileAttributes.Hidden.ToString()) > -1 OrElse _
atts.IndexOf(IO.FileAttributes.System.ToString()) > -1 OrElse _
atts.IndexOf(IO.FileAttributes.Archive.ToString()) > -1 Then

Debug.WriteLine(file.Name.PadRight(30) & file.Attributes.ToString())

End If

Stop'View Output Window

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