My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles Method

Visual Basic Language Reference

Returns a read-only collection of strings representing the names of files within a directory.

' Usage
Dim value As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String) = My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles(directory)
Dim value As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String) = My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles(directory ,searchType ,wildcards)
' Declaration
Public Function GetFiles( _
   ByVal directory As String _
) As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String)
' -or-
Public Function GetFiles( _
   ByVal directory As String, _
   ByVal searchType As SearchOption, _
   ByVal wildcards As String() _
) As System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection(Of String)

Parameters

directory: String. Directory to be searched. Required.
searchType: SearchOption Enumeration. Whether to include subfolders. Default is SearchOption.SearchTopLevelOnly. Required.
wildcards: String. Pattern to be matched. Required.

Return Value

Read-only collection of strings.

Exceptions

The following conditions may cause an exception:

The path is not valid for one of the following reasons: it is a zero-length string; it contains only white space; it contains invalid characters; or it is a device path (starts with \\.\) (ArgumentException).
The path is not valid because it is Nothing (ArgumentNullException).
directory does not exist (DirectoryNotFoundException).
directory points to an existing file (IOException).
The path exceeds the system-defined maximum length (PathTooLongException).
A file or directory name in the path contains a colon (:) or is in an invalid format (NotSupportedException).
The user lacks necessary permissions to view the path (SecurityException).
The user lacks necessary permissions (UnauthorizedAccessException).

Remarks

An empty collection is returned if no files matching the specified pattern are found.

Tasks

The following table lists examples of tasks involving the My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles method.

To	See
Get the collection of files in a directory	How to: Get the Collection of Files in a Directory in Visual Basic
Find files with a specific pattern in a directory	How to: Find Files with a Specific Pattern in Visual Basic

Example

The following example returns all files in the directory and adds them to ListBox1.

Visual Basic

For Each foundFile As String In My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles _
(My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments)
    ListBox1.Items.Add(foundFile)
Next

This example requires that you have a ListBox named ListBox1 on your form.

This example returns all files in the directory with the extension .dll and adds them to ListBox1.

Visual Basic

For Each foundFile As String In My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles _
      (My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments, _
       FileIO.SearchOption.SearchTopLevelOnly, "*.txt")
    ListBox1.Items.Add(foundFile)
Next

This example requires that you have a ListBox named ListBox1 on your form.

Requirements

Namespace: Microsoft.VisualBasic.MyServices

Class: FileSystemProxy (provides access to FileSystem)

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)