Directory Class

Use the Directory class for typical operations such as copying, moving, renaming, creating, and deleting directories. You can also use the Directory class to get and set DateTime information related to the creation, access, and writing of a directory.

Because all Directory methods are static, it might be more efficient to use a Directory method rather than a corresponding DirectoryInfo instance method if you want to perform only one action. Most Directory methods require the path to the directory that you are manipulating.

The static methods of the Directory class perform security checks on all methods. If you are going to reuse an object several times, consider using the corresponding instance method of DirectoryInfo instead, because the security check will not always be necessary.

Note

In members that accept a path as an input string, that path must be well-formed or an exception is raised; however, if a path is fully qualified but begins with a space, the space is not omitted but no exception is raised. Similarly, a path or a combination of paths cannot be fully qualified twice. For example, "c:\temp c:\windows" also raises an exception in most cases. Ensure that your paths are well-formed when using methods that accept a path string.

In members that accept a path, the path can refer to a file or just a directory. The specified path can also refer to a relative path or a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path for a server and share name. For example, all the following are acceptable paths:

• "c:\\MyDir" in C#, or "c:\MyDir" in Visual Basic.

• "MyDir\\MySubdir" in C#, or "MyDir\MySubDir" in Visual Basic.

• "\\\\MyServer\\MyShare" in C#, or "\\MyServer\MyShare" in Visual Basic.

By default, full read/write access to new directories is granted to all users. Demanding permission for a directory where the path string ends with the directory separator character results in demanding permissions for all the contained subdirectories (for example, "C:\Temp\"). If permissions are required only for a specific directory, the string should end with a period (for example, "C:\Temp\.").

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

The following example shows how to retrieve all the text files from a directory and move them to a new directory. After the files are moved, they no longer exist in the original directory.

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace ConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string sourceDirectory = @"C:\current";
            string archiveDirectory = @"C:\archive";

            try
            {
                var txtFiles = Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourceDirectory, "*.txt");

                foreach (string currentFile in txtFiles)
                {
                    string fileName = currentFile.Substring(sourceDirectory.Length + 1);
                    Directory.Move(currentFile, Path.Combine(archiveDirectory, fileName));
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

The following example demonstrates how to use the EnumerateFiles method to retrieve a collection of text files from a directory, and then use that collection in a query to find all the lines that contain "Example".

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;

namespace ConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string archiveDirectory = @"C:\archive";

            var files = from retrievedFile in Directory.EnumerateFiles(archiveDirectory, "*.txt", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
                        from line in File.ReadLines(retrievedFile)
                        where line.Contains("Example")
                        select new
                        {
                            File = retrievedFile,
                            Line = line
                        };

            foreach (var f in files)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("{0} contains {1}", f.File, f.Line);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("{0} lines found.", files.Count().ToString());
        }
    }
}

The following example demonstrates how to move a directory and all its files to a new directory. The original directory no longer exists after it has been moved.

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace ConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string sourceDirectory = @"C:\source";
            string destinationDirectory = @"C:\destination";

            try
            {
                Directory.Move(sourceDirectory, destinationDirectory);  
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

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.

Reference

Other Resources