FileInfo Class

Use the FileInfo class for typical operations such as copying, moving, renaming, creating, opening, deleting, and appending to files.

If you are performing multiple operations on the same file, it can be more efficient to use FileInfo instance methods instead of the corresponding static methods of the File class, because a security check will not always be necessary.

Many of the FileInfo methods return other I/O types when you create or open files. You can use these other types to further manipulate a file. For more information, see specific FileInfo members such as Open, OpenRead, OpenText, CreateText, or Create.

By default, full read/write access to new files is granted to all users.

The following table describes the enumerations that are used to customize the behavior of various FileInfo methods.

Note

In members that accept a path as an input string, that path must be well-formed or an exception is raised. For example, if a path is fully qualified but begins with a space, the path is not trimmed in methods of the class. Therefore, the path is malformed and an 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\\MyFile.txt" in C#, or "c:\MyDir\MyFile.txt" in Visual Basic.

• "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.

The FileInfo class provides the following properties that enable you to retrieve information about a file. For an example of how to use each property, see the property pages.

• The Directory property retrieves an object that represents the parent directory of a file.

• The DirectoryName property retrieves the full path of the parent directory of a file.

• The Exists property checks for the presence of a file before operating on it.

• The IsReadOnly property retrieves or sets a value that specifies whether a file can be modified.

• The Length retrieves the size of a file.

• The Name retrieves the name of a file.

The following example demonstrates some of the main members of the FileInfo class.

When the properties are first retrieved, FileInfo calls the Refresh method and caches information about the file. On subsequent calls, you must call Refresh to get the latest copy of the information.

using System;
using System.IO;

class Test 
{
	
    public static void Main() 
    {
        string path = Path.GetTempFileName();
        FileInfo fi1 = new FileInfo(path);

        //Create a file to write to. 
        using (StreamWriter sw = fi1.CreateText()) 
        {
            sw.WriteLine("Hello");
            sw.WriteLine("And");
            sw.WriteLine("Welcome");
        }	

        //Open the file to read from. 
        using (StreamReader sr = fi1.OpenText()) 
        {
            string s = "";
            while ((s = sr.ReadLine()) != null) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine(s);
            }
        }

        try 
        {
            string path2 = Path.GetTempFileName();
            FileInfo fi2 = new FileInfo(path2);

            //Ensure that the target does not exist.
            fi2.Delete();

            //Copy the file.
            fi1.CopyTo(path2);
            Console.WriteLine("{0} was copied to {1}.", path, path2);

            //Delete the newly created file.
            fi2.Delete();
            Console.WriteLine("{0} was successfully deleted.", path2);

        } 
        catch (Exception e) 
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString());
        }
    }
}

.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