Directory.GetFiles Method (String, String) (System.IO)

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.NET Framework Class Library

Directory.GetFiles Method (String, String)

Returns the names of files (including their paths) that match the specified search pattern in the specified directory.

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

Syntax

Visual Basic

Public Shared Function GetFiles ( _
	path As String, _
	searchPattern As String _
) As String()

public static string[] GetFiles(
	string path,
	string searchPattern
)

Visual C++

public:
static array<String^>^ GetFiles(
	String^ path, 
	String^ searchPattern
)

static member GetFiles : 
        path:string * 
        searchPattern:string -> string[]

Parameters

path: Type: System.String
The directory to search.

searchPattern: Type: System.String
The search string to match against the names of files in path. The parameter cannot end in two periods ("..") or contain two periods ("..") followed by DirectorySeparatorChar or AltDirectorySeparatorChar, nor can it contain any of the characters in InvalidPathChars.

Return Value

Type: System.String[]
A String array containing the names of files in the specified directory that match the specified search pattern. File names include the full path.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
IOException	path is a file name. -or- A network error has occurred.
UnauthorizedAccessException	The caller does not have the required permission.
ArgumentException	path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by InvalidPathChars. -or- searchPattern does not contain a valid pattern.
ArgumentNullException	path or searchPattern is null.
PathTooLongException	The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length. For example, on Windows-based platforms, paths must be less than 248 characters and file names must be less than 260 characters.
DirectoryNotFoundException	The specified path is invalid (for example, it is on an unmapped drive).

Remarks

The returned file names are appended to the supplied path parameter.

If there are no files, or no files match the searchPattern parameter, this method returns an empty array.

The order of the returned file names is not guaranteed; use the Sort() method if a specific sort order is required.

The following wildcard specifiers are permitted in searchPattern.

Wildcard character	Description
*	Zero or more characters.
?	Exactly zero or one character.

Characters other than the wildcard specifiers represent themselves. For example, the searchPattern string "*t" searches for all names in path ending with the letter "t". The searchPattern string "s*" searches for all names in path beginning with the letter "s".

Note
When using the asterisk wildcard character in a searchPattern, such as ".txt", the matching behavior when the extension is exactly three characters long is different than when the extension is more or less than three characters long. A searchPattern with a file extension of exactly three characters returns files having an extension of three or more characters, where the first three characters match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. A searchPattern with a file extension of one, two, or more than three characters returns only files having extensions of exactly that length that match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. When using the question mark wildcard character, this method returns only files that match the specified file extension. For example, given two files, "file1.txt" and "file1.txtother", in a directory, a search pattern of "file?.txt" returns just the first file, while a search pattern of "file.txt" returns both files.

Note

When using the asterisk wildcard character in a searchPattern, such as "*.txt", the matching behavior when the extension is exactly three characters long is different than when the extension is more or less than three characters long. A searchPattern with a file extension of exactly three characters returns files having an extension of three or more characters, where the first three characters match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. A searchPattern with a file extension of one, two, or more than three characters returns only files having extensions of exactly that length that match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. When using the question mark wildcard character, this method returns only files that match the specified file extension. For example, given two files, "file1.txt" and "file1.txtother", in a directory, a search pattern of "file?.txt" returns just the first file, while a search pattern of "file*.txt" returns both files.

Note
Because this method checks against file names with both the 8.3 file name format and the long file name format, a search pattern similar to "1.txt" may return unexpected file names. For example, using a search pattern of "1.txt" returns "longfilename.txt" because the equivalent 8.3 file name format is "LONGFI~1.TXT".

The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.

The path parameter is not case-sensitive.

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

Examples

The following code example counts the number of files that begin with the specified letter.

Visual Basic


Imports System
Imports System.IO

Public Class Test
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Try
            ' Only get files that begin with the letter "c."
            Dim dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\", "c*")
            Console.WriteLine("The number of files starting with c is {0}.", dirs.Length)
            Dim dir As String
            For Each dir In dirs
                Console.WriteLine(dir)
            Next
        Catch e As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString())
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class


using System;
using System.IO;

class Test 
{
    public static void Main() 
    {
        try 
        {
            // Only get files that begin with the letter "c."
            string[] dirs = Directory.GetFiles(@"c:\", "c*");
            Console.WriteLine("The number of files starting with c is {0}.", dirs.Length);
            foreach (string dir in dirs) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine(dir);
            }
        } 
        catch (Exception e) 
        {
            Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString());
        }
    }
}

Visual C++


using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
int main()
{
   try
   {

      // Only get files that begin with the letter "c."
      array<String^>^dirs = Directory::GetFiles( "c:\\", "c*" );
      Console::WriteLine( "The number of files starting with c is {0}.", dirs->Length );
      Collections::IEnumerator^ myEnum = dirs->GetEnumerator();
      while ( myEnum->MoveNext() )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( myEnum->Current );
      }
   }
   catch ( Exception^ e ) 
   {
      Console::WriteLine( "The process failed: {0}", e );
   }

}

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

.NET Framework Security

FileIOPermission
for access to path information for the current directory. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.PathDiscovery

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

Directory Class

GetFiles Overload

System.IO Namespace

Other Resources

File and Stream I/O

How to: Read Text from a File

How to: Write Text to a File

Community Content

PetSerAl

Short file names

Note "When using the asterisk wildcard character in a searchPattern, such as "*.txt", the matching behavior when the extension is exactly three characters long is different than when the extension is more or less than three characters long..." is not absolutely correct. Described behavior is just a special case of short file name check ("Because this method checks against file names with both the 8.3 file name format and the long file name format, a search pattern similar to "*1*.txt" may return unexpected file names..."). And if short name is explicity changed (fsutil file setshortname) then behavior can be not as described (if short name extension is not equal to first three letters of long file name extension).

Ade Miller

F# example

  // Get all files in a folder recursively



let rec allFiles dir =
    seq { for file in Directory.GetFiles(dir) -> file
          for subdir in Directory.GetDirectories dir do yield! (allFiles subdir) }

keych

One liner method for getting files with multiple filters

private static string[] GetFiles(string sourceFolder, string filters, System.IO.SearchOption searchOption)
{
return filters.Split('|').SelectMany(filter => System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(sourceFolder, filter, searchOption)).ToArray();
}