File.SetAttributes Method
Sets the specified FileAttributes of the file on the specified path.
[Visual Basic] Public Shared Sub SetAttributes( _ ByVal path As String, _ ByVal fileAttributes As FileAttributes _ ) [C#] public static void SetAttributes( string path, FileAttributes fileAttributes ); [C++] public: static void SetAttributes( String* path, FileAttributes fileAttributes ); [JScript] public static function SetAttributes( path : String, fileAttributes : FileAttributes );
Parameters
- path
- The path to the file.
- fileAttributes
- The desired FileAttributes, such as Hidden, ReadOnly, Normal, and Archive.
Exceptions
| Exception Type | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentException | path is empty, contains only white spaces, contains invalid characters, or the file attribute is invalid. |
| 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. |
| NotSupportedException | path is in an invalid format. |
| DirectoryNotFoundException | The specified path is invalid, such as being on an unmapped drive. |
Remarks
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.
For an example of using this method, see the Example section below. The following table lists examples of other typical or related I/O tasks.
| To do this... | See the example in this topic... |
|---|---|
| Create a text file. | Writing Text to a File |
| Write to a text file. | Writing Text to a File |
| Read from a text file. | Reading Text from a File |
| Append text to a file. | Opening and Appending to a Log File |
| Rename or move a file. | File.Move |
| Get the attributes of a file. | File.GetAttributes |
| Read from a binary file. | Reading and Writing to a Newly Created Data File |
| Write to a binary file. | Reading and Writing to a Newly Created Data File |
Example
[Visual Basic, C#, C++] The following example demonstrates the GetAttributes and SetAttributes methods by applying the Archive and Hidden attributes to a file.
[Visual Basic] Imports System Imports System.IO Imports System.Text Public Class Test Public Shared Sub Main() Dim path As String = "c:\temp\MyTest.txt" ' Delete the file if it exists. If File.Exists(path) = False Then File.Create(path) End If If (File.GetAttributes(path) And FileAttributes.Hidden) = FileAttributes.Hidden Then ' Show the file. File.SetAttributes(path, FileAttributes.Archive) Console.WriteLine("The {0} file is no longer hidden.", path) Else ' Hide the file. File.SetAttributes(path, File.GetAttributes(path) Or FileAttributes.Hidden) Console.WriteLine("The {0} file is now hidden.", path) End If End Sub End Class [C#] using System; using System.IO; using System.Text; class Test { public static void Main() { string path = @"c:\temp\MyTest.txt"; // Delete the file if it exists. if (!File.Exists(path)) { File.Create(path); } if ((File.GetAttributes(path) & FileAttributes.Hidden) == FileAttributes.Hidden) { // Show the file. File.SetAttributes(path, FileAttributes.Archive); Console.WriteLine("The {0} file is no longer hidden.", path); } else { // Hide the file. File.SetAttributes(path, File.GetAttributes(path) | FileAttributes.Hidden); Console.WriteLine("The {0} file is now hidden.", path); } } } [C++] #using <mscorlib.dll> using namespace System; using namespace System::IO; using namespace System::Text; int main() { String* path = S"c:\\temp\\MyTest.txt"; // Delete the file if it exists. if (!File::Exists(path)) { File::Create(path); } if ((File::GetAttributes(path) & FileAttributes::Hidden) == FileAttributes::Hidden) { // Show the file. File::SetAttributes(path, FileAttributes::Archive); Console::WriteLine(S"The {0} file is no longer hidden.", path); } else { // Hide the file. File::SetAttributes(path, static_cast<FileAttributes>(File::GetAttributes(path) | FileAttributes::Hidden)); Console::WriteLine(S"The {0} file is now hidden.", path); } }
[JScript] No example is available for JScript. To view a Visual Basic, C#, or C++ example, click the Language Filter button
in the upper-left corner of the page.
Requirements
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family
.NET Framework Security:
- FileIOPermission for reading and writing files. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.Write
See Also
File Class | File Members | System.IO Namespace | Working with I/O | Reading Text from a File | Writing Text to a File