DirectoryInfo::GetDirectories Method (String^, SearchOption)

.NET Framework (current version)

Returns an array of directories in the current DirectoryInfo matching the given search criteria and using a value to determine whether to search subdirectories.

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

Syntax

C++

public:
array<DirectoryInfo^>^ GetDirectories(
	String^ searchPattern,
	SearchOption searchOption
)

Parameters

searchPattern: Type: System::String^
The search string to match against the names of directories. This parameter can contain a combination of valid literal path and wildcard (* and ?) characters (see Remarks), but doesn't support regular expressions. The default pattern is "*", which returns all files.

searchOption: Type: System.IO::SearchOption
One of the enumeration values that specifies whether the search operation should include only the current directory or all subdirectories.

Return Value

Type: array<System.IO::DirectoryInfo^>^

An array of type DirectoryInfo matching searchPattern.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
ArgumentException	searchPattern contains one or more invalid characters defined by the GetInvalidPathChars method.
ArgumentNullException	searchPattern is null.
ArgumentOutOfRangeException	searchOption is not a valid SearchOption value.
DirectoryNotFoundException	The path encapsulated in the DirectoryInfo object is invalid (for example, it is on an unmapped drive).
UnauthorizedAccessException	The caller does not have the required permission.

Remarks

searchPattern can be a combination of literal and wildcard characters, but doesn't support regular expressions. The following wildcard specifiers are permitted in searchPattern.

Wildcard specifier	Matches
* (asterisk)	Zero or more characters in that position.
? (question mark)	Zero or one character in that position.

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

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

This method pre-populates the values of the following DirectoryInfo properties:

Examples

The following example lists all of the directories and files that begin with the letter "c" in "c:\".

C++

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;

ref class App
{
public:
    static void Main()
    {
        // Specify the directory you want to manipulate.
        String^ path = "c:\\";
        String^ searchPattern = "c*";

        DirectoryInfo^ di = gcnew DirectoryInfo(path);
        array<DirectoryInfo^>^ directories =
            di->GetDirectories(searchPattern, SearchOption::TopDirectoryOnly);

        array<FileInfo^>^ files =
            di->GetFiles(searchPattern, SearchOption::TopDirectoryOnly);

        Console::WriteLine(
            "Directories that begin with the letter \"c\" in {0}", path);
        for each (DirectoryInfo^ dir in directories)
        {
            Console::WriteLine(
                "{0,-25} {1,25}", dir->FullName, dir->LastWriteTime);
        }

        Console::WriteLine();
        Console::WriteLine(
            "Files that begin with the letter \"c\" in {0}", path);
        for each (FileInfo^ file in files)
        {
            Console::WriteLine(
                "{0,-25} {1,25}", file->Name, file->LastWriteTime);
        }
    } // Main()
}; // App()

int main()
{
    App::Main();
}