Article
11/18/2011

FileAttributes Enumeration

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Provides attributes for files and directories.

This enumeration has a FlagsAttribute attribute that allows a bitwise combination of its member values.

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

Syntax

'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<FlagsAttribute> _
Public Enumeration FileAttributes

[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[FlagsAttribute]
public enum FileAttributes

Members

	Member name	Description
	ReadOnly	The file is read-only.
	Hidden	The file is hidden, and thus is not included in an ordinary directory listing.
	System	The file is a system file. The file is part of the operating system or is used exclusively by the operating system.
	Directory	The file is a directory.
	Archive	The file's archive status. Applications use this attribute to mark files for backup or removal.
	Device	Reserved for future use.
	Normal	The file is normal and has no other attributes set. This attribute is valid only if used alone.
	Temporary	The file is temporary. File systems attempt to keep all of the data in memory for quicker access rather than flushing the data back to mass storage. A temporary file should be deleted by the application as soon as it is no longer needed.
	SparseFile	The file is a sparse file. Sparse files are typically large files whose data are mostly zeros.
	ReparsePoint	The file contains a reparse point, which is a block of user-defined data associated with a file or a directory.
	Compressed	The file is compressed.
	Offline	The file is offline. The data of the file is not immediately available.
	NotContentIndexed	The file will not be indexed by the operating system's content indexing service.
	Encrypted	The file or directory is encrypted. For a file, this means that all data in the file is encrypted. For a directory, this means that encryption is the default for newly created files and directories.

Remarks

Platform Notes

Silverlight for Windows Phone

This type is present to support the .NET Compact Framework infrastructure in Silverlight for Windows Phone, and it is not intended to be used in your application code.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: Xbox 360, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.