File Move Does Not Work - File Already Exists

Question

I ve got a folder      c  test   I m trying this code   File Move   c  test SomeFile txt     c  test Test      I get exception      File already exists   The output directory definitely exists and the input file is there

User · Accepted Answer

You need to move it to another file  rather than a folder   this can also be used to rename   Move   File Move   c  test SomeFile txt     c  test Test SomeFile txt      Rename   File Move   c  test SomeFile txt     c  test SomeFile2 txt      The reason it says  File already exists  in your example  is because C  test Test tries to create a file Test without an extension  but cannot do so as a folder already exists with the same name

User · Answer

If you don t have the option to delete the already existing file in the new location  but still need to move and delete from the original location  this renaming trick might work   string newFileLocation     c  test Test SomeFile txt    while  File Exists newFileLocation         newFileLocation   newFileLocation Split      0      copy     newFileLocation Split      1     File Move   c  test SomeFile txt   newFileLocation     This assumes the only     in the file name is before the extension  It splits the file in two before the extension  attaches   copy   in between  This lets you move the file  but creates a copy if the file already exists or a copy of the copy already exists  or a copy of the copy of the copy exists

User · Answer

You can do a P Invoke to MoveFileEx   - pass 11 for flags  MOVEFILE COPY ALLOWED   MOVEFILE REPLACE EXISTING   MOVEFILE WRITE THROUGH    return  MarshalAs UnmanagedType Bool    DllImport  kernel32 dll   SetLastError true  CharSet CharSet Unicode   static extern bool MoveFileEx string existingFileName  string newFileName  int flags     Or  you can just call  Microsoft VisualBasic FileIO FileSystem MoveFile existingFileName  newFileName  true     after adding Microsoft VisualBasic as a reference

User · Answer

Personally I prefer this method  This will overwrite the file on the destination  removes the source file and also prevent removing the source file when the copy fails   string source     c  test SomeFile txt   string destination     c  test test SomeFile txt    try       File Copy source  destination  true       File Delete source     catch         some error handling

User · Answer

1  With C  on  Net Core 3 0 and beyond  there is now a third boolean parameter   see https   docs microsoft com en-us dotnet api system io file move view netcore-3 1  In  NET Core 3 0 and later versions  you can call Move String  String  Boolean  setting the parameter overwrite to true  which will replace the file if it exists    2  For all other versions of  Net  https   stackoverflow com a 42224803 887092 is the best answer  Copy with Overwrite  then delete the source file  This is better because it makes it an atomic operation   I have attempted to update the MS Docs with this

User · Answer

According to the docs for File Move there is no  overwrite if exists  parameter  You tried to specify the destination folder  but you have to give the full file specification   Reading the docs again   providing the option to specify a new file name    I think  adding a backslash to the destination folder spec may work

User · Answer

Try Microsoft VisualBasic FileIO FileSystem MoveFile Source  Destination  True   The last parameter is Overwrite switch  which System IO File Move doesn t have

User · Answer

If file really exists and you want to replace it use below code   string file    c  test SomeFile txt  string moveTo    c  test test SomeFile txt   if  File Exists moveTo         File Delete moveTo      File Move file  moveTo

User · Answer

What you need is   if   File Exists   c  test Test SomeFile txt          File Move   c  test SomeFile txt     c  test Test SomeFile txt        or  if  File Exists   c  test Test SomeFile txt          File Delete   c  test Test SomeFile txt      File Move   c  test SomeFile txt     c  test Test SomeFile txt      This will either    If the file doesn t exist at the destination location  successfully move the file  or  If the file does exist at the destination location  delete it  then move the file    Edit  I should clarify my answer  even though it s the most upvoted  The second parameter of File Move should be the destination file - not a folder  You are specifying the second parameter as the destination folder  not the destination filename - which is what File Move requires  So  your second parameter should be c  test Test SomeFile txt

[c#] File.Move Does Not Work - File Already Exists

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