How to recursively list all the files in a directory in C

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How to recursively list all the files in a directory and child directories in C

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var d   new DirectoryInfo   C  logs    var list   d GetFiles    txt   Select m   gt  m Name  ToList

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private void GetFiles DirectoryInfo dir  ref List lt FileInfo gt  files        try               files AddRange dir GetFiles             DirectoryInfo   dirs   dir GetDirectories            foreach  var d in dirs                        GetFiles d  ref files                       catch  Exception e

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In  NET 4 5  at least  there s this version that is much shorter and has the added bonus of evaluating any file criteria for inclusion in the list   public static IEnumerable lt string gt  GetAllFiles string path                                                 Func lt FileInfo  bool gt  checkFile   null        string mask   Path GetFileName path       if  string IsNullOrEmpty mask   mask              path   Path GetDirectoryName path       string   files   Directory GetFiles path  mask  SearchOption AllDirectories        foreach  string file in files                if  checkFile    null    checkFile new FileInfo file                yield return file            Use like this   var list   GetAllFiles mask   info    gt  Path GetExtension info Name       html   ToList

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Here is a version of B  Clay Shannon s code not static for excel-files   class ExcelSearcher       private List lt string gt   fileNames       public ExcelSearcher List lt string gt  filenames                 fileNames   filenames            public List lt string gt  GetExcelFiles string dir  List lt string gt  filenames   null                 string dirName   dir          var dirNames   new List lt string gt             if  filenames    null                         fileNames Concat filenames                     try                       foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles dirName                                 if  f ToLower   EndsWith   xls      f ToLower   EndsWith   xlsx                                           fileNames Add f                                               dirNames   Directory GetDirectories dirName  ToList                foreach  string d in dirNames                                GetExcelFiles d   fileNames                                   catch  Exception ex                          Bam                   return  fileNames

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Listing files and folders to model  custom implementation  This creates a full listing of all files and folders starting from your start directory   public class DirOrFileModel                region Private Members          private string  name          private string  location          private EntryType  entryType            endregion           region Bindings          public string Name                       get   return  name                set                               if  value     name  return                   name   value                                   public string Location                       get   return  location                set                               if  value     location  return                   location   value                                   public EntryType EntryType                       get   return  entryType                set                               if  value     entryType  return                   entryType   value                                   public ObservableCollection lt DirOrFileModel gt  Entries   get  set              endregion           region Constructor          public DirOrFileModel                         Entries   new ObservableCollection lt DirOrFileModel gt                         endregion            public enum EntryType               Directory   0          File   1         Method    static DirOrFileModel DirSearch DirOrFileModel startDir                        var currentDir   startDir              try                               foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories currentDir Location                                         var newDir   new DirOrFileModel                                               EntryType   EntryType Directory                          Location   d                          Name   Path GetFileName d                                             currentDir Entries Add newDir                        DirSearch newDir                                      foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles currentDir Location                                         var newFile   new DirOrFileModel                                               EntryType   EntryType File                          Location   f                          Name   Path GetFileNameWithoutExtension f                                             currentDir Entries Add newFile                                                catch  Exception excpt                                Console WriteLine excpt Message                             return startDir              Usage   var dir   new DirOrFileModel                               Name    C                   Location     C                     EntryType   EntryType Directory                             dir   DirSearch dir

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Note that in  NET 4 0 there are  supposedly  iterator-based  rather than array-based  file functions built in   foreach  string file in Directory EnumerateFiles path         SearchOption AllDirectories         Console WriteLine file       At the moment I d use something like below  the inbuilt recursive method breaks too easily if you don t have access to a single sub-dir     the Queue lt string gt  usage avoids too much call-stack recursion  and the iterator block avoids us having a huge array   static void Main         foreach  string file in GetFiles SOME PATH             Console WriteLine file            static IEnumerable lt string gt  GetFiles string path        Queue lt string gt  queue   new Queue lt string gt         queue Enqueue path       while  queue Count  gt  0            path   queue Dequeue            try               foreach  string subDir in Directory GetDirectories path                     queue Enqueue subDir                                   catch Exception ex                Console Error WriteLine ex                     string   files   null          try               files   Directory GetFiles path                     catch  Exception ex                Console Error WriteLine ex                     if  files    null                for int i   0   i  lt  files Length   i                      yield return files i

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This article covers all you need  Except as opposed to searching the files and comparing names  just print out the names   It can be modified like so   static void DirSearch string sDir        try               foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories sDir                         foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles d                                 Console WriteLine f                             DirSearch d                       catch  System Exception excpt                Console WriteLine excpt Message             Added by barlop  GONeale mentions that the above doesn t list the files in the current directory and suggests putting the file listing part outside the part that gets directories   The following would do that  It also includes a Writeline line that you can  uncomment  that helps to trace where you are in the recursion that may help to show the calls to help show how the recursion works               DirSearch ex3  c   aaa                static void DirSearch ex3 string sDir                                  Console WriteLine  DirSearch       sDir                         try                                       Console WriteLine sDir                        foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles sDir                                                 Console WriteLine f                                              foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories sDir                                                 DirSearch ex3 d                                                           catch  System Exception excpt                                        Console WriteLine excpt Message

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static void Main string   args                        string   array1   Directory GetFiles   D                  string   array2   System IO Directory GetDirectories   D                  Console WriteLine  --- Files  ---                foreach  string name in array1                                Console WriteLine name                             foreach  string name in array2                                Console WriteLine name                                   Console ReadLine

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Some improved version with max lvl to go down in directory and option to exclude folders   using System  using System IO   class MainClass     public static void Main  string   args         var dir     C  directory to print       PrintDirectoryTree dir  2  new string     folder3             public static void PrintDirectoryTree string directory  int lvl  string   excludedFolders   null  string lvlSeperator               excludedFolders   excludedFolders    new string 0        foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles directory                 Console WriteLine lvlSeperator Path GetFileName f                foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories directory                 Console WriteLine lvlSeperator    -    Path GetFileName d             if lvl  gt  0  amp  amp  Array IndexOf excludedFolders  Path GetFileName d    lt  0                      PrintDirectoryTree d  lvl-1  excludedFolders  lvlSeperator                                input directory   -folder1   file1 txt   -folder2     file2 txt     -folder5       file6 txt   -folder3     file3 txt   -folder4     file4 txt     file5 txt   output of the function  content of folder5 is excluded due to lvl limit and content of folder3 is excluded because it is in excludedFolders array    -folder1   file1 txt   -folder2     file2 txt     -folder5   -folder3   -folder4     file4 txt     file5 txt

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Here s my angle on it  based on Hernaldo s  if you need to find files with names of a certain pattern  such as XML files that somewhere in their name contain a particular string      call this like so  GetXMLFiles  Platypus    C       public static List lt string gt  GetXMLFiles string fileType  string dir        string dirName   dir       var fileNames   new List lt String gt         try               foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles dirName                         if   f Contains fileType    amp  amp   f Contains   XML                                   fileNames Add f                                   foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories dirName                         GetXMLFiles fileType  d                       catch  Exception ex                MessageBox Show ex Message             return fileNames

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In Framework 2 0 you can use  It list files of root folder  it s best the most popular answer    static void DirSearch string dir        try               foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles dir               Console WriteLine f           foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories dir                         Console WriteLine d               DirSearch d                        catch  System Exception ex                Console WriteLine ex Message

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Some excellent answers but these answers did not solve my issue   As soon as a folder permission issue arises   Permission Denied  the code fails  This is what I used to get around the  Permission Denied  issue   private int counter   0       private string   MyDirectories   Directory GetDirectories  C            private void ScanButton Click object sender  EventArgs e                Thread MonitorSpeech   new Thread      gt  ScanFiles             MonitorSpeech Start               private void ScanFiles                 string CurrentDirectory   string Empty           while  counter  lt  MyDirectories Length                        try                               GetDirectories                    CurrentDirectory   MyDirectories counter                               catch                               if   this IsDisposed                                        listBox1 Invoke  MethodInvoker delegate   listBox1 Items Add  Access Denied to       CurrentDirectory                                                            private void GetDirectories                 foreach  string directory in MyDirectories                        GetFiles directory                        private void GetFiles string directory                try                       foreach  string file in Directory GetFiles directory                                      listBox1 Invoke  MethodInvoker delegate   listBox1 Items Add file                                       catch                       listBox1 Invoke  MethodInvoker delegate   listBox1 Items Add  Access Denied to       directory                         Hope this helps others

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This one helped me to get all files in a directory and sub directories  May be helpful for someone    Inspired from above answers    static void Main string   args                try                       var root     G  logs               DirectorySearch root                     catch  Exception ex                        Console WriteLine ex Message                     Console ReadKey               public static void DirectorySearch string root  bool isRootItrated   false        if   isRootItrated                var rootDirectoryFiles   Directory GetFiles root           foreach  var file in rootDirectoryFiles                        Console WriteLine file                         var subDirectories   Directory GetDirectories root       if  subDirectories  Any      true                foreach  var directory in subDirectories                        var files   Directory GetFiles directory               foreach  var file in files                                Console WriteLine file                             DirectorySearch directory  true

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If you only need filenames and since I didn t really like most of the solutions here  feature-wise or readability-wise   how about this lazy one   private void Foo       var files   GetAllFiles  pathToADirectory      foreach  string file in files               Use can use Path GetFileName   or similar to extract just the filename if needed          You can break early and it won t still browse your whole disk since it s a lazy one             lt exception cref  T System IO DirectoryNotFoundException  gt The specified path is invalid  for example  it is on an unmapped drive   lt  exception gt       lt exception cref  T System UnauthorizedAccessException  gt The caller does not have the required permission  lt  exception gt       lt exception cref  T System IO IOException  gt  lt paramref name  path    gt  is a file name -or-A network error has occurred  lt  exception gt       lt exception cref  T System IO PathTooLongException  gt 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  lt  exception gt       lt exception cref  T System ArgumentNullException  gt  lt paramref name  path    gt  is null  lt  exception gt       lt exception cref  T System ArgumentException  gt  lt paramref name  path    gt  is a zero-length string  contains only white space  or contains one or more invalid characters as defined by  lt see cref  F System IO Path InvalidPathChars    gt   lt  exception gt   NotNull  public static IEnumerable lt string gt  GetAllFiles  NotNull  string directory      foreach  string file in Directory GetFiles directory           yield return file     includes the path        foreach  string subDir in Directory GetDirectories directory           foreach  string subFile in GetAllFiles subDir               yield return subFile

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IEnumerable lt string gt  GetFilesFromDir string dir    gt   Directory EnumerateFiles dir  Concat   Directory EnumerateDirectories dir             SelectMany subdir   gt  GetFilesFromDir subdir

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Directory GetFiles  C             SearchOption AllDirectories

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To avoid the UnauthorizedAccessException  I use   var files   GetFiles   C            SearchOption AllDirectories   foreach  var file in files        Console WriteLine    file        public static IEnumerable lt string gt  GetFiles string path  string searchPattern  SearchOption searchOption        var foldersToProcess   new List lt string gt                  path             while  foldersToProcess Count  gt  0                string folder   foldersToProcess 0           foldersToProcess RemoveAt 0            if  searchOption HasFlag SearchOption AllDirectories                           get subfolders             try                               var subfolders   Directory GetDirectories folder                   foldersToProcess AddRange subfolders                             catch  Exception ex                                  log if you re interested                                    get files         var files   new List lt string gt             try                       files   Directory GetFiles folder  searchPattern  SearchOption TopDirectoryOnly  ToList                      catch  Exception ex                          log if you re interested                    foreach  var file in files                        yield return file

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I prefer to use DirectoryInfo because I can get FileInfo s  not just strings           string baseFolder     C  temp           DirectoryInfo di   new DirectoryInfo baseFolder            string searchPattern      xml            ICollection lt FileInfo gt  matchingFileInfos   di GetFiles searchPattern  SearchOption AllDirectories               Select x   gt  x               ToList      I do this in case in the future I need future filtering  based on the properties of FileInfo           string baseFolder     C  temp           DirectoryInfo di   new DirectoryInfo baseFolder            string searchPattern      xml            ICollection lt FileInfo gt  matchingFileInfos   di GetFiles searchPattern  SearchOption AllDirectories               Where x   gt  x LastWriteTimeUtc  lt  DateTimeOffset Now               Select x   gt  x               ToList      I can also resort back to strings if need be   and still am future proofed for filters where-clause stuff           string baseFolder     C  temp           DirectoryInfo di   new DirectoryInfo baseFolder            string searchPattern      xml            ICollection lt string gt  matchingFileNames   di GetFiles searchPattern  SearchOption AllDirectories               Select x   gt  x FullName               ToList      Note that     is a valid search pattern if you want to filer by extension

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Short and simple solution  string dir     D  PATH    DateTime from date   DateTime Now Date  DateTime to date   DateTime Now Date AddHours 23   var files   Directory EnumerateFiles dir        SearchOption AllDirectories  Select i  gt new FileInfo i    Where file  gt file LastWriteTime  gt   from date  amp  amp  file LastWriteTime  lt   to date   foreach var fl in files      Console WriteLine fl FullName

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Shortest record  string files   Directory GetFiles   your path      jpg   SearchOption AllDirectories

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A simple and clean solution       lt summary gt      Scans a folder and all of its subfolders recursively  and updates the List of files      lt  summary gt       lt param name  sFullPath  gt Full path of the folder lt  param gt       lt param name  files  gt The list  where the output is expected lt  param gt  internal static void EnumerateFiles string sFullPath  List lt FileInfo gt  fileInfoList        try               DirectoryInfo di   new DirectoryInfo sFullPath           FileInfo   files   di GetFiles             foreach  FileInfo file in files              fileInfoList Add file              Scan recursively         DirectoryInfo   dirs   di GetDirectories            if  dirs    null    dirs Length  lt  1              return          foreach  DirectoryInfo dir in dirs              EnumerateFiles dir FullName  fileInfoList              catch  Exception ex                Logger Write  Exception in Helper EnumerateFiles   ex

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A very simple solution  returns a list of files       public static List lt string gt  AllFilesInFolder string folder                var result   new List lt string gt              foreach  string f in Directory GetFiles folder                         result Add f                      foreach  string d in Directory GetDirectories folder                         result AddRange AllFilesInFolder d                       return result

[c#] How to recursively list all the files in a directory in C#?

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