How does one extract each folder name from a path

Question

My path is   server folderName1 another name something another folder   How do I extract each folder name into a string if I don t know how many folders there are in the path and I don t know the folder names   Many thanks

User · Answer

I wrote the following method which works for me.

protected bool isDirectoryFound(string path, string pattern)
    {
        bool success = false;

        DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path);
        DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

        Regex rx = new Regex(pattern);

        foreach (DirectoryInfo di in folderList)
        {
            if (rx.IsMatch(di.Name))
            {
                success = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        return success;
    }

The lines most pertinent to your question being:

DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path); DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

User · Answer

I just coded this since I didn t find any already built in in C          lt summary gt      get the directory path segments       lt  summary gt       lt param name  directoryPath  gt the directory path  lt  param gt       lt returns gt a IEnumerable lt string gt  containing the get directory path segments  lt  returns gt  public IEnumerable lt string gt  GetDirectoryPathSegments string directoryPath        if  string IsNullOrEmpty directoryPath         throw new Exception   Invalid Directory   directoryPath     null             var currentNode   new System IO DirectoryInfo directoryPath        var targetRootNode   currentNode Root      if  targetRootNode    null  return new string     currentNode Name        var directorySegments   new List lt string gt         while  string Compare targetRootNode FullName  currentNode FullName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase     0                directorySegments Insert 0  currentNode Name           currentNode   currentNode Parent            directorySegments Insert 0  currentNode Name       return directorySegments

User · Answer

string mypath        folder1 folder2 folder2   string   directories   mypath Split Path DirectorySeparatorChar     Edit  This returns each individual folder in the directories array   You can get the number of folders returned like this   int folderCount   directories Length

User · Answer

Maybe call Directory GetParent in a loop  That s if you want the full path to each directory and not just the directory names

User · Answer

I am adding to Matt Brunell s answer               string   directories   myStringWithLotsOfFolders Split Path DirectorySeparatorChar                string previousEntry   string Empty              if  null    directories                                foreach  string direc in directories                                        string newEntry   previousEntry   Path DirectorySeparatorChar   direc                      if   string IsNullOrEmpty newEntry                                                 if   newEntry Equals Convert ToString Path DirectorySeparatorChar   StringComparison OrdinalIgnoreCase                                                         Console WriteLine newEntry                               previousEntry   newEntry                                                                                    This should give you     server     server folderName1     server folderName1 another name     server folderName1 another name something     server folderName1 another name something another folder     or sort your resulting collection by the string Length of each value

User · Answer

The quick answer is to use the  Split       method

User · Answer

This is good in the general case   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries    There is no empty element in the returned array if the path itself ends in a  back slash  e g    foo bar     However  you will have to be sure that yourPath is really a directory and not a file  You can find out what it is and compensate if it is a file like this   if Directory Exists yourPath       var entries   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else if File Exists yourPath       var entries   Path GetDirectoryName yourPath  Split                             StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else        error handling     I believe this covers all bases without being too pedantic  It will return a string   that you can iterate over with foreach to get each directory in turn   If you want to use constants instead of the       magic string  you need to use  var separators   new char       Path DirectorySeparatorChar      Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar        and then use separators instead of       in the code above  Personally  I find this too verbose and would most likely not do it

User · Answer

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -          lt summary gt          Use to emulate the C lib function  splitpath            lt  summary gt           lt param name  path  gt The path to split lt  param gt           lt param name  rootpath  gt optional root if a relative path lt  param gt           lt returns gt the folders in the path               Item 0 is drive letter with                  If path is UNC path then item 0 is               lt  returns gt           lt example gt          string p1     c  p1 p2 p3 p4           string   ap1   p1 SplitPath               ap1     c     p1    p2    p3    p4           string p2       server p2 p3 p4           string   ap2   p2 SplitPath               ap2            server    p2    p3    p4           string p3        p3 p4           string root3     c  p1 p2            string   ap3   p1 SplitPath root3              ap3     c     p1    p3    p4            lt  example gt      public static string   SplitPath this string path  string rootpath                     string drive          string   astr          path   Path GetFullPath Path Combine rootpath  path            if  path 1                                drive   path Substring 0  2               string newpath   path Substring 2               astr   newpath Split new     Path DirectorySeparatorChar                     StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries                     else                       drive                      astr   path Split new     Path DirectorySeparatorChar                     StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries                     string   splitPath   new string astr Length   1           splitPath 0    drive          astr CopyTo splitPath  1           return splitPath

User · Answer

string mypath        folder1 folder2 folder2   string   directories   mypath Split Path DirectorySeparatorChar     Edit  This returns each individual folder in the directories array   You can get the number of folders returned like this   int folderCount   directories Length

User · Answer

I am adding to Matt Brunell s answer               string   directories   myStringWithLotsOfFolders Split Path DirectorySeparatorChar                string previousEntry   string Empty              if  null    directories                                foreach  string direc in directories                                        string newEntry   previousEntry   Path DirectorySeparatorChar   direc                      if   string IsNullOrEmpty newEntry                                                 if   newEntry Equals Convert ToString Path DirectorySeparatorChar   StringComparison OrdinalIgnoreCase                                                         Console WriteLine newEntry                               previousEntry   newEntry                                                                                    This should give you     server     server folderName1     server folderName1 another name     server folderName1 another name something     server folderName1 another name something another folder     or sort your resulting collection by the string Length of each value

User · Answer

DirectoryInfo objDir   new DirectoryInfo direcotryPath   DirectoryInfo    directoryNames    objDir GetDirectories        SearchOption AllDirectories     This will give you all the directories and subdirectories

User · Answer

The quick answer is to use the  Split       method

User · Answer

I see your method Wolf5370 and raise you  internal static List lt DirectoryInfo gt  Split this DirectoryInfo path        if path    null  throw new ArgumentNullException  quot path quot        var ret   new List lt DirectoryInfo gt         if  path Parent    null  ret AddRange Split path Parent        ret Add path       return ret     On the path c  folder1 folder2 folder3 this returns c   c  folder1 c  folder1 folder2 c  folder1 folder2 folder3 In that order OR internal static List lt string gt  Split this DirectoryInfo path        if path    null  throw new ArgumentNullException  quot path quot        var ret   new List lt string gt         if  path Parent    null  ret AddRange Split path Parent        ret Add path Name       return ret     will return c   folder1 folder2 folder3

User · Answer

There are a few ways that a file path can be represented  You should use the System IO Path class to get the separators for the OS  since it can vary between UNIX and Windows  Also  most  or all if I m not mistaken   NET libraries accept either a     or a     as a path separator  regardless of OS  For this reason  I d use the Path class to split your paths  Try something like the following   string originalPath      server  folderName1  another  name  something  another folder     string   filesArray   originalPath Split Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar                                Path DirectorySeparatorChar     This should work regardless of the number of folders or the names

User · Answer

DirectoryInfo objDir   new DirectoryInfo direcotryPath   DirectoryInfo    directoryNames    objDir GetDirectories        SearchOption AllDirectories     This will give you all the directories and subdirectories

User · Answer

This is good in the general case   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries    There is no empty element in the returned array if the path itself ends in a  back slash  e g    foo bar     However  you will have to be sure that yourPath is really a directory and not a file  You can find out what it is and compensate if it is a file like this   if Directory Exists yourPath       var entries   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else if File Exists yourPath       var entries   Path GetDirectoryName yourPath  Split                             StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else        error handling     I believe this covers all bases without being too pedantic  It will return a string   that you can iterate over with foreach to get each directory in turn   If you want to use constants instead of the       magic string  you need to use  var separators   new char       Path DirectorySeparatorChar      Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar        and then use separators instead of       in the code above  Personally  I find this too verbose and would most likely not do it

User · Answer

Inspired by the earlier answers  but simpler  and without recursion  Also  it does not care what the separation symbol is  as Dir Parent covers this            lt summary gt          Split a directory in its components          Input e g  a b c d          Output  d  c  b  a           lt  summary gt           lt param name  Dir  gt  lt  param gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public static IEnumerable lt string gt  DirectorySplit this DirectoryInfo Dir                while  Dir    null                        yield return Dir Name              Dir   Dir Parent                    Either stick this in a static class to create a nice extension method  or just leave out the this  and static    Usage example  as an extension method  to access the path parts by number            lt summary gt          Return one part of the directory path          Path e g   a b c d  PartNr 0 is a  Nr 2   c           lt  summary gt           lt param name  Dir  gt  lt  param gt           lt param name  PartNr  gt  lt  param gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public static string DirectoryPart this DirectoryInfo Dir  int PartNr                string   Parts   Dir DirectorySplit   ToArray            int L   Parts Length          return PartNr  gt   0  amp  amp  PartNr  lt  L   Parts L - 1 - PartNr                Both above methods are now in my personal library  hence the xml comments  Usage example       DirectoryInfo DI Data   new DirectoryInfo   D  Hunter Data 2019 w38 abc 000 d        label Year Text   DI Data DirectoryPart 3      -- gt  2019     label Entry Text   DI Data DirectoryPart 6     -- gt  000 d

User · Answer

Inspired by the earlier answers  but simpler  and without recursion  Also  it does not care what the separation symbol is  as Dir Parent covers this            lt summary gt          Split a directory in its components          Input e g  a b c d          Output  d  c  b  a           lt  summary gt           lt param name  Dir  gt  lt  param gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public static IEnumerable lt string gt  DirectorySplit this DirectoryInfo Dir                while  Dir    null                        yield return Dir Name              Dir   Dir Parent                    Either stick this in a static class to create a nice extension method  or just leave out the this  and static    Usage example  as an extension method  to access the path parts by number            lt summary gt          Return one part of the directory path          Path e g   a b c d  PartNr 0 is a  Nr 2   c           lt  summary gt           lt param name  Dir  gt  lt  param gt           lt param name  PartNr  gt  lt  param gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public static string DirectoryPart this DirectoryInfo Dir  int PartNr                string   Parts   Dir DirectorySplit   ToArray            int L   Parts Length          return PartNr  gt   0  amp  amp  PartNr  lt  L   Parts L - 1 - PartNr                Both above methods are now in my personal library  hence the xml comments  Usage example       DirectoryInfo DI Data   new DirectoryInfo   D  Hunter Data 2019 w38 abc 000 d        label Year Text   DI Data DirectoryPart 3      -- gt  2019     label Entry Text   DI Data DirectoryPart 6     -- gt  000 d

User · Answer

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -          lt summary gt          Use to emulate the C lib function  splitpath            lt  summary gt           lt param name  path  gt The path to split lt  param gt           lt param name  rootpath  gt optional root if a relative path lt  param gt           lt returns gt the folders in the path               Item 0 is drive letter with                  If path is UNC path then item 0 is               lt  returns gt           lt example gt          string p1     c  p1 p2 p3 p4           string   ap1   p1 SplitPath               ap1     c     p1    p2    p3    p4           string p2       server p2 p3 p4           string   ap2   p2 SplitPath               ap2            server    p2    p3    p4           string p3        p3 p4           string root3     c  p1 p2            string   ap3   p1 SplitPath root3              ap3     c     p1    p3    p4            lt  example gt      public static string   SplitPath this string path  string rootpath                     string drive          string   astr          path   Path GetFullPath Path Combine rootpath  path            if  path 1                                drive   path Substring 0  2               string newpath   path Substring 2               astr   newpath Split new     Path DirectorySeparatorChar                     StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries                     else                       drive                      astr   path Split new     Path DirectorySeparatorChar                     StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries                     string   splitPath   new string astr Length   1           splitPath 0    drive          astr CopyTo splitPath  1           return splitPath

User · Answer

Or  if you need to do something with each folder  have a look at the System IO DirectoryInfo class  It also has a Parent property that allows you to navigate to the parent directory

User · Answer

Realise this is an old post  but I came across it looking - in the end I decided apon the below function as it sorted what I was doing at the time better than any of the above   private static List lt DirectoryInfo gt  SplitDirectory DirectoryInfo parent        if  parent    null  return null      var rtn   new List lt DirectoryInfo gt         var di   parent       while  di Name    di Root Name            rtn Add new DirectoryInfo di        di   di Parent            rtn Add new DirectoryInfo di Root         rtn Reverse        return rtn

User · Answer

I just coded this since I didn t find any already built in in C          lt summary gt      get the directory path segments       lt  summary gt       lt param name  directoryPath  gt the directory path  lt  param gt       lt returns gt a IEnumerable lt string gt  containing the get directory path segments  lt  returns gt  public IEnumerable lt string gt  GetDirectoryPathSegments string directoryPath        if  string IsNullOrEmpty directoryPath         throw new Exception   Invalid Directory   directoryPath     null             var currentNode   new System IO DirectoryInfo directoryPath        var targetRootNode   currentNode Root      if  targetRootNode    null  return new string     currentNode Name        var directorySegments   new List lt string gt         while  string Compare targetRootNode FullName  currentNode FullName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase     0                directorySegments Insert 0  currentNode Name           currentNode   currentNode Parent            directorySegments Insert 0  currentNode Name       return directorySegments

User · Answer

Or  if you need to do something with each folder  have a look at the System IO DirectoryInfo class  It also has a Parent property that allows you to navigate to the parent directory

User · Answer

The quick answer is to use the  Split       method

User · Answer

Here s a modification of Wolf s answer that leaves out the root and fixes what seemed to be a couple of bugs  I used it to generate a breadcrumbs and I didn t want the root showing   this is an extension of the DirectoryInfo type   public static List lt DirectoryInfo gt  PathParts this DirectoryInfo source  string rootPath      if  source    null  return null    DirectoryInfo root   new DirectoryInfo rootPath     var pathParts   new List lt DirectoryInfo gt       var di   source     while  di    null  amp  amp  di FullName    root FullName          pathParts Add di       di   di Parent         pathParts Reverse      return pathParts

User · Answer

string mypath        folder1 folder2 folder2   string   directories   mypath Split Path DirectorySeparatorChar     Edit  This returns each individual folder in the directories array   You can get the number of folders returned like this   int folderCount   directories Length

User · Answer

string mypath        folder1 folder2 folder2   string   directories   mypath Split Path DirectorySeparatorChar     Edit  This returns each individual folder in the directories array   You can get the number of folders returned like this   int folderCount   directories Length

User · Answer

This is good in the general case   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries    There is no empty element in the returned array if the path itself ends in a  back slash  e g    foo bar     However  you will have to be sure that yourPath is really a directory and not a file  You can find out what it is and compensate if it is a file like this   if Directory Exists yourPath       var entries   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else if File Exists yourPath       var entries   Path GetDirectoryName yourPath  Split                             StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else        error handling     I believe this covers all bases without being too pedantic  It will return a string   that you can iterate over with foreach to get each directory in turn   If you want to use constants instead of the       magic string  you need to use  var separators   new char       Path DirectorySeparatorChar      Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar        and then use separators instead of       in the code above  Personally  I find this too verbose and would most likely not do it

User · Answer

There are a few ways that a file path can be represented  You should use the System IO Path class to get the separators for the OS  since it can vary between UNIX and Windows  Also  most  or all if I m not mistaken   NET libraries accept either a     or a     as a path separator  regardless of OS  For this reason  I d use the Path class to split your paths  Try something like the following   string originalPath      server  folderName1  another  name  something  another folder     string   filesArray   originalPath Split Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar                                Path DirectorySeparatorChar     This should work regardless of the number of folders or the names

User · Answer

Here s a modification of Wolf s answer that leaves out the root and fixes what seemed to be a couple of bugs  I used it to generate a breadcrumbs and I didn t want the root showing   this is an extension of the DirectoryInfo type   public static List lt DirectoryInfo gt  PathParts this DirectoryInfo source  string rootPath      if  source    null  return null    DirectoryInfo root   new DirectoryInfo rootPath     var pathParts   new List lt DirectoryInfo gt       var di   source     while  di    null  amp  amp  di FullName    root FullName          pathParts Add di       di   di Parent         pathParts Reverse      return pathParts

User · Answer

I wrote the following method which works for me.

protected bool isDirectoryFound(string path, string pattern)
    {
        bool success = false;

        DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path);
        DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

        Regex rx = new Regex(pattern);

        foreach (DirectoryInfo di in folderList)
        {
            if (rx.IsMatch(di.Name))
            {
                success = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        return success;
    }

The lines most pertinent to your question being:

DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path); DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

User · Answer

I see your method Wolf5370 and raise you  internal static List lt DirectoryInfo gt  Split this DirectoryInfo path        if path    null  throw new ArgumentNullException  quot path quot        var ret   new List lt DirectoryInfo gt         if  path Parent    null  ret AddRange Split path Parent        ret Add path       return ret     On the path c  folder1 folder2 folder3 this returns c   c  folder1 c  folder1 folder2 c  folder1 folder2 folder3 In that order OR internal static List lt string gt  Split this DirectoryInfo path        if path    null  throw new ArgumentNullException  quot path quot        var ret   new List lt string gt         if  path Parent    null  ret AddRange Split path Parent        ret Add path Name       return ret     will return c   folder1 folder2 folder3

User · Answer

public static IEnumerable lt string gt  Split this DirectoryInfo path        if  path    null           throw new ArgumentNullException  path        if  path Parent    null          foreach var d in Split path Parent               yield return d      yield return path Name

User · Answer

public static IEnumerable lt string gt  Split this DirectoryInfo path        if  path    null           throw new ArgumentNullException  path        if  path Parent    null          foreach var d in Split path Parent               yield return d      yield return path Name

User · Answer

Maybe call Directory GetParent in a loop  That s if you want the full path to each directory and not just the directory names

User · Answer

There are a few ways that a file path can be represented  You should use the System IO Path class to get the separators for the OS  since it can vary between UNIX and Windows  Also  most  or all if I m not mistaken   NET libraries accept either a     or a     as a path separator  regardless of OS  For this reason  I d use the Path class to split your paths  Try something like the following   string originalPath      server  folderName1  another  name  something  another folder     string   filesArray   originalPath Split Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar                                Path DirectorySeparatorChar     This should work regardless of the number of folders or the names

User · Answer

Or  if you need to do something with each folder  have a look at the System IO DirectoryInfo class  It also has a Parent property that allows you to navigate to the parent directory

User · Answer

This is good in the general case   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries    There is no empty element in the returned array if the path itself ends in a  back slash  e g    foo bar     However  you will have to be sure that yourPath is really a directory and not a file  You can find out what it is and compensate if it is a file like this   if Directory Exists yourPath       var entries   yourPath Split        StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else if File Exists yourPath       var entries   Path GetDirectoryName yourPath  Split                             StringSplitOptions RemoveEmptyEntries     else        error handling     I believe this covers all bases without being too pedantic  It will return a string   that you can iterate over with foreach to get each directory in turn   If you want to use constants instead of the       magic string  you need to use  var separators   new char       Path DirectorySeparatorChar      Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar        and then use separators instead of       in the code above  Personally  I find this too verbose and would most likely not do it

User · Answer

I wrote the following method which works for me.

protected bool isDirectoryFound(string path, string pattern)
    {
        bool success = false;

        DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path);
        DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

        Regex rx = new Regex(pattern);

        foreach (DirectoryInfo di in folderList)
        {
            if (rx.IsMatch(di.Name))
            {
                success = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        return success;
    }

The lines most pertinent to your question being:

DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path); DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

User · Answer

The quick answer is to use the  Split       method

User · Answer

Realise this is an old post  but I came across it looking - in the end I decided apon the below function as it sorted what I was doing at the time better than any of the above   private static List lt DirectoryInfo gt  SplitDirectory DirectoryInfo parent        if  parent    null  return null      var rtn   new List lt DirectoryInfo gt         var di   parent       while  di Name    di Root Name            rtn Add new DirectoryInfo di        di   di Parent            rtn Add new DirectoryInfo di Root         rtn Reverse        return rtn

User · Answer

There are a few ways that a file path can be represented  You should use the System IO Path class to get the separators for the OS  since it can vary between UNIX and Windows  Also  most  or all if I m not mistaken   NET libraries accept either a     or a     as a path separator  regardless of OS  For this reason  I d use the Path class to split your paths  Try something like the following   string originalPath      server  folderName1  another  name  something  another folder     string   filesArray   originalPath Split Path AltDirectorySeparatorChar                                Path DirectorySeparatorChar     This should work regardless of the number of folders or the names

User · Answer

Or  if you need to do something with each folder  have a look at the System IO DirectoryInfo class  It also has a Parent property that allows you to navigate to the parent directory

User · Answer

I wrote the following method which works for me.

protected bool isDirectoryFound(string path, string pattern)
    {
        bool success = false;

        DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path);
        DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

        Regex rx = new Regex(pattern);

        foreach (DirectoryInfo di in folderList)
        {
            if (rx.IsMatch(di.Name))
            {
                success = true;
                break;
            }
        }

        return success;
    }

The lines most pertinent to your question being:

DirectoryInfo directories = new DirectoryInfo(@path); DirectoryInfo[] folderList = directories.GetDirectories();

User · Answer

Maybe call Directory GetParent in a loop  That s if you want the full path to each directory and not just the directory names

User · Answer

Maybe call Directory GetParent in a loop  That s if you want the full path to each directory and not just the directory names

[c#] How does one extract each folder name from a path?

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