How do I get a list of files in a directory in C

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How do you get a list of files within a directory so each can be processed

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You have to use operating system calls  e g  the Win32 API  or a wrapper around them  I tend to use Boost Filesystem as it is superior interface compared to the mess that is the Win32 API  as well as being cross platform    If you are looking to use the Win32 API  Microsoft has a list of functions and examples on msdn

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void getFilesList String filePath String extension  vector lt string gt   amp  returnFileName        WIN32 FIND DATA fileInfo      HANDLE hFind         String  fullPath   filePath   extension      hFind   FindFirstFile fullPath c str     amp fileInfo       if  hFind    INVALID HANDLE VALUE  return        else           return FileName push back filePath fileInfo cFileName           while  FindNextFile hFind   amp fileInfo     0               return FileName push back filePath fileInfo cFileName                    String optfileName               String inputFolderPath        String extension      jpg     getFilesList inputFolderPath extension filesPaths    vector lt string gt   const iterator it   filesPaths begin     while  it    filesPaths end           frame   imread  it    read file names               doyourwork here   frame        sprintf buf    s Out  d jpg   optfileName c str   it- gt c str         imwrite buf frame          it

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If you re in Windows  amp  using MSVC  the MSDN library has sample code that does this   And here s the code from that link    include  lt windows h gt   include  lt tchar h gt    include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt strsafe h gt   void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction    int  tmain int argc  TCHAR  argv         WIN32 FIND DATA ffd     LARGE INTEGER filesize     TCHAR szDir MAX PATH      size t length of arg     HANDLE hFind   INVALID HANDLE VALUE     DWORD dwError 0         If the directory is not specified as a command-line argument        print usage      if argc    2              tprintf TEXT   nUsage   s  lt directory name gt  n    argv 0          return  -1               Check that the input path plus 2 is not longer than MAX PATH      StringCchLength argv 1   MAX PATH   amp length of arg       if  length of arg  gt   MAX PATH - 2               tprintf TEXT   nDirectory path is too long  n           return  -1             tprintf TEXT   nTarget directory is  s n n    argv 1           Prepare string for use with FindFile functions   First  copy the       string to a buffer  then append      to the directory name      StringCchCopy szDir  MAX PATH  argv 1       StringCchCat szDir  MAX PATH  TEXT                 Find the first file in the directory      hFind   FindFirstFile szDir   amp ffd       if  INVALID HANDLE VALUE    hFind              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile           return dwError               List all the files in the directory with some info about them      do            if  ffd dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY                    tprintf TEXT     s    lt DIR gt  n    ffd cFileName                 else                  filesize LowPart   ffd nFileSizeLow           filesize HighPart   ffd nFileSizeHigh            tprintf TEXT     s    ld bytes n    ffd cFileName  filesize QuadPart                   while  FindNextFile hFind   amp ffd     0       dwError   GetLastError       if  dwError    ERROR NO MORE FILES              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile              FindClose hFind      return dwError      void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction             Retrieve the system error message for the last-error code      LPVOID lpMsgBuf      LPVOID lpDisplayBuf      DWORD dw   GetLastError          FormatMessage          FORMAT MESSAGE ALLOCATE BUFFER            FORMAT MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM           FORMAT MESSAGE IGNORE INSERTS          NULL          dw          MAKELANGID LANG NEUTRAL  SUBLANG DEFAULT            LPTSTR   amp lpMsgBuf          0  NULL            Display the error message and exit the process      lpDisplayBuf    LPVOID LocalAlloc LMEM ZEROINIT            lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpMsgBuf  lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpszFunction  40  sizeof TCHAR         StringCchPrintf  LPTSTR lpDisplayBuf           LocalSize lpDisplayBuf    sizeof TCHAR           TEXT   s failed with error  d   s             lpszFunction  dw  lpMsgBuf        MessageBox NULL   LPCTSTR lpDisplayBuf  TEXT  Error    MB OK         LocalFree lpMsgBuf       LocalFree lpDisplayBuf

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But boost  filesystem can do that  http   www boost org doc libs 1 37 0 libs filesystem example simple ls cpp

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HANDLE WINAPI FindFirstFile      in   LPCTSTR lpFileName      out  LPWIN32 FIND DATA lpFindFileData      Setup the attributes to only look for directories

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Here s an example in C on Linux   That s if  you re on Linux and don t mind doing this small bit in ANSI C    include  lt dirent h gt   DIR  dpdf  struct dirent  epdf   dpdf   opendir        if  dpdf    NULL      while  epdf   readdir dpdf          printf  Filename   s  epdf- gt d name            std  cout  lt  lt  epdf- gt d name  lt  lt  std  endl         closedir dpdf

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HANDLE WINAPI FindFirstFile      in   LPCTSTR lpFileName      out  LPWIN32 FIND DATA lpFindFileData      Setup the attributes to only look for directories

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If you re in Windows  amp  using MSVC  the MSDN library has sample code that does this   And here s the code from that link    include  lt windows h gt   include  lt tchar h gt    include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt strsafe h gt   void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction    int  tmain int argc  TCHAR  argv         WIN32 FIND DATA ffd     LARGE INTEGER filesize     TCHAR szDir MAX PATH      size t length of arg     HANDLE hFind   INVALID HANDLE VALUE     DWORD dwError 0         If the directory is not specified as a command-line argument        print usage      if argc    2              tprintf TEXT   nUsage   s  lt directory name gt  n    argv 0          return  -1               Check that the input path plus 2 is not longer than MAX PATH      StringCchLength argv 1   MAX PATH   amp length of arg       if  length of arg  gt   MAX PATH - 2               tprintf TEXT   nDirectory path is too long  n           return  -1             tprintf TEXT   nTarget directory is  s n n    argv 1           Prepare string for use with FindFile functions   First  copy the       string to a buffer  then append      to the directory name      StringCchCopy szDir  MAX PATH  argv 1       StringCchCat szDir  MAX PATH  TEXT                 Find the first file in the directory      hFind   FindFirstFile szDir   amp ffd       if  INVALID HANDLE VALUE    hFind              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile           return dwError               List all the files in the directory with some info about them      do            if  ffd dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY                    tprintf TEXT     s    lt DIR gt  n    ffd cFileName                 else                  filesize LowPart   ffd nFileSizeLow           filesize HighPart   ffd nFileSizeHigh            tprintf TEXT     s    ld bytes n    ffd cFileName  filesize QuadPart                   while  FindNextFile hFind   amp ffd     0       dwError   GetLastError       if  dwError    ERROR NO MORE FILES              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile              FindClose hFind      return dwError      void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction             Retrieve the system error message for the last-error code      LPVOID lpMsgBuf      LPVOID lpDisplayBuf      DWORD dw   GetLastError          FormatMessage          FORMAT MESSAGE ALLOCATE BUFFER            FORMAT MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM           FORMAT MESSAGE IGNORE INSERTS          NULL          dw          MAKELANGID LANG NEUTRAL  SUBLANG DEFAULT            LPTSTR   amp lpMsgBuf          0  NULL            Display the error message and exit the process      lpDisplayBuf    LPVOID LocalAlloc LMEM ZEROINIT            lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpMsgBuf  lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpszFunction  40  sizeof TCHAR         StringCchPrintf  LPTSTR lpDisplayBuf           LocalSize lpDisplayBuf    sizeof TCHAR           TEXT   s failed with error  d   s             lpszFunction  dw  lpMsgBuf        MessageBox NULL   LPCTSTR lpDisplayBuf  TEXT  Error    MB OK         LocalFree lpMsgBuf       LocalFree lpDisplayBuf

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Here s an example in C on Linux   That s if  you re on Linux and don t mind doing this small bit in ANSI C    include  lt dirent h gt   DIR  dpdf  struct dirent  epdf   dpdf   opendir        if  dpdf    NULL      while  epdf   readdir dpdf          printf  Filename   s  epdf- gt d name            std  cout  lt  lt  epdf- gt d name  lt  lt  std  endl         closedir dpdf

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You have to use operating system calls  e g  the Win32 API  or a wrapper around them  I tend to use Boost Filesystem as it is superior interface compared to the mess that is the Win32 API  as well as being cross platform    If you are looking to use the Win32 API  Microsoft has a list of functions and examples on msdn

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Or you do this and then read out the test txt     include  lt windows h gt   int main         system  dir  b  gt  test txt        The   b  means just filenames are returned  no further info

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Here s what I use      Returns a list of files in a directory  except the ones that begin with a dot      void GetFilesInDirectory std  vector lt string gt   amp out  const string  amp directory     ifdef WINDOWS     HANDLE dir      WIN32 FIND DATA file data       if   dir   FindFirstFile  directory         c str     amp file data      INVALID HANDLE VALUE          return     No files found         do           const string file name   file data cFileName          const string full file name   directory         file name          const bool is directory    file data dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY     0           if  file name 0                      continue           if  is directory              continue           out push back full file name         while  FindNextFile dir   amp file data         FindClose dir    else     DIR  dir      class dirent  ent      class stat st       dir   opendir directory       while   ent   readdir dir      NULL            const string file name   ent- gt d name          const string full file name   directory         file name           if  file name 0                      continue           if  stat full file name c str     amp st     -1              continue           const bool is directory    st st mode  amp  S IFDIR     0           if  is directory              continue           out push back full file name             closedir dir    endif      GetFilesInDirectory

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Solving this will require a platform specific solution  Look for opendir   on unix linux or FindFirstFile   on Windows  Or  there are many libraries that will handle the platform specific part for you

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If you re in Windows  amp  using MSVC  the MSDN library has sample code that does this   And here s the code from that link    include  lt windows h gt   include  lt tchar h gt    include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt strsafe h gt   void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction    int  tmain int argc  TCHAR  argv         WIN32 FIND DATA ffd     LARGE INTEGER filesize     TCHAR szDir MAX PATH      size t length of arg     HANDLE hFind   INVALID HANDLE VALUE     DWORD dwError 0         If the directory is not specified as a command-line argument        print usage      if argc    2              tprintf TEXT   nUsage   s  lt directory name gt  n    argv 0          return  -1               Check that the input path plus 2 is not longer than MAX PATH      StringCchLength argv 1   MAX PATH   amp length of arg       if  length of arg  gt   MAX PATH - 2               tprintf TEXT   nDirectory path is too long  n           return  -1             tprintf TEXT   nTarget directory is  s n n    argv 1           Prepare string for use with FindFile functions   First  copy the       string to a buffer  then append      to the directory name      StringCchCopy szDir  MAX PATH  argv 1       StringCchCat szDir  MAX PATH  TEXT                 Find the first file in the directory      hFind   FindFirstFile szDir   amp ffd       if  INVALID HANDLE VALUE    hFind              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile           return dwError               List all the files in the directory with some info about them      do            if  ffd dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY                    tprintf TEXT     s    lt DIR gt  n    ffd cFileName                 else                  filesize LowPart   ffd nFileSizeLow           filesize HighPart   ffd nFileSizeHigh            tprintf TEXT     s    ld bytes n    ffd cFileName  filesize QuadPart                   while  FindNextFile hFind   amp ffd     0       dwError   GetLastError       if  dwError    ERROR NO MORE FILES              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile              FindClose hFind      return dwError      void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction             Retrieve the system error message for the last-error code      LPVOID lpMsgBuf      LPVOID lpDisplayBuf      DWORD dw   GetLastError          FormatMessage          FORMAT MESSAGE ALLOCATE BUFFER            FORMAT MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM           FORMAT MESSAGE IGNORE INSERTS          NULL          dw          MAKELANGID LANG NEUTRAL  SUBLANG DEFAULT            LPTSTR   amp lpMsgBuf          0  NULL            Display the error message and exit the process      lpDisplayBuf    LPVOID LocalAlloc LMEM ZEROINIT            lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpMsgBuf  lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpszFunction  40  sizeof TCHAR         StringCchPrintf  LPTSTR lpDisplayBuf           LocalSize lpDisplayBuf    sizeof TCHAR           TEXT   s failed with error  d   s             lpszFunction  dw  lpMsgBuf        MessageBox NULL   LPCTSTR lpDisplayBuf  TEXT  Error    MB OK         LocalFree lpMsgBuf       LocalFree lpDisplayBuf

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Or you do this and then read out the test txt     include  lt windows h gt   int main         system  dir  b  gt  test txt        The   b  means just filenames are returned  no further info

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But boost  filesystem can do that  http   www boost org doc libs 1 37 0 libs filesystem example simple ls cpp

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But boost  filesystem can do that  http   www boost org doc libs 1 37 0 libs filesystem example simple ls cpp

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After combining a lot of snippets  I finally found a reuseable solution for Windows  that uses ATL Library  which comes with Visual Studio    include  lt atlstr h gt   void getFiles CString directory        HANDLE dir      WIN32 FIND DATA file data      CString  file name  full file name      if   dir   FindFirstFile  directory           amp file data      INVALID HANDLE VALUE                   Invalid directory            while  FindNextFile dir   amp file data             file name   file data cFileName          full file name   directory   file name          if  strcmp file data cFileName          0  amp  amp  strcmp file data cFileName           0                        std  string fileName   full file name GetString                   Do stuff with fileName                     To access the method  just call   getFiles  i   Folder1

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Here s what I use      Returns a list of files in a directory  except the ones that begin with a dot      void GetFilesInDirectory std  vector lt string gt   amp out  const string  amp directory     ifdef WINDOWS     HANDLE dir      WIN32 FIND DATA file data       if   dir   FindFirstFile  directory         c str     amp file data      INVALID HANDLE VALUE          return     No files found         do           const string file name   file data cFileName          const string full file name   directory         file name          const bool is directory    file data dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY     0           if  file name 0                      continue           if  is directory              continue           out push back full file name         while  FindNextFile dir   amp file data         FindClose dir    else     DIR  dir      class dirent  ent      class stat st       dir   opendir directory       while   ent   readdir dir      NULL            const string file name   ent- gt d name          const string full file name   directory         file name           if  file name 0                      continue           if  stat full file name c str     amp st     -1              continue           const bool is directory    st st mode  amp  S IFDIR     0           if  is directory              continue           out push back full file name             closedir dir    endif      GetFilesInDirectory

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You can use the following code for getting all files in a directory A simple modification in the Andreas Bonini answer to remove the occurance of     and       CString dirpath  d   mydir  DWORD errVal   ERROR SUCCESS  HANDLE dir  WIN32 FIND DATA file data  CString  file name full file name  if   dir   FindFirstFile  dirname          amp file data      INVALID HANDLE VALUE        errVal ERROR INVALID ACCEL HANDLE      return errVal     while  FindNextFile dir   amp file data         file name   file data cFileName      full file name   dirname  file name      if  strcmp file data cFileName          0  amp  amp  strcmp file data cFileName           0                m List AddTail full file name

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Here s an example in C on Linux   That s if  you re on Linux and don t mind doing this small bit in ANSI C    include  lt dirent h gt   DIR  dpdf  struct dirent  epdf   dpdf   opendir        if  dpdf    NULL      while  epdf   readdir dpdf          printf  Filename   s  epdf- gt d name            std  cout  lt  lt  epdf- gt d name  lt  lt  std  endl         closedir dpdf

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I ve just asked a similar question and here s my solution based on answer received  using boost  filesystem library     include  lt string gt   include  lt iostream gt   include  lt boost filesystem hpp gt  using namespace std  using namespace boost  filesystem   int main         path p  D  AnyFolder        for  auto i   directory iterator p   i    directory iterator    i                  if   is directory i- gt path       we eliminate directories in a list                       cout  lt  lt  i- gt path   filename   string    lt  lt  endl                    else             continue            Output is like   file1 txt file2 dat

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Solving this will require a platform specific solution  Look for opendir   on unix linux or FindFirstFile   on Windows  Or  there are many libraries that will handle the platform specific part for you

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Here s an example in C on Linux   That s if  you re on Linux and don t mind doing this small bit in ANSI C    include  lt dirent h gt   DIR  dpdf  struct dirent  epdf   dpdf   opendir        if  dpdf    NULL      while  epdf   readdir dpdf          printf  Filename   s  epdf- gt d name            std  cout  lt  lt  epdf- gt d name  lt  lt  std  endl         closedir dpdf

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Solving this will require a platform specific solution  Look for opendir   on unix linux or FindFirstFile   on Windows  Or  there are many libraries that will handle the platform specific part for you

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But boost  filesystem can do that  http   www boost org doc libs 1 37 0 libs filesystem example simple ls cpp

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C  11 Linux version    include  lt dirent h gt   if  auto dir   opendir  some dir           while  auto f   readdir dir             if   f- gt d name    f- gt d name 0                      continue     Skip everything that starts with a dot          printf  File   s n   f- gt d name             closedir dir

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I ve just asked a similar question and here s my solution based on answer received  using boost  filesystem library     include  lt string gt   include  lt iostream gt   include  lt boost filesystem hpp gt  using namespace std  using namespace boost  filesystem   int main         path p  D  AnyFolder        for  auto i   directory iterator p   i    directory iterator    i                  if   is directory i- gt path       we eliminate directories in a list                       cout  lt  lt  i- gt path   filename   string    lt  lt  endl                    else             continue            Output is like   file1 txt file2 dat

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If you re in Windows  amp  using MSVC  the MSDN library has sample code that does this   And here s the code from that link    include  lt windows h gt   include  lt tchar h gt    include  lt stdio h gt   include  lt strsafe h gt   void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction    int  tmain int argc  TCHAR  argv         WIN32 FIND DATA ffd     LARGE INTEGER filesize     TCHAR szDir MAX PATH      size t length of arg     HANDLE hFind   INVALID HANDLE VALUE     DWORD dwError 0         If the directory is not specified as a command-line argument        print usage      if argc    2              tprintf TEXT   nUsage   s  lt directory name gt  n    argv 0          return  -1               Check that the input path plus 2 is not longer than MAX PATH      StringCchLength argv 1   MAX PATH   amp length of arg       if  length of arg  gt   MAX PATH - 2               tprintf TEXT   nDirectory path is too long  n           return  -1             tprintf TEXT   nTarget directory is  s n n    argv 1           Prepare string for use with FindFile functions   First  copy the       string to a buffer  then append      to the directory name      StringCchCopy szDir  MAX PATH  argv 1       StringCchCat szDir  MAX PATH  TEXT                 Find the first file in the directory      hFind   FindFirstFile szDir   amp ffd       if  INVALID HANDLE VALUE    hFind              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile           return dwError               List all the files in the directory with some info about them      do            if  ffd dwFileAttributes  amp  FILE ATTRIBUTE DIRECTORY                    tprintf TEXT     s    lt DIR gt  n    ffd cFileName                 else                  filesize LowPart   ffd nFileSizeLow           filesize HighPart   ffd nFileSizeHigh            tprintf TEXT     s    ld bytes n    ffd cFileName  filesize QuadPart                   while  FindNextFile hFind   amp ffd     0       dwError   GetLastError       if  dwError    ERROR NO MORE FILES              ErrorHandler TEXT  FindFirstFile              FindClose hFind      return dwError      void ErrorHandler LPTSTR lpszFunction             Retrieve the system error message for the last-error code      LPVOID lpMsgBuf      LPVOID lpDisplayBuf      DWORD dw   GetLastError          FormatMessage          FORMAT MESSAGE ALLOCATE BUFFER            FORMAT MESSAGE FROM SYSTEM           FORMAT MESSAGE IGNORE INSERTS          NULL          dw          MAKELANGID LANG NEUTRAL  SUBLANG DEFAULT            LPTSTR   amp lpMsgBuf          0  NULL            Display the error message and exit the process      lpDisplayBuf    LPVOID LocalAlloc LMEM ZEROINIT            lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpMsgBuf  lstrlen  LPCTSTR lpszFunction  40  sizeof TCHAR         StringCchPrintf  LPTSTR lpDisplayBuf           LocalSize lpDisplayBuf    sizeof TCHAR           TEXT   s failed with error  d   s             lpszFunction  dw  lpMsgBuf        MessageBox NULL   LPCTSTR lpDisplayBuf  TEXT  Error    MB OK         LocalFree lpMsgBuf       LocalFree lpDisplayBuf

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void getFilesList String filePath String extension  vector lt string gt   amp  returnFileName        WIN32 FIND DATA fileInfo      HANDLE hFind         String  fullPath   filePath   extension      hFind   FindFirstFile fullPath c str     amp fileInfo       if  hFind    INVALID HANDLE VALUE  return        else           return FileName push back filePath fileInfo cFileName           while  FindNextFile hFind   amp fileInfo     0               return FileName push back filePath fileInfo cFileName                    String optfileName               String inputFolderPath        String extension      jpg     getFilesList inputFolderPath extension filesPaths    vector lt string gt   const iterator it   filesPaths begin     while  it    filesPaths end           frame   imread  it    read file names               doyourwork here   frame        sprintf buf    s Out  d jpg   optfileName c str   it- gt c str         imwrite buf frame          it

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Solving this will require a platform specific solution  Look for opendir   on unix linux or FindFirstFile   on Windows  Or  there are many libraries that will handle the platform specific part for you

User · Answer

After combining a lot of snippets  I finally found a reuseable solution for Windows  that uses ATL Library  which comes with Visual Studio    include  lt atlstr h gt   void getFiles CString directory        HANDLE dir      WIN32 FIND DATA file data      CString  file name  full file name      if   dir   FindFirstFile  directory           amp file data      INVALID HANDLE VALUE                   Invalid directory            while  FindNextFile dir   amp file data             file name   file data cFileName          full file name   directory   file name          if  strcmp file data cFileName          0  amp  amp  strcmp file data cFileName           0                        std  string fileName   full file name GetString                   Do stuff with fileName                     To access the method  just call   getFiles  i   Folder1

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You can use the following code for getting all files in a directory A simple modification in the Andreas Bonini answer to remove the occurance of     and       CString dirpath  d   mydir  DWORD errVal   ERROR SUCCESS  HANDLE dir  WIN32 FIND DATA file data  CString  file name full file name  if   dir   FindFirstFile  dirname          amp file data      INVALID HANDLE VALUE        errVal ERROR INVALID ACCEL HANDLE      return errVal     while  FindNextFile dir   amp file data         file name   file data cFileName      full file name   dirname  file name      if  strcmp file data cFileName          0  amp  amp  strcmp file data cFileName           0                m List AddTail full file name

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C  11 Linux version    include  lt dirent h gt   if  auto dir   opendir  some dir           while  auto f   readdir dir             if   f- gt d name    f- gt d name 0                      continue     Skip everything that starts with a dot          printf  File   s n   f- gt d name             closedir dir

[c++] How do I get a list of files in a directory in C++?

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