List all files and directories in a directory + subdirectories

Question

I want to list every file and directory contained in a directory and subdirectories of that directory. If I chose C:\ as the directory, the program would get every name of every file and folder on the hard drive that it had access to.

A list might look like

fd\1.txt
fd\2.txt
fd\a\
fd\b\
fd\a\1.txt
fd\a\2.txt
fd\a\a\
fd\a\b\
fd\b\1.txt
fd\b\2.txt
fd\b\a
fd\b\b
fd\a\a\1.txt
fd\a\a\a\
fd\a\b\1.txt
fd\a\b\a
fd\b\a\1.txt
fd\b\a\a\
fd\b\b\1.txt
fd\b\b\a

Solution 1

string[] allfiles = Directory.GetFiles("path/to/dir", "*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

where *.* is pattern to match files

If the Directory is also needed you can go like this:

 foreach (var file in allfiles){
     FileInfo info = new FileInfo(file);
 // Do something with the Folder or just add them to a list via nameoflist.add();
 }

Solution 2

Directory.GetFileSystemEntries exists in .NET 4.0+ and returns both files and directories. Call it like so:

string[] entries = Directory.GetFileSystemEntries(path, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

Note that it won't cope with attempts to list the contents of subdirectories that you don't have access to (UnauthorizedAccessException), but it may be sufficient for your needs.

Solution 3

public static void DirectorySearch(string dir)
{
    try
    {
        foreach (string f in Directory.GetFiles(dir))
        {
            Console.WriteLine(Path.GetFileName(f));
        }
        foreach (string d in Directory.GetDirectories(dir))
        {
            Console.WriteLine(Path.GetFileName(d));
            DirectorySearch(d);
        }
    }
    catch (System.Exception ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
    }
}

Note: the function shows only names without relative paths.

Solution 4

Use the GetDirectories and GetFiles methods to get the folders and files.

Use the SearchOption AllDirectories to get the folders and files in the subfolders also.

Solution 5

I am afraid, the GetFiles method returns list of files but not the directories. The list in the question prompts me that the result should include the folders as well. If you want more customized list, you may try calling GetFiles and GetDirectories recursively. Try this:

List<string> AllFiles = new List<string>();
void ParsePath(string path)
{
    string[] SubDirs = Directory.GetDirectories(path);
    AllFiles.AddRange(SubDirs);
    AllFiles.AddRange(Directory.GetFiles(path));
    foreach (string subdir in SubDirs)
        ParsePath(subdir);
}

Tip: You can use FileInfo and DirectoryInfo classes if you need to check any specific attribute.

View more solutions

Comments

[Lucero]

Browse the System.IO namespace for classes and methods that might help you.

[Sergey Kalinichenko]

Check out this question, and drop the part where he's matching a pattern.

[JoshRivers]

possible duplicate of How to recursively list all the files in a directory in C#?

[Lucero]

Use Substring to cut off the left part of the name. :)

[Lucero]

Won't really work... Lsit<>class? What does GetFiles return? And what about the directory names which were also requested?

[Guffa]

The GetFiles method returns a string array.

[Ruslan F.]

actualy...you are right... I'm learning Qt abaout 2 days ago and was mistaken a little

[derp_in_mouth]

This might work, but it often fails with an UnauthorizedAccessException. How would search only directories it can access?

[Ruslan F.]

it means that in your system this app hasn't got enough permissions

[default locale]

Your answer doesn't add anything new to an already existing top-voted answer.

[Alastair Maw]

It's also wrong, as this doesn't return any directories (as the question specified), only actual files.

[Alex]

It would improve your answer if you can add a little explanation of what the code does.

[kayleeFrye_onDeck]

It's probably file attributes, @derp_in_mouth ; even if I run a .NET app as Invoker, and I'm admin, if I say, want to delete a file that is R/O, I need to remove the Read-Only attribute before I can mess with it.

[Steve Smith]

This is by far the best answer here. It gets all files and folders in one line of code, which none of the others do.

[PreguntonCojoneroCabrón]

Using Tasks for big huge number files and directories ?

[Markus]

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff477033(v=vs.110).aspx is the Parallel Threading version of the above solution using a stack collection and quicker.

[Gusdor]

@Lucero How and why would you do that? Path offers more reliable methods.

[Lucero]

@Gusdor Feel free to suggest a more suitable way using the Path for removing a fixed left part of the path, e.g. `C:` in the example given.

[Gusdor]

@Lucero my comment was poorly phrased. 'Use substring' doesnt tell me a lot and I had to get stuck into linqpad to derive a nice solution. For example, what would the parameter be? Are you going to do path.SubString(2) to naively remove drive letter and colon? What if the directory is a network share? I suggest Path as a reliable method because it can provide loads of goodies in this area. In this case, you may write filePath.Substring(Path.GetPathRoot(filePath).Length). Yes this uses Substring as it is the most concise.

[MarthyM]

Could you please provide an explanation or in-line comments, what your code does?

[Sascha]

of course, done it, but it should be self explanatory, it's a simple looping recursion through all the directories and files

[I.Step]

It goes recursively through the directory and prints filenames or directory names. For every inner directory it calls the same function. For more information: stackoverflow.com/questions/929276/…

[TidyDev]

This does not get sub directories.

[sairfan]

To list all sub directories (not files) only based on file type string[] allDir = System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(@"D:\\Images\", "*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

[Yen Dang]

I get some hidden folders such as: "F:\$RECYCLE.BIN", "F:\System Volume Information". How to ignore these folder (get only files and folders display on view)

[Caius Jard]

@YenDang call File.GetAttributes on the path - the MSDN example code specifically demos hidden files