How to locate a file on multiple directories using C#

Question

I am searching for a file say "abc.txt" on multiple directories. These directories are comma seperated values like

string paths= 'C:/hello,D:/Hello';

How can I search for "abc.txt" using the above comma seperated directories?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You will just need to split the string on the commas then use the DirectoryInfo class to search each directory in turn:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143327.aspx

string paths= 'C:/hello,D:/Hello';
string[] pathList = paths.Split(',');
string searchPattern = "abc.txt";
foreach (string path in pathList)
{
    DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(path);
    FileInfo[] files = di.GetFiles(searchPattern, SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
}

Answer 2

1. You need to split your string from comma:

string paths= 'C:/hello,D:/Hello';

 string[] words = paths.Split(',');

1. Now you need to get the directory letter from each string token

   foreach (string word in words) {

string directoryName = word.Split(':/')[0];

string searchString = word.Split(':/')[1];

}

Now write your search logic to search in directory.

Answer 3

Split your string based on comma, (I hope you don't have any comma in directory names)

string[] directories = paths.Split(',');
var files = new List<string>();
foreach (string str in directories)
     {
       DirectoryInfo d = new DirectoryInfo(str);
       files.AddRange(Directory.GetFiles(d.FullName, "abc.txt", SearchOption.AllDirectories));
     }

Your files will contain all the abc.txt files in the directories with complete path

Answer 4

I would not suggest using a comma separated list unless you have absolute control over file names (which I assume you don't since you need to to search multiple places).

Keep in mind that file names can contain characters like ',' and ';' which would be an obvious choice for separating the list. If you're in control of creating the list I'd suggest using the pipe char ('|'), it's readable and it can't be part of a file name.

But if you have control over the file names you can simply use split like others have already suggested.

Answer 5

Assuming that there are no commas in file or directory names

string paths= @"C:/hello,D:/Hello";

string multipaths = paths.Split(',');

foreach (string str in multipaths)
{
    string filepath = Path.Combine(str, "abc.txt");

   //Do what you want from these files.
}

Answer 6

your can use split method for that

    string paths= 'C:/hello,D:/Hello';
    string[] words = paths.Split(',');
    foreach (string word in words)
    {
        SearchInDirectory(word)
    }

Answer 7

split Your folders string and search that directory

to search for folder and files you may wanna have a look here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997370.aspx