Recursive iteration in C#

Question

I have a custom object that contains methods that returns all directory and file names in a root

string[] dirlist = obj.GetDirectories();

//which returns all dir names in root

string[] filelist = obj.GetFiles();

//which return all file names in root

I cannot modify these methods. Once I get the dirlist, how do i get a list of all subdirs in it as well as files in the subdirs, ignoring the security exceptions. It can be nested to multiple levels. Anything in .NET 4?

Update: string[] dirList can also be read as List dirlist. Please give a solution that uses the latest features of .NET

DirectoryOne  
 - SubDirOne  
 - SubDirTwo  
     - FileOne  
     - FileTwo
     - SubDirThree      
DirectoryTwo
DirectoryOne

Can you provide an example of the result you want to achieve? — michele
– michele, Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 10:39
Not 100% sure what you want, do you just want to recursively get all folders and files? — gideon
– gideon, Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 10:39
yes once i get the dirlist, I want to loop through each dir and get a list of nested subdirs and finally file in that subdir — learningdb
– learningdb, Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 10:40
@lea do dirlist and filelist return ALL folders and files including in sub folders of the root? Do they both return the full path? — user447356
– user447356, Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 10:40
no that's the issue..dirlist just returns the directory names. Somehow i have to get the subdirs from these names — learningdb
– learningdb, Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 10:43

Daniel T. · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-27 10:53:15Z

9

There are already built-in .NET methods to do this:

// get all files in folder and sub-folders
Directory.GetFiles(path, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

// get all sub-directories
Directory.GetDirectories(path, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

Somehow I get the feeling this isn't the solution you're looking for though.

Update: I think I may know what you're trying to ask, since you tagged it as LINQ. If you want to get a list of all sub-directories and sub-folders given a list of directories, you can use the following code:

// get all files given a collection of directories as a string array
dirList.SelectMany(x => Directory.GetFiles(x, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories));

// get all sub-directories given a collection of directories as a string array
dirList.SelectMany(x => x.Directory.GetDirectories(x, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories));

edited Jan 27, 2011 at 10:53

answered Jan 27, 2011 at 10:39

Daniel T.

38.6k37 gold badges146 silver badges207 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

6 Comments

learningdb Over a year ago

yes what do I give in the path..that's the issue. Actually the API they have given me is pretty screwed up.

Daniel T. Over a year ago

Whoops, changed dirList.Select to dirList.SelectMany.

learningdb Over a year ago

will this code also get directories inside subdirs? I mean it can nested to any level. So for eg: a subdir may contain some files and some more dirs which may contains files and dirs and so on. I want to list them all.

Daniel T. Over a year ago

Yes, it will recursively go down and get all files/directories from all sub-directories, no matter how deep.

learningdb Over a year ago

ok thanks one last ques..i have updated the question to show a preview of the output i wanted. How can i get the output..should i store the result in a list or print on console. Any ideas how to do either of them

|

gideon · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-27 10:45:57Z

0

Have a look at the Directory Class

foreach(string dir in Directory.GetDirectories("c:\","",SearchOption.AllDirectories))
{
 Console.Writeline(dir);
 foreach(string file in Directory.GetFiles(dir))
 {
   Console.Writline(file);
 } 
}

This will print all directories under C:\ and then all the files in each of those directories. Does that help?

answered Jan 27, 2011 at 10:45

gideon

19.5k11 gold badges74 silver badges114 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Recursive iteration in C#

2 Answers 2

6 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

6 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related