C# - Directory And DirectoryInfo Class

Directory And DirectoryInfo Class

DirectoryInfo Class

The DirectoryInfo class provides various instance methods and properties for creating, deleting, and manipulating directories. The following table describes some of the common methods you can use to programmatically manipulate directories.

Method	Description
Create	Creates a directory.
CreateSubdirectory	Creates a subdirectory.
Delete	Deletes a directory.
GetDirectories	Gets the subdirectories of the current directory.
GetFiles	Gets the file list from a directory.

And here are some of the common properties:

Properties	Description
Exists	Indicates if a directory exists.
Parent	Gets the parent of the current directory.
FullName	Gets the full path name of the directory.
CreationTime	Gets or sets the creation time of current directory.

To see how to use the DirectoryInfo class, consider the following example:

using System;
using System.IO;
namespace WorkingWithDirectoryInfo
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string path = @"C:\My Folder";
            DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(path);
            try
            {
                //---if directory does not exists---
                if (!di.Exists)
                {
                    //---create the directory---
                    di.Create(); //---c:\My Folder---
                                 //---creates subdirectories---
                    di.CreateSubdirectory("Subdir1"); //---c:\My Folder\Subdir1---
                    di.CreateSubdirectory("Subdir2"); //---c:\My Folder\Subdir2---
                }
                //---print out some info about the directory---
                Console.WriteLine(di.FullName);
                Console.WriteLine(di.CreationTime);
                //---get and print all the subdirectories---
                DirectoryInfo[] subDirs = di.GetDirectories();
                foreach (DirectoryInfo subDir in subDirs)
                    Console.WriteLine(subDir.FullName);
                //---get the parent of C:\My folder---
                DirectoryInfo parent = di.Parent;
                if (parent.Exists)
                {
                    //---prints out C:\---
                    Console.WriteLine(parent.FullName);
                }
                //---creates C:\My Folder\Subdir3---
                DirectoryInfo newlyCreatedFolder =di.CreateSubdirectory("Subdir3");
                //---deletes C:\My Folder\Subdir3---
                newlyCreatedFolder.Delete();
            }
            catch (IOException ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Directory Class

The Directory class is similar to DirectoryInfo class. The key difference between is that Directory exposes static members instead of instance members. The Directory class also exposes only methods — no properties. Some of the commonly used methods are described in the following table.

Method	Description
CreateDirectory	Creates a subdirectory.
Delete	Deletes a specified directory.
Exists	Indicates if a specified path exists.
GetCurrentDirectory	Gets the current working directory.
GetDirectories	Gets the subdirectories of the specified path.
GetFiles	Gets the file list from a specified directory.
SetCurrentDirectory	Sets the current working directory.

Here’s the previous program using the DirectoryInfo class rewritten to use the Directory class:

using System;
using System.IO;
namespace WorkingWithDirectory
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string path = @"C:\My Folder";
            try
            {
                //---if directory does not exists---
                if (!Directory.Exists(path))
                {
                    //---create the directory---
                    Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
                    //---set the current directory to C:\My Folder---
                    Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(path);//---creates subdirectories---
                                                        //---c:\My Folder\Subdir1---
                    Directory.CreateDirectory("Subdir1");
                    //---c:\My Folder\Subdir2---
                    Directory.CreateDirectory("Subdir2");
                }
                //---set the current directory to C:\My Folder---
                Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(path);
                //---print out some info about the directory---
                Console.WriteLine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());
                Console.WriteLine(Directory.GetCreationTime(path));
                //---get and print all the subdirectories---
                string[] subDirs = Directory.GetDirectories(path);
                foreach (string subDir in subDirs)
                    Console.WriteLine(subDir);
                //---get the parent of C:\My folder---
                DirectoryInfo parent = Directory.GetParent(path);
                if (parent.Exists)
                {
                    //---prints out C:\---
                    Console.WriteLine(parent.FullName);
                }
                //---creates C:\My Folder\Subdir3---
                Directory.CreateDirectory("Subdir3");
                //---deletes C:\My Folder\Subdir3---
                Directory.Delete("Subdir3");
            }
            catch (IOException ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
    
}