Directory class

System.IO.Directory class in the .NET Framework class library provides static methods
for creating, copying, moving, and deleting directories and subdirectories. Before you
can use the Directory class, you must import the System.IO namespace.

1. using System.IO;

Create a Folder in C#
Directory.CreateDirectory method creates a directory or folder in the specified path with
the specified Windows security. You can also create a directory on a remote computer.

The following code snippet creates a Temp folder in C:\ drive if the directory does not
exists already. Assuming the account running the code has admin permissions.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. string subdir = @"C:\Temp\Mahesh";
3. // If directory does not exist, create it.
4. if (!Directory.Exists(root))
5. {
6. Directory.CreateDirectory(root);
7. }

Directory.CreateDirectory is also creates a sub directory or sub folder. All you have to
do is to specify the path of the folder in which this subdirectory will be created in. The
following code snippet creates 'Mahesh' subdirectory in C:\Temp directory.

1. // Create sub directory

2. if (!Directory.Exists(subdir))
3. {
4. Directory.CreateDirectory(subdir);
5. }

Delete a folder in C#
Directory.Delete method deletes an empty folder from the specified path permanently. If
a folder has sub folders and/or files, you must delete them before you can delete a
folder. If you try to delete a file that is not empty, you will get an error message.

The following code snippet deletes the destination folder.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. // If directory does not exist, don't even try
3. if (Directory.Exists(root))
 4. {
5. Directory.Delete(root);
6. }

The following code snippet checks if a directory has subdirectories and files and delete
them before deleting a directory.

Check if a folder Exists

Directory.Exists method checks if the specified directory exists. The following code
snippet checks if a directory exists or not and deletes only if the directory exists.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. // If directory does not exist, don't even try
3. if (Directory.Exists(root))
4. {
5. Directory.Delete(root);
6. }

Move a folder in C#
Directory.Move method moves an existing directory to a new specified directory with full
path. The Move method takes two parameters. The Move method deletes the original
directory.

The following code snippet moves the source directory to the destination directory.

1. string sourceDirName = @"C:\Temp";

2. string destDirName = @"C:\NewTemp";
3. try
4. {
5. Directory.Move(sourceDirName, destDirName);
6. }
7. catch (IOException exp)
8. {
9. Console.WriteLine(exp.Message);
10. }

Copy a folder in C#
There is no method to copy a directory. The copying a directory is a process of creating
a new directory that you to want a directory to move to and then copying subdirectory
and files.
Get and Set Directory Creation Time
The SetCreationTime and GetCreationTime methods are used to set and get the
creation date and time of the specified file. The following code snippet sets and gets the
creation time of a file.

1. // Get and set file creation time

2. string fileName = @"c:\temp\Mahesh.txt";
3. File.SetCreationTime(fileName, DateTime.Now);
4. DateTime dt = File.GetCreationTime(fileName);
5. Console.WriteLine("File created time: {0}",dt.ToString());

Get and Set File Last Access Time

The SetLastAccessTime and GetLastAccessTime methods are used to set and get the
last access date and time of the specified file. The following code snippet sets and gets
the last access date and time of a file.

1. // Get and set file last access time

2. string fileName = @"c:\temp\Mahesh.txt";
3. File.SetLastAccessTime(fileName,DateTime.Now);
4. DateTime dt = File.GetLastAccessTime(fileName);
5. Console.WriteLine("File last access time: {0}", dt.ToString
());

Get and Set File Last Write Time

The SetLastWriteTime and GetLastWriteTime methods are used to set and get the last
write date and time of the specified file. The following code snippet sets and gets the
last write date and time of a file.

1. // Get and set file last write time

2. string fileName = @"c:\temp\Mahesh.txt";
3. File.SetLastWriteTime(fileName,DateTime.Now);
4. DateTime dt = File.GetLastWriteTime(fileName);
5. Console.WriteLine("File last write time: {0}", dt.ToString(
));

Enumerate Directory in C#
The Directory.EnumerateDirectories method returns an enumerable collection of
directory names in the specified directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

 2. // Get a list of all subdirectories
3. var dirs = from dir in
4. Directory.EnumerateDirectories(root)
5. select dir;
6. Console.WriteLine("Subdirectories: {0}", dirs.Count<string>
().ToString());
7. Console.WriteLine("List of Subdirectories");
8. foreach (var dir in dirs)
9. {
10. Console.WriteLine("{0}", dir.Substring(dir.LastInd
exOf("\\") + 1));
11. }
12.
13. // Get a list of all subdirectories starting with 'Ma'

14. var MaDirs = from dir in

15. Directory.EnumerateDirectories(root, "Ma*")
16. select dir;
17. Console.WriteLine("Subdirectories: {0}", MaDirs.Count<
string>().ToString());
18. Console.WriteLine("List of Subdirectories");
19. foreach (var dir in MaDirs)
20. {
21. Console.WriteLine("{0}", dir.Substring(dir.LastInd
exOf("\\") + 1));
22. }

Enumerate Files in C#
The Directory.EnumerateFiles method returns an enumerable collection of file names in
the specified directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2.
3. // Get a list of all subdirectories
4. var files = from file in
5. Directory.EnumerateFiles(root)
6. select file;
7. Console.WriteLine("Files: {0}", files.Count<string>().ToStr
ing());
8. Console.WriteLine("List of Files");
9. foreach (var file in files)
10. {
11. Console.WriteLine("{0}", file);
12. }
Get and Set File Creation Time
The Directory.SetCreationTime and Directory.GetCreationTime methods are used to set
and get the creation date and time of the specified directory. The following code snippet
sets and gets the creation time of a directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. // Get and Set Creation time
3. Directory.SetCreationTime(root, DateTime.Now);
4. DateTime creationTime = Directory.GetCreationTime(root);
5. Console.WriteLine(creationTime);

Get and Set File Last Access Time

The SetLastAccessTime and GetLastAccessTime methods are used to set and get the
last access date and time of the specified directory. The following code snippet sets and
gets the last access date and time of a directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. // Get and Set Last Access time
3. Directory.SetLastAccessTime(root, DateTime.Now);
4. DateTime lastAccessTime = Directory.GetLastAccessTime(root)
;
5. Console.WriteLine(lastAccessTime);

Get and Set File Last Write Time

The SetLastWriteTime and GetLastWriteTime methods are used to set and get the last
write date and time of the specified directory. The following code snippet sets and gets
the last write date and time of a directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. // Get and Set Last Write time
3. Directory.SetLastWriteTime(root, DateTime.Now);
4. DateTime lastWriteTime =Directory.GetLastWriteTime(root);
5. Console.WriteLine(lastWriteTime);

Get and Set Current Directory in C#

The SetCurrentDirectory method sets the specified directory as the current directory.
The GetCurrentDirectory method returns the current directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(root);
 3.
4. Console.WriteLine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());

Get Sub Directories in C#

The GetDirectories method of the Directory class loads all the subdirectories of a
directory. To get all subdirectories, we can read subdirectories recursively.

1. public void GetSubDirectories()

2. {
3. string root = @"C:\Temp";
4. // Get all subdirectories
5. string[] subdirectoryEntries = Directory.GetDirectories
(root);
6. // Loop through them to see if they have any other subd
irectories
7. foreach (string subdirectory in subdirectoryEntries)
8. LoadSubDirs(subdirectory);
9. }
10. private void LoadSubDirs(string dir)
11. {
12. Console.WriteLine(dir);
13. string[] subdirectoryEntries = Directory.GetDirect
ories(dir);
14. foreach (string subdirectory in subdirectoryEntrie
s)
15. {
16. LoadSubDirs(subdirectory);
17. }
18. }

Get Files in a Directory in C#

The GetFiles method gets a list of files in the specified directory.

1. string root = @"C:\Temp";

2. string[] fileEntries = Directory.GetFiles(root);
3. foreach (string fileName in fileEntries);
4. Console.WriteLine(fileName);

Get Root Directory in C#

The GetRootDirecoty method returns the root directory of the specified directory.
 1. string root = @"C:\Temp";
2. Console.WriteLine(Directory.GetDirectoryRoot(root));

Get all drives in C#

The GetLogicalDrives method returns all the logical drives on a system.

1. string[] drives = System.IO.Directory.GetLogicalDrives();

2. foreach (string drive in drives)
3. {
4. System.Console.WriteLine(drive);
5. }