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The Directory class is defined in the System.IO namespace and it provides us static methods to perform the directory manipulation operations such as:

• Creating a directory.
• Renaming a directory.
• Enumerate all file names in a directory.
• Enumerate all subdirectory names in a directory.
• Moving a directory.
• Deleting a directory.

Directory class also allows us to get and set the directory specific information such as its creation time, last access time, the last time it was written to.

Some commonly used methods of Directory class

Methods	Description
DirectoryInfo CreateDirectory(String path)	This method creates all directories and sub-directories in the specified path, only if they don't already exist.
void Move(String sourceDirectoryName, String destDirectoryName)	This method moves a specified directory to a new location, providing the option to specify a new directory name at the destination.
void Delete(String path)	This method deletes the directory specified by the path.
String[] GetFiles(String path)	This method returns the full names of the files in the directory specified by path.
String[] GetFiles(String path, String pattern)	This method returns the full names of the files with the specified specific pattern in the directory specified by path.
String[] GetDirectories(String path)	This method returns the names of sub-directories in the specified directory..
String GetCurrentDirectory(String path)	This method returns the name of the current working directory.
bool Exists(String path)	This method determines whether the specified directory exists or not.
DateTimeGetCreationTime(String path)	This method returns the creation time of the specified directory or directory.
void SetCreationTime(String path, DateTime time)	This method sets the creation time the specified directory or directory.
DateTime GetLastAccessTime(String path)	This method returns the last access time of the specified directory or directory.
void SetLastAccessTime(String path, DateTime time)	This method sets the last access time of the specified directory or directory was written to.
DateTime GetLastWriteTime(String path)	This method returns the last access time of the specified directory or directory was written to.
void SetLastWriteTime(String path, DateTime time)	This method sets the last time the specified directory or directory was written to.

• Using the Directory class to create a new directory.


In this example, we are going to create a new directory by calling the CreateDirectory() method of Directory class, which returns us a DirectoryInfo object, using which we could perform directory related operations.



//C# Using the Directory class to create a directory

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;

class A
{
public static void Main(String[] ar)
{
	 try
	{
		//Calling the CreateDirectory(String path) method of Directory
		//Which creates a new directory at the specified path
		//and returns a DirectoryInfo object to peform directory related operations.
		DirectoryInfo fs = Directory.CreateDirectory("D:\\My new folder");
	}
	catch(IOException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine(e);
	}
}
}



After executing the program, an empty directory called "My new folder" is created in D: drive.




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• Enumerate all the files in a directory.


In this example, we are going to open an existing directory and enumerate files in it by calling its GetFiles() method, which returns a String array containing the full names of the files in the directory specified by path.



//C# Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
//Which returns a String array of the full names for the files in the directory specified by path

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class A
{
public static void Main(String[] ar)
{
	 try
	{

		//Creating a String
		String directory = "D:\\";
		

		Console.WriteLine("List of files in the specified " + directory);

		//Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
		String[] files = Directory.GetFiles(directory);
			

		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			Console.WriteLine(fileName);
	}
	catch(IOException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine(e);
	}
}
}





Output is -:




List of files in the specified D:\
D:\Book1.pdf
D:\Book2.pdf
D:\Mypage.htm
D:\c250.cs
D:\File2.txt
D:\File3.txt
D:\MyFile1.txt
D:\MyFile10.txt
D:\MyFile11.txt








• Getting files in a directory matching the specific String search pattern.


In this example, we are going to open an existing directory and enumerate files in it by calling its GetFiles(String path, String, searchPattern) method, which returns a String array containing the full names of the files in the directory matching the searchPattern, where:
• The searchPattern can be a combination of literal characters and wildcard characters. The following wildcard specifiers are permitted in searchPattern:




Wildcards characters	Description
*	Zero or more characters in that position.
?	Zero or one character in that position.



Characters other than the wildcard are literal characters. For example, the searchPattern string "*r" searches for all names in path ending with the letter "r", with zero or more characters before it. The searchPattern string "d*" searches for all names in path beginning with the letter "d", with zero or more characters after it.



//C# Calling a different version of GetFiles() method of Directory class
//To get all file names ending in the specified directory with a specific String pattern 

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class A
{
public static void Main(String[] ar)
{
	 try
	{

		//Creating a String
		String directory = "D:\\";
		

		Console.WriteLine("List of files ending with .txt pattern in " + directory);

		//Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
		//To get all file names ending with ".txt" pattern 
		//And using wildcard character *, for any number of characters before ".txt"
		String[] files = Directory.GetFiles(directory, "*.txt");
			
		//Using foreach loop to enumerate the matching file names
		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			Console.WriteLine(fileName);


		//Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
		//To get all file names starting with "M" pattern 
		//And using wildcard character *, for any number of characters before "M*"
		files = Directory.GetFiles(directory, "M*");
			
		Console.WriteLine("List of files starting with M pattern in " + directory);
			
		//Using foreach loop to enumerate the matching file names
		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			Console.WriteLine(fileName);


	}
	catch(IOException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine(e);
	}
}
}





Output is -:




List of files ending with .txt pattern in D:\
D:\File2.txt
D:\File3.txt
D:\MyFile1.txt
D:\MyFile10.txt
D:\MyFile11.txt
List of files starting with M pattern in D:\
D:\MyFile1.txt
D:\MyFile10.txt
D:\MyFile11.txt








• Using the Directory class to move an existing directory.


In this example, we are going to call the Move(String sourceDirectoryName, String destDirectoryName) method of Directory class to move an existing directory and its files to another location(within the same volume).

Calling the Move() method does not make a copy of a directory and its contents, it permanently moves a directory and its contents to a new location.

Let us move the directory D:\My new folder with contents:

Haha.txt
heheheh.txt





//C# Using the Directory to move a directory to another location(in the same volume)

using System;
using System.IO;

class A
{
public static void Main(String[] ar)
{
	try
	{
		//Creating two String objects
		String sourceDirectory = "D:\\My new folder";
		String destinationDirectory = "D:\\My new folder2";


		Console.WriteLine("Files in  the " + sourceDirectory);
		
		//Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
		//To get files in the source directory(before calling the Move() method)
		String[] files = Directory.GetFiles(sourceDirectory);	

		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			Console.WriteLine(fileName);

		
		Console.WriteLine("Moving the " + sourceDirectory + " to " + destinationDirectory);

		//Calling the Move() method of Directory
		//which moves a directory present in D: Drive to E: Drive and with a new name
		Directory.Move(sourceDirectory, destinationDirectory);



		Console.WriteLine("List of files in the newly created " + destinationDirectory);

		//Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
		//To get files in the newly created directory(which was created by calling the Move() method)
		files = Directory.GetFiles(destinationDirectory);
			

		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			Console.WriteLine(fileName);
	}
	catch(IOException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine(e);
	}

}
}





Output is -:




Files in  the D:\My new folder
D:\My new folder\Haha.txt
D:\My new folder\heheheh.txt
Moving the D:\My new folder to D:\My new folder2
List of files in the newly created D:\My new folder2
D:\My new folder2\Haha.txt
D:\My new folder2\heheheh.txt



The IOException is thrown when:
• An attempt was made to move a directory to a different volume.
• There is an existing directory with your choosen destination directory name.
• The directory or a file within it to be moved is being used by another process.





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• Using the Directory class to get the directory specific information.


In this example, we are going to call the static methods of Directory class to get some directory specific information such as its creation time, last access time and the last time it was written to.



//C# Using the Directory to find get and set the directory information
//such as its last access time, creating time and last write time.


using System;
using System.IO;

class A
{
public static void Main(String[] ar)
{
	try
	{
		//Creating a String
		String directory = "D:\\My new folder2";	

		Console.WriteLine("Getting the directory specific information about directory " + directory);
	
		//Getting the creating time of the specified directory
		DateTime d = Directory.GetCreationTime(directory);
		Console.WriteLine("Creation time of the directory: " + d.ToString());
	
		//Getting the last write time of the specified directory
		d = Directory.GetLastWriteTime(directory);
		Console.WriteLine("Last write time of the directory: " + d.ToString());

		//Getting the last access time of the specified directory
		d = Directory.GetLastAccessTime(directory);
		Console.WriteLine("Last access time of directory: " + d.ToString());
	}
	catch(IOException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine(e);
	}

}
}





Output is -:




Getting the directory specific information about directory D:\My new folder2
Creation time of the directory: 17-01-2020 15:47:19
Last write time of the directory: 17-01-2020 16:55:22
Last access time of directory: 17-01-2020 17:08:41








• Using the Directory class to delete an existing directory.


In this example, we are going to call the Delete() method of Directory class to delete an existing directory.



//C# Calling the Delete() method of Directory class to delete an existing directory

using System;
using System.IO;

class A
{
public static void Main(String[] ar)
{
	try
	{
		//Creating a String
		String directory = "D:\\My new folder";

		
		//Calling the GetFiles() method of Directory class
		String[] files = Directory.GetFiles(directory);

		Console.WriteLine("Contents of the directory " + directory);
		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			Console.WriteLine(fileName);
			

		Console.WriteLine("Deleting the Contents of the directory to empty it " + directory);

		foreach(String fileName in files)	
			File.Delete(fileName);
		

		Console.WriteLine("Deleting the directory " + directory);

		//Calling the Delete() method of Directory class to delete an existing directory
		Directory.Delete(directory);


	}
	catch(IOException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine(e);
	}

}
}





Output




Contents of the directory D:\My new folder
D:\My new folder\Haha.txt
D:\My new folder\Heheheh.txt
Deleting the Contents of the directory to empty it D:\My new folder
Deleting the directory D:\My new folder



The program when executed, prints the contents of a directory that we want to delete, it then deletes all its contents(one by one) and then finally delete the directory.

The program may throw an IOException, if the directory you want to delete is still in use or is not empty.

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