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I was wondering how I could use c# to find a specific file (example cheese.exe) within all possible directories? And then store the path to the directory it found it in?

abatishchev
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Steven
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2 Answers2

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This code fragment retrieves a list of all logical drives on the machine and then searches all folders on the drive for files that match the filename "Cheese.exe". Once the loop has completed, the List "files" contains the 

     var files = new List<string>();
     //@Stan R. suggested an improvement to handle floppy drives...
     //foreach (DriveInfo d in DriveInfo.GetDrives())
     foreach (DriveInfo d in DriveInfo.GetDrives().Where(x => x.IsReady == true))
     {
        files.AddRange(Directory.GetFiles(d.RootDirectory.FullName, "Cheese.exe", SearchOption.AllDirectories));
     }
Hamish Smith
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    Almost - you need to add in the SearchOption – Reed Copsey Aug 04 '09 at 00:54
  • what happens when you dont have access to the give directory...say "Documents and Settings" :) – Stan R. Aug 04 '09 at 00:55
  • yeah, some exception handling will be necessary - the fragment will fail on most machines because the floppy drive isn't ready. It shows the syntax for the GetFiles method though, which is what is needed. – Hamish Smith Aug 04 '09 at 01:02
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    @Hamish: you could do this to quickly handle the floppy issue. DriveInfo.GetDrives().Where(x => x.IsReady == true) – Stan R. Aug 04 '09 at 01:08
3

If you want to know a little more about the mechanics of searching multiple directories, Googling revealed this post. It has a good solution and explanation of recursing through directories yourself. You can change the filespec in Directory.GetFiles to match your search string and probably use it as is.

The link is unfortunately dead now, but in a nutshell the solution basically boils down to:

string[] files = Directory.GetFiles("C:\\Starting\\Path\\For\\Search\\",
    "cheese.exe",
    SearchOption.AllDirectories);

Note the filespec (second parameter) accepts wildcards, so you can also search for ".exe" or even ".*" to list all files recursively.

lc.
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