How do I read all the file names of a directory into an array?

Question

I want to store all the filenames inside a folder into an array. What's the best way to do this?

*WHY* do you want to read all the filenames in at once? That isn't a scalable solution since it's possible for a folder to contain many thousands of files. — the Tin Man, Mar 08 '13 at 14:10
These are .conf files created in apache2/sites-enabled. My guess is 3-10 files. — Linda, Mar 11 '13 at 08:58
Why is this not a "real" question? And who cares "why" the OP wants this? Here's an identical question that has been marked as useful >200 times, and its accepted answer (`Dir["/path/to/search/*"]`) is marked as useful >300 times... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1755665/get-names-of-all-files-from-a-folder-with-ruby <-- better mark it as **not real** too! muhaha! use your power! put someone down! feel good about yourself! Yeah! — user664833, Feb 21 '17 at 04:21

Daniel Hilgarth · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-08T11:32:11.707

5

You can use this:

files = Dir.foreach(dir).select { |x| File.file?("#{dir}/#{x}") }

This returns the filenames, i.e. without folder.

If you need the complete path, use something like this:

files = Dir.foreach(dir) \
           .map { |x| File.expand_path("#{dir}/#{x}") } \
           .select { |x| File.file?(x) }

edited Mar 08 '13 at 11:32

answered Mar 08 '13 at 11:11

Daniel Hilgarth

i think your code will work. The error is my problem. Thanks a lot. – Linda Mar 08 '13 at 11:18
@Kate: As you request, this gives you the filenames inside a folder. If you want the full path, you need to use the second version from my updated answer. – Daniel Hilgarth Mar 08 '13 at 11:19
Yeah, Thank you, tats great help.. – Linda Mar 08 '13 at 11:27
@Kate: Please see update. My previous versions failed when `dir` was anything other than the current directory. – Daniel Hilgarth Mar 08 '13 at 11:32
Sorry, Yeah no error with this version , Thanks for the extra effort.. – Linda Mar 08 '13 at 11:40

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 08 '13 at 11:26

2

You can use:

files = Dir.entries(directory)

that returns an array containing all the filenames in the given directory.

Take a look in the Ruby Doc for more information.

answered Mar 08 '13 at 11:26

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 08 '13 at 14:11

1

you can also use files=Dir.glob(*).

edited Mar 08 '13 at 14:11

the Tin Man

answered Mar 08 '13 at 11:47

sunny1304

3 Answers3