Efficient way to decide between file or directory deletion

Question

My method get array of string as an argument, that represent paths to files and directories that my program have to delete. In foreach loop i have no idea if string represent path to file or directory, so i don't know which method i should use File.Delete() or Directory.Delete.

I create something like this but i think it could be done better :)

foreach (string path in deleteItems)
        {
            try
            {
                Directory.Delete(path, true);
            }   
            catch (IOException)
            {
                try { File.Delete(path); }
                catch (IOException e) { Console.WriteLine(e); }
            }
        }

Somebody have any idea how to do this code better?

Edit: or i think it could be better

            if(File.Exists(path))
            {
                File.Delete(path);
                continue;
            }
            if(Directory.Exists(path))
            {
                Directory.Delete(path);
                continue;
            }

Check this [previous question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1395205/better-way-to-check-if-path-is-a-file-or-a-directory-c-net). — Sander, Jun 26 '13 at 14:07

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 26 '13 at 14:08

1

If you want to see whether or not the string is a file or a directory, simple check to see whether it is one of the two using;

foreach (string path in deleteItems)
{
  if(File.Exists(path)){
    File.Delete(path);
  }elseif(Directory.Exists(path)){
    Directory.Delete(path);
  }
}

answered Jun 26 '13 at 14:08

Sander

1,264
1
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Yeah, sort of figured that you would come to that conclusion eventually :) – Sander Jun 26 '13 at 14:26

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

As mentioned in this answer you should check the FileAttributes:

foreach (string path in deleteItems)
{
    FileAttributes attr = File.GetAttributes(@"c:\Temp");
    //detect whether its a directory or file
    if ((attr & FileAttributes.Directory) == FileAttributes.Directory)
        Directory.Delete(path, true);
    else
        File.Delete(path);
}

(omitted exception handling for better readability)

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 26 '13 at 14:25

0

Why not use Directory.Exists(path) for eg

if(Directory.Exists(path))

   Directory.Delete(path);

else

   File.Delete(path);

edited Jun 26 '13 at 14:25

Mariyan

664
6
20

answered Jun 26 '13 at 14:16

AAB

1,594
2
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Efficient way to decide between file or directory deletion

3 Answers3