Search for file in a directory and its sub-directories

Question

I would like to search all .txt files in a directory and its sub-directories. This is what I so far.

package com.gm.scratchpad;

import java.io.File; 
import java.util.ArrayList; 
import java.util.Arrays; 
import java.util.List;  

public class Main {     

    public static List<File> digFiles(File root, String typeOfFiles) {
        ArrayList<File> files = new ArrayList<File>();  
        File[] files1 = root.listFiles();          
        return Arrays.asList(files1);     
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {         
        System.out.println("Hey, here are the files we dug!");
        System.out.println(digFiles(new File("C:/development/scratchpad/test/vinvRoot"),null));    
    } 
}

What does "inheritance" have to do with loops? Please clarify. — PM 77-1, Feb 04 '15 at 02:16
I think you want to recursively search... at least that's what I think you want. What is your issue? — Daniel Kaplan, Feb 04 '15 at 02:19
Yeah, I need to make a loop in my code, which continuously searches for all the directory, sub directory and gets all the .txt files — Raja Patel, Feb 04 '15 at 02:21
So can you update your title and question to make it more precise and clear? — Adrian Shum, Feb 04 '15 at 02:39
have done it for you... next time please learn to ask in a smarter way, ok? — Adrian Shum, Feb 04 '15 at 02:42
You do need to recursively search. You haven't shown any atempt at that yet. — krillgar, Feb 04 '15 at 02:44
and this should help http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2056221/recursively-list-files-in-java — Adrian Shum, Feb 04 '15 at 02:47

score -1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 04 '15 at 02:44

-1

I suggest you use File.walkFileTree. See here for a description of how to use it.

answered Feb 04 '15 at 02:44

sprinter

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Adrian Shum · Answer 2 · 2015-02-04T02:52:59.587

I am not going to give you actual code. Here is a pseudo-code that should help. It is the most naive way of implementing. You should be able to improve it once you know how to implement:

List<File> findFiles(File directoryToSearch, String fileType) {
     List<File> result = ...;
     for each entry in directoryToSearch{
         if (entry is a directory) {
             result.addAll(findFiles(entry, fileType));
         } else if (entry is a file and entry is of fileType) {
             result.add(entry);
         }
     }
     return result;
}

Actually recursive directory walking is common and there is already a lot of utilities that can help.

Thank you sprinter and Adria Shum, this works. – Raja Patel Feb 04 '15 at 16:09 — Raja Patel, Feb 04 '15 at 16:09

Search for file in a directory and its sub-directories

2 Answers2