Listing directories by content size using C#

Question

I'm trying to list all folders of my c drive excluding the document folder which i do not seem to have access to. This first seemed rather simple to me but i found myself still struggling with it despite the seemingly rich .net library.

I can't post any code as what i have tried so far does not really work.

Hope someone will suggest something.

"i found myself still struggling with it" Perhaps you could, at a minimum, describe what you're struggling with. It looks like it might be permissions, but that would be a guess. At the moment, this question reads like a request for a tutorial, which is off-topic for SO. — spender, Jun 15 '15 at 12:00
start with root directory, iterate over folders/files, check size. keep in list or dictionary. use to your heart content. Not being able to show anything if you tried sounds rather .... suspicious ... — Noctis, Jun 15 '15 at 12:01
I have administrative right on my laptop. the reason i'm excluding documents folder is because of i get "access denied error" — Meelfan Bmfp, Jun 15 '15 at 12:03
Bear in mind that from Windows Vista, the folder `C:\Documents and Settings\ ` is not a true folder. It is a [junction point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point) to `C:\Users\ `. — Phylogenesis, Jun 15 '15 at 12:05
I've already voted as "too broad", however this is a clear dupe of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5098011/directory-enumeratefiles-unauthorizedaccessexception — spender, Jun 15 '15 at 12:07
I started out with the code describerd here : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/bb546154(v=vs.100).aspx — Meelfan Bmfp, Jun 15 '15 at 12:08

Orkun Bekar · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-15T13:32:18.760

1

A small example here:

class DirectorySize
{
    public string DirectoryName;
    public long DirectorySizes;
}

public class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string[] cDirectories = Directory.GetDirectories("C:\\");

        List<DirectorySize> listSizes = new List<DirectorySize>();

        for (int i = 0; i < cDirectories.Length; i++)
        {
            long size = GetDirectorySize(cDirectories[i]);

            if(size != -1)
            {
                listSizes.Add(new DirectorySize() { DirectoryName = cDirectories[i], DirectorySizes = size });
            }
        }
    }

    private static long GetDirectorySize(string folderPath)
    {
        try
        {
           DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(folderPath);
           return di.EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Sum(fi => fi.Length);
        }
        catch
        {
           // If you get Access denied error handle it here
           return -1;
        }
    }
}

edited Jun 15 '15 at 13:32

answered Jun 15 '15 at 12:08

Orkun Bekar

1,447
1
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i get "Access to the path 'C:\Documents and Settings' is denied." – Meelfan Bmfp Jun 15 '15 at 12:12
i modified your code as follow: .return di.EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Where(c=>c.DirectoryName.Contains("Documents and Settings")==false).Sum(fi => fi.Length); still same exception – Meelfan Bmfp Jun 15 '15 at 12:15
@MeelfanBmfp Yes. It's not enumeratable by any user by default, it's just a compatibility fix for old applications that hardcoded the user profile paths. You'll notice that you *can* enumerate `C:\Documents and Settings\%username%`. – Phylogenesis Jun 15 '15 at 12:17
@Phylogenesis, thanks for the info. How do i correct the code above to work while leaving out the documents path which i can do without? – Meelfan Bmfp Jun 15 '15 at 12:27
When do you get the exception? In GetDirectorySize function? – Orkun Bekar Jun 15 '15 at 12:28
on "... return di.EnumerateFiles..." – Meelfan Bmfp Jun 15 '15 at 12:29
Then send each cDirectories element to that method in a for loop. Put GetDirectorySize function in try catch. If it throws exception then never mind it and go on with next cDirectories element. – Orkun Bekar Jun 15 '15 at 12:30
See the edited answer. – Orkun Bekar Jun 15 '15 at 12:35
Great, that worked fine. Is there a way to include any subfolders? – Meelfan Bmfp Jun 15 '15 at 12:54
I just noticed that the windows folder was not included. Any idea why? – Meelfan Bmfp Jun 15 '15 at 13:03
For subfolders you can call Directory.GetDirectories method for each cDirectories element inside for loop. Also Windows folder is included for me. Can you check it again? – Orkun Bekar Jun 15 '15 at 13:34

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Another way of doing this is to implement a LINQ extension method (shamelessly stolen from the top answer to this question:

public static class Extensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<T> SkipExceptions<T>(this IEnumerable<T> values)
    {
        using (var enumerator = values.GetEnumerator())
        {
            bool next = true;
            while (next)
            {
                try
                {
                    next = enumerator.MoveNext();
                }
                catch
                {
                    continue;
                }

                if (next) yield return enumerator.Current;
            }
        }
    }
}

Then you can run your enumerator as follows:

DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\");
var size =
  di.EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
    .SkipExceptions()
    .Sum(fi => fi.Length);

Rather clever way of doing this. Can this one be modified to include subfolders? — Meelfan Bmfp, Jun 15 '15 at 13:27

Listing directories by content size using C#

2 Answers2