Saving a file and automatically create directories

Question

I am concatenating a number of variables and I want to save that string as a file path.

Is there a way it will automatically create all appropriate directories if they don't exist without having to check "if exists" on each one

For example.

"C:\" + a + "\" + b+ "\" + d + "\" + d + ".txt"

Possible duplicate of [If a folder does not exist, create it](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9065598/if-a-folder-does-not-exist-create-it) — Michael Freidgeim, Nov 28 '16 at 03:04

score 70 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '09 at 00:54

70

Use new FileInfo(path).Directory.Create().

(This creates anything in the hierarchy that's required. If the directory already exists it does nothing.)

answered Mar 19 '09 at 00:54

Jon Skeet

As you can not be sure to find a FileInfo for the path I would add a conditional access: `new FileInfo(destFileName).Directory?.Create();` – DaveM Sep 18 '20 at 12:59
1

@DaveM: Can you give an example where `FileInfo.Directory` will return null? I'm not sure what you mean by "can not be sure to find a FileInfo for the path", but in at least some failure cases, an exception will be thrown rather than returning null - I can't see any documentation for cases where this will return null. – Jon Skeet Sep 18 '20 at 15:30
Yes ur absolutely right. Sorry I made a mistake here. As you mentioned the docs say: _DirectoryNotFoundException_ ... when _The specified path is invalid, such as being on an unmapped drive_. There does not seem to be a case `FileInfo.Directory` will return null – DaveM Sep 23 '20 at 07:08

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 19 '09 at 00:57

15


using System.IO;
....
Directory.CreateDirectory(@"c:\temp\a\b\c\d\e");

answered Mar 19 '09 at 00:57

shahkalpesh

1

Don't forget an if (Directory.Exists(...) check. – ProfK Mar 19 '09 at 20:48
7

@ProfK no need to check if directory exists, **Directory.CreateDirectory()** already does that – forcewill Mar 16 '15 at 14:38

2 Answers2