Develop Reference

C# get a textfile from EACH folder,

I have a folder structure similar to this:
HostnameA->DateTimeA->hashdumpDateTimeA.txt
HostnameA->DateTimeB->hashdumpDateTimeB.txt
HostnameA->DateTimeC->hashdumpDateTimeC.txt
HostnameA->DateTimeD->hashdumpDateTimeD.txt
My Goal:
Given a folder(in this case HostnameA) i need to:
1) Get each hashdumpDateTime.txt filename and place it in a String array -Assumed the file always exist in all folder-
2) Generate DropDownBox using the array (I can figure this out)
3) When user selects a filename via dropdownbox, it will fill my datagridview with the
contents (I can figure this out)
So my problem really is the #1 since i don't know how to make a loop to check the filename coming from a HostnameA folder, I need to know this since the DateTime of these filenames changes
I really appreciate the future help, thanks and cheers =)

You can use Directory.GetFiles method
var files = Directory.GetFiles("directoryPath","*.txt",SearchOption.AllDirectories)
That will give you all file names.If you don't want just names for example if you want file's full path, and some other attributes (like CreationTime, LastAccessTime) use DirectoryInfo class
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("path");
var files = di.GetFiles("*.txt",SearchOption.AllDirectories)
That will return an array of FileInfo instances.Then use a loop and do what you want with the files.

You doesn't need to know the exact name of DirectoryName or FileName, using a for loop and a searchPattern instead.
private string[] GetFileNames(string folder)
{
var files = new List<string>();
foreach (var dateTimeFolder in Directory.GetDirectories(folder))
{
files.AddRange(Directory.GetFiles(dateTimeFolder, "hashdump*.txt"));
}
return files.ToArray();
}

C# FileInfo Array to String Array

I have an array that stores files from a directory:
string pathToDirectory = #"C:\files";
System.IO.DirectoryInfo diDir = new DirectoryInfo(pathToDirectory);
System.IO.FileInfo[] File_Array = diDir.GetFiles();
foreach (FileInfo lfileInfo in File_Array)
{
}
I want to try and convert this array into a string type array instead of a FileInfo type. Please let me know how I can go about doing this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Use static Directory class instead. It returns files as strings instead of instantiating FileInfo instances which you don't need
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(pathToDirectory);
If you want just file names without path, then use Path to get rid of directory path:
var fileNames = Directory.GetFiles(pathToDirectory)
.Select(Path.GetFileName);

string[] fileNames = File_Array.Select(f => f.Name).ToArray();

File extension - c#

I have a directory that contains jpg,tif,pdf,doc and xls. The client DB conly contains the file names without extension. My app has to pick up the file and upload the file. One of the properties of the upload object is the file extension.
Is there a way of getting file extension if all i have is the path and name
eg:
C:\temp\somepicture.jpg is the file and the information i have through db is
c:\temp\somepicture

Use Directory.GetFiles(fileName + ".*"). If it returns just one file, then you find the file you need. If it returns more than one, you have to choose which to upload.

Something like this maybe:
DirectoryInfo D = new DirectoryInfo(path);
foreach (FileInfo fi in D.GetFiles())
{
if (Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(fi.FullName) == whatever)
// do something
}

You could obtain a list of all of the files with that name, regardless of extension:
public string[] GetFileExtensions(string path)
{
System.IO.DirectoryInfo directory =
new System.IO.DirectoryInfo(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(path));
return directory.GetFiles(
System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(path) + ".*")
.Select(f => f.Extension).ToArray();
}

Obviously, if you have no other information and there are 2 files with the same name and different extensions, you can't do anything (e.g. there is somepicture.jpg and somepicture.png at the same time).
On the other hand, usually that won't be the case so you can simply use a search pattern (e.g. somepicture.*) to find the one and only (if you're lucky) file.

Search for files named somepicture.* in that folder, and upload any that matches ?

Get the lowest level folder for each path. For your example, you would have:
'c:\temp\'
Then find any files that start with your filename in that folder, in this case:
'somepicture'
Finally, grab the extension off the matching filename. If you have duplicates, you would have to handle that in a unique way.

You would have to use System.IO.Directory.GetFiles() and iterate through all the filenames. You will run into issues when you have a collision like somefile.jpg and somefile.tif.
Sounds like you have bigger issues than just this and you may want to make an argument to store the file extension in your database as well to remove the ambiguity.

you could do something like this perhaps....
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("c:/temp/");
FileInfo[] rgFiles = di.GetFiles("somepicture.*");
foreach (FileInfo fi in rgFiles)
{
if(fi.Name.Contains("."))
{
string name = fi.Name.Split('.')[0].ToString();
string ext = fi.Name.Split('.')[1].ToString();
System.Console.WriteLine("Extension is: " + ext);
}
}

One more, with the assumption of no files with same name but different extension.
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(#"c:\temp", #"testasdadsadsas.*");
if (files.Length >= 1)
{
string fullFilenameAndPath = files[0];
Console.WriteLine(fullFilenameAndPath);
}

From the crippled file path you can get the directory path and the file name:
string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(filename);
string name = Path.GetFileName(filename);
Then you can get all files that matches the file name with any extension:
FileInfo[] found = new DirectoryInfo(path).GetFiles(name + ".*");
If the array contains one item, you have your match. If there is more than one item, you have to decide which one to use, or what to do with them.

All the pieces are here in the existing answers, but just trying to unify them into one answer for you - given the "guaranteed unique" declaration you're working with, you can toss in a FirstOrDefault since you don't need to worry about choosing among multiple potential matches.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var match = FindMatch(args[0]);
Console.WriteLine("Best match for {0} is {1}", args[0], match ?? "[None found]");
}
private static string FindMatch(string pathAndFilename)
{
return FindMatch(Path.GetDirectoryName(pathAndFilename), Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(pathAndFilename));
}
private static string FindMatch(string path, string filename)
{
return Directory.GetFiles(path, filename + ".*").FirstOrDefault();
}
Output:
> ConsoleApplication10 c:\temp\bogus
Best match for c:\temp\bogus is [None found]
> ConsoleApplication10 c:\temp\7z465
Best match for c:\temp\7z465 is c:\temp\7z465.msi
> ConsoleApplication10 c:\temp\boot
Best match for c:\temp\boot is c:\temp\boot.wim

how do i read the filenames inside the directory to an array

(i am using C# windows application)
i want to read all the FileNames of a directory to an array.. how do i read that..
( suppose consider a directory with a names ROOT,ROOT2
Let ROOT1 has a.txt,b.txt,c.txt
let ROOT2 has x.txt,y.txt,z.txt
i just want to read those things to my array ...
what is the way to read that...? ( or ) can you send me the code for that...?

If there are sub folders you want
string[] oFiles = Directory.GetFiles(sPath, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
otherwise you want
string[] oFiles = Directory.GetFiles(sPath);
or if you want to filter you want
string[] oFiles = Directory.GetFiles(sPath, "*");
To filter by .txt extension replace * with *.txt as the second argument.

This is some code to read the files in a directory:
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo("c:/root1");
FileInfo[] rgFiles = di.GetFiles("*.*");
foreach(FileInfo fi in rgFiles)
{
Response.Write("<br>" + fi.Name + "");
}
FileInfo is a string array containing all files.

string[] fileNames = Directory.GetFiles(directoryPath, "*", SearchOptions.AllDirectories)

A call to Directory.GetFiles(directoryPath) is what you want. If you want to go deeper into the structure of the path (get files in subfolders, etc) then qualify the call with SearchOptions.AllDirectories, or try looking here

Parse directory name from a full filepath in C#

If I have a string variable that has:
"C:\temp\temp2\foo\bar.txt"
and I want to get
"foo"
what is the best way to do this?

Use:
new FileInfo(#"C:\temp\temp2\foo\bar.txt").Directory.Name

Far be it for me to disagree with the Skeet, but I've always used
Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(#"C:\temp\temp2\foo\bar.txt")
I suspect that FileInfo actually touches the file system to get it's info, where as I'd expect that GetFileNameWithoutExtension is only string operations - so performance of one over the other might be better.

I think most simple solution is
DirectoryInfo dinfo = new DirectoryInfo(path);
string folderName= dinfo.Parent.Name;

Building on Handleman's suggestion, you can do:
Path.GetFileName(Path.GetDirectoryName(path))
This doesn't touch the filesystem (unlike FileInfo), and will do what's required. This will work with folders because, as the MSDN says:
Return value: The characters after the last directory character in path. If the last
character of path is a directory or volume separator character, this
method returns String.Empty. If path is null, this method returns
null.
Also, looking at the reference source confirms that GetFilename doesn't care if the path passed in is a file or a folder: it's just doing pure string manipulation.

I had an occasion when I was looping through parent child directories
string[] years = Directory.GetDirectories(ROOT);
foreach (var year in years)
{
DirectoryInfo info = new DirectoryInfo(year);
Console.WriteLine(info.Name);
Console.WriteLine(year);
//Month directories
string[] months = Directory.GetDirectories(year);
foreach (var month in months)
{
Console.WriteLine(month);
//Day directories
string[] days = Directory.GetDirectories(month);
foreach (var day in days)
{
//checkes the files in the days
Console.WriteLine(day);
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(day);
foreach (var file in files)
{
Console.WriteLine(file);
}
}
}
}
using this line I was able to get only the current directory name
DirectoryInfo info = new DirectoryInfo(year);
Console.WriteLine(info.Name);

It'll depend on how you want to handle the data, but another option is to use String.Split.
string myStr = #"C:\foo\bar.txt";
string[] paths = myStr.Split('\\');
string dir = paths[paths.Length - 2]; //returns "foo"
This doesn't check for an array out of bounds exception, but you get the idea.