Can you call Directory.GetFiles() with multiple fi

Question

I am trying to use the Directory.GetFiles() method to retrieve a list of files of multiple types, such as mp3's and jpg's. I have tried both of the following with no luck:

Directory.GetFiles("C:\\path", "*.mp3|*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
Directory.GetFiles("C:\\path", "*.mp3;*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

Is there a way to do this in one call?

Answer 1

If you are using VB.NET (or imported the dependency into your C# project), there actually exists a convenience method that allows to filter for multiple extensions:

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem.GetFiles("C:\\path", Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.SearchOption.SearchAllSubDirectories, new string[] {"*.mp3", "*.jpg"});

In VB.NET this can be accessed through the My-namespace:

My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles("C:\path", FileIO.SearchOption.SearchAllSubDirectories, {"*.mp3", "*.jpg"})

Unfortunately, these convenience methods don't support a lazily evaluated variant like Directory.EnumerateFiles() does.

Answer 2

If you have a large list of extensions to check you can use the following. I didn't want to create a lot of OR statements so i modified what lette wrote.

string supportedExtensions = "*.jpg,*.gif,*.png,*.bmp,*.jpe,*.jpeg,*.wmf,*.emf,*.xbm,*.ico,*.eps,*.tif,*.tiff,*.g01,*.g02,*.g03,*.g04,*.g05,*.g06,*.g07,*.g08";
foreach (string imageFile in Directory.GetFiles(_tempDirectory, "*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Where(s => supportedExtensions.Contains(Path.GetExtension(s).ToLower())))
{
    //do work here
}

Answer 3

Another way to use Linq, but without having to return everything and filter on that in memory.

var files = Directory.GetFiles("C:\\path", "*.mp3", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Union(Directory.GetFiles("C:\\path", "*.jpg", SearchOption.AllDirectories));

It's actually 2 calls to GetFiles(), but I think it's consistent with the spirit of the question and returns them in one enumerable.

Answer 4

I know it's old question but LINQ: (.NET40+)

var files = Directory.GetFiles("path_to_files").Where(file => Regex.IsMatch(file, @"^.+\.(wav|mp3|txt)$"));

Answer 5

/// <summary>
/// Returns the names of files in a specified directories that match the specified patterns using LINQ
/// </summary>
/// <param name="srcDirs">The directories to seach</param>
/// <param name="searchPatterns">the list of search patterns</param>
/// <param name="searchOption"></param>
/// <returns>The list of files that match the specified pattern</returns>
public static string[] GetFilesUsingLINQ(string[] srcDirs,
     string[] searchPatterns,
     SearchOption searchOption = SearchOption.AllDirectories)
{
    var r = from dir in srcDirs
            from searchPattern in searchPatterns
            from f in Directory.GetFiles(dir, searchPattern, searchOption)
            select f;

    return r.ToArray();
}

Answer 6

hope this helps someone:

//getting only playable Audio/Video Files from open dialog

OpenFileDialog dlg = new OpenFileDialog();

dlg.Filter = ""All Media Files|*.wav;*.aac;*.wma;*.wmv;*.avi;*.mpg;*.mpeg;*.m1v;*.mp2;*.mp3;*.mpa;*.mpe;*.m3u;*.mp4;*.mov;*.3g2;*.3gp2;*.3gp;*.3gpp;*.m4a;*.cda;*.aif;*.aifc;*.aiff;*.mid;*.midi;*.rmi;*.mkv;*.WAV;*.AAC;*.WMA;*.WMV;*.AVI;*.MPG;*.MPEG;*.M1V;*.MP2;*.MP3;*.MPA;*.MPE;*.M3U;*.MP4;*.MOV;*.3G2;*.3GP2;*.3GP;*.3GPP;*.M4A;*.CDA;*.AIF;*.AIFC;*.AIFF;*.MID;*.MIDI;*.RMI;*.MKV";

dlg.ShowDialog();