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

Make the extensions you want one string i.e ".mp3.jpg.wma.wmf" and then check if each file contains the extension you want. This works with .net 2.0 as it does not use LINQ.

string myExtensions=".jpg.mp3";

string[] files=System.IO.Directory.GetFiles("C:\myfolder");

foreach(string file in files)
{
   if(myExtensions.ToLower().contains(System.IO.Path.GetExtension(s).ToLower()))
   {
      //this file has passed, do something with this file

   }
}

The advantage with this approach is you can add or remove extensions without editing the code i.e to add png images, just write myExtensions=".jpg.mp3.png".

Answer 2

I had the same problem and couldn't find the right solution so I wrote a function called GetFiles:

/// <summary>
/// Get all files with a specific extension
/// </summary>
/// <param name="extensionsToCompare">string list of all the extensions</param>
/// <param name="Location">string of the location</param>
/// <returns>array of all the files with the specific extensions</returns>
public string[] GetFiles(List<string> extensionsToCompare, string Location)
{
    List<string> files = new List<string>();
    foreach (string file in Directory.GetFiles(Location))
    {
        if (extensionsToCompare.Contains(file.Substring(file.IndexOf('.')+1).ToLower())) files.Add(file);
    }
    files.Sort();
    return files.ToArray();
}

This function will call Directory.Getfiles() only one time.

For example call the function like this:

string[] images = GetFiles(new List<string>{"jpg", "png", "gif"}, "imageFolder");

EDIT: To get one file with multiple extensions use this one:

/// <summary>
    /// Get the file with a specific name and extension
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="filename">the name of the file to find</param>
    /// <param name="extensionsToCompare">string list of all the extensions</param>
    /// <param name="Location">string of the location</param>
    /// <returns>file with the requested filename</returns>
    public string GetFile( string filename, List<string> extensionsToCompare, string Location)
    {
        foreach (string file in Directory.GetFiles(Location))
        {
            if (extensionsToCompare.Contains(file.Substring(file.IndexOf('.') + 1).ToLower()) &&& file.Substring(Location.Length + 1, (file.IndexOf('.') - (Location.Length + 1))).ToLower() == filename) 
                return file;
        }
        return "";
    }

For example call the function like this:

string image = GetFile("imagename", new List<string>{"jpg", "png", "gif"}, "imageFolder");