How do I iterate through the files in a directory

Question

I need to get a list of all the files in a directory, including files in all the sub-directories. What is the standard way to accomplish directory iteration with Java?

Answer 1

Check out the FileUtils class in Apache Commons - specifically iterateFiles:

Allows iteration over the files in given directory (and optionally its subdirectories).

Answer 2

If you are using Java 1.7, you can use java.nio.file.Files.walkFileTree(...).

For example:

public class WalkFileTreeExample {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Path p = Paths.get("/usr");
    FileVisitor<Path> fv = new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
      @Override
      public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
          throws IOException {
        System.out.println(file);
        return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
      }
    };

    try {
      Files.walkFileTree(p, fv);
    } catch (IOException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

}

If you are using Java 8, you can use the stream interface with java.nio.file.Files.walk(...):

public class WalkFileTreeExample {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try (Stream<Path> paths = Files.walk(Paths.get("/usr"))) {
      paths.forEach(System.out::println);
    } catch (IOException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

}

Answer 3

You can use File#isDirectory() to test if the given file (path) is a directory. If this is true, then you just call the same method again with its File#listFiles() outcome. This is called recursion.

Here's a basic kickoff example.

public static void main(String... args) {
    File[] files = new File("C:/").listFiles();
    showFiles(files);
}

public static void showFiles(File[] files) {
    for (File file : files) {
        if (file.isDirectory()) {
            System.out.println("Directory: " + file.getName());
            showFiles(file.listFiles()); // Calls same method again.
        } else {
            System.out.println("File: " + file.getName());
        }
    }
}

Note that this is sensitive to StackOverflowError when the tree is deeper than the JVM's stack can hold. You may want to use an iterative approach or tail-recursion instead, but that's another subject ;)

Answer 4

It's a tree, so recursion is your friend: start with the parent directory and call the method to get an array of child Files. Iterate through the child array. If the current value is a directory, pass it to a recursive call of your method. If not, process the leaf file appropriately.

Answer 5

To add with @msandiford answer, as most of the times when a file tree is walked u may want to execute a function as a directory or any particular file is visited. If u are reluctant to using streams. The following methods overridden can be implemented

Files.walkFileTree(Paths.get(Krawl.INDEXPATH), EnumSet.of(FileVisitOption.FOLLOW_LINKS), Integer.MAX_VALUE,
    new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
        @Override
        public FileVisitResult preVisitDirectory(Path dir, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
                throws IOException {
                // Do someting before directory visit
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
        }
        @Override
        public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
                throws IOException {
                // Do something when a file is visited
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
        }
        @Override
        public FileVisitResult postVisitDirectory(Path dir, IOException exc)
                throws IOException {
                // Do Something after directory visit 
                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
        }
});

Answer 6

For Java 7+, there is also https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/nio/file/DirectoryStream.html

Example taken from the Javadoc:

List<Path> listSourceFiles(Path dir) throws IOException {
   List<Path> result = new ArrayList<>();
   try (DirectoryStream<Path> stream = Files.newDirectoryStream(dir, "*.{c,h,cpp,hpp,java}")) {
       for (Path entry: stream) {
           result.add(entry);
       }
   } catch (DirectoryIteratorException ex) {
       // I/O error encounted during the iteration, the cause is an IOException
       throw ex.getCause();
   }
   return result;
}