How can i check if a file exists ion a directory ?

Question

User1253338400 posted

Hi 

I do the following currently.

if (Directory.Exists(c:\\test))
{
   if (File.Exists("c:\\test+ @"\myfile.txt"))
   {  }

}

I do this in a number of places in my code , can i do these 2 if statements in one line ?

Answer 1

User-821857111 posted

If you are only checking if a file exists, there is no need to check if the directory exists as well. Either the file exists in the directory, or it doesn't. Obviously if the directory doesn't exist, the file won't exist either.

Answer 2

User288213138 posted

Hi robby32,

As Mike said, if the directory does not exist, then this file certainly does not exist.

If you want to merge them into one line, then you can directly use File.Exists() method.

if (File.Exists(@"c:\\test\myfile.txt"))

Best regards,

Sam

Answer 3

User303363814 posted

It's also useful to use Path.Combine to join one or more directories and a filename.  You don't have to worry about leading/trailing separators.  So if you code is actually

string appRoot = callToSomeConfigMethod();

string dataFolder = "data";

string filename = "myfile.txt";

Then your check would be better written as

File.Exists(Path.Compbine(appRoot, dataFolder, file));

you can have as many parameters to Path.Combine as you need and it doesn't matter if they start/end with the Path.DirectorySeparatorChar character - Path.Combine works it out.