Searching ALL folders - recursion problem.

[Markus]

I'm trying to search through a specified file path (C:\\Users\<name>) and then delete specified file types. The code below works, but it only goes 1 sub-directory deep.

Does anyone know how I could modify this so that it searches every possible directory under the specified path.

static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            DirectoryInfo DirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\\Users\Chris");
 
            GetDirs(DirInfo);
        }
 
        public static void GetDirs(DirectoryInfo Dir)
        {
            DirectoryInfo[] Dirs = Dir.GetDirectories("*.*");
            foreach( DirectoryInfo Directory in Dirs )
            {
                Console.WriteLine(Directory.FullName);
                GetFiles(Directory);
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
 
        public static void GetFiles(DirectoryInfo Dir)
        {
            FileInfo[] Files;
            try
            {
                Files = Dir.GetFiles("*.*");
                foreach (FileInfo File in Files)
                {
                    if (File.Extension == ".mp3")
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("mp3 file found - " + File.Name + " in directory " + Dir.Name);
                        Console.WriteLine("Deleting " + File.Name);
                        File.Delete();
                    }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception Ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Exception encountered: " + Ex.HelpLink);
            }
        }
 

[mldisibio]

Add one line (cf line 16) to implement recursion:

static void Main(string[] args) 
        { 
            DirectoryInfo DirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\\Users\Chris"); 
 
            GetDirs(DirInfo); 
        } 
 
        public static void GetDirs(DirectoryInfo Dir) 
        { 
            DirectoryInfo[] Dirs = Dir.GetDirectories("*.*"); 
            foreach( DirectoryInfo Directory in Dirs ) 
            { 
                Console.WriteLine(Directory.FullName); 
                GetFiles(Directory); 
                // Implement Recursion:
                GetDirs(Directory);
            } 
            Console.ReadLine(); 
        } 
 
        public static void GetFiles(DirectoryInfo Dir) 
        { 
            FileInfo[] Files; 
            try 
            { 
                Files = Dir.GetFiles("*.*"); 
                foreach (FileInfo File in Files) 
                { 
                    if (File.Extension == ".mp3") 
                    { 
                        Console.WriteLine("mp3 file found - " + File.Name + " in directory " + Dir.Name); 
                        Console.WriteLine("Deleting " + File.Name); 
                        File.Delete(); 
                    } 
                } 
            } 
            catch (Exception Ex) 
            { 
                Console.WriteLine("Exception encountered: " + Ex.HelpLink); 
            } 
        } 
 

P.S. It is good programming practice (adds clarity) to not use class names as local variables, or at least not with the same case. Using "File" and "Directory" as local variables can confuse someone who needs to read your code in the future.
Just a suggestion. - Mike

[Curtis Rutland]

Well, there's an even simpler way to do this.

DirectoryInfo dirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"C:\whateverpath\");
FileInfo[] files = dirInfo.GetFiles("*.mp3", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
 

That assumes that you are searching for .mp3 files. Now you have an array of all .mp3 files in a particular directory and it's children. Also, the FileInfo class has a property called Directory that will return a DirectoryInfo object pointing at the file's directory. You can really slim this program down. It does the recursion for you.

Hope that helps.

Also, your path is quite strange... the @ says to ignore all escape sequences except \" but you escape the first backslash, and not the second. That may not have the desired results...