Binaryworld - How to perform recursive search for files or folders in VB.net ... [ VB.net -> Files & Folder ]

This is a very common requirement to find all or specific files in a specified foder and all subfolders.

You can use GetDirectories and GetFiles of System.IO.DirectoryInfo for this purpose. Check the following example.

Click here to copy the following block

Sub FindFilesDemo()
  Dim msg As String
  Dim ar As New ArrayList
  Dim fi As System.IO.FileInfo
  'ar = GetFiles(Server.MapPath("."), "*.aspx")
  ar = DoRecursiveSearch("C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\BWCart", "*.aspx")
  'Response.Write("<Pre>")
  For Each fi In ar
    msg = msg & "File Path: " & fi.FullName & vbCrLf
    msg = msg & "File Size: " & fi.Length & vbCrLf
    msg = msg & "Last Modified: " & fi.LastWriteTime & vbCrLf
    msg = msg & "---------------------------" & vbCrLf
    Console.WriteLine(msg)
  Next
  'Response.Write("</Pre>")
End Sub

Public Function DoRecursiveSearch(ByVal DirPath As String, _
  Optional ByVal FileSearchPattern As String = "*.*", _
  Optional ByVal FolderSearchPattern As String = "*", _
  Optional ByVal Recursive As Boolean = True) As ArrayList
  ' Specify the directories you want to manipulate.
  Dim di As System.IO.DirectoryInfo = New System.IO.DirectoryInfo(DirPath)
  Dim ar As New ArrayList
  Try
    ' Get only subdirectories
    Dim dirs As System.IO.FileSystemInfo() = di.GetDirectories(FolderSearchPattern)
    Dim files As System.IO.FileSystemInfo()
    Dim diNext As System.IO.DirectoryInfo
    Dim fiNext As System.IO.FileInfo

    files = di.GetFiles(FileSearchPattern)
    For Each fiNext In files
      ar.Add(fiNext)
    Next

    If Recursive Then
      For Each diNext In dirs
        ar.AddRange(DoRecursiveSearch(diNext.FullName, FileSearchPattern, FolderSearchPattern, Recursive))
      Next
    End If

    Return ar
  Catch e As Exception
    Console.WriteLine("The process failed: {0}", e.ToString())
  End Try

End Function