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Error while trying to rename files using C#

I have the following code to rename files in the following tree as from 00000001.pdf to the last file with this 8 character left padding, e.g: 00000100.pdf
Folder1
subfolder1
childfolder1
pdffile1
pdffile2
childfolder2
pdffile3
pdffile4
subfolder2
childfolder3
pdffile5
pdffile6
But for some reason in some of those child folders it keeps renaming them with no end.
Some times it just jumps to another number, as if it was an async operation. But if I stop and start again it goes okay until the second next folder, when it messes up again.
But this error only happened within 19 folders.
Indeed their pdf names are different from the others, but I don't see how it is related.
The other files were named something like "DOCUMENT_01" and so on, but these are:
0000000100000001.pdf
0000000200000001.pdf
0000000300000001.pdf
etc
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Digite a pasta 'pai' onde serão buscados pdfs dentro das pastas 'filhas':");
string path = Console.ReadLine();
foreach (string dir in Directory.EnumerateDirectories(path))
{
foreach (string subdir in Directory.EnumerateDirectories(dir))
{
Console.WriteLine($"{dir} - {subdir}");
int n = 1;
foreach (string pdffile in Directory.EnumerateFiles(subdir, "*.pdf", SearchOption.AllDirectories))
{
Console.WriteLine(n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0') + " " + new FileInfo(pdffile).Length);
File.Move(pdffile, subdir + $"\\{n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0')}.pdf");
n++;
}
Console.WriteLine("\n\n");
}
}
}
What could be going wrong?
It should await for the File.Move method to end to add the n + 1 and then moving to the next pdffile as a synchronous operation. So why does it jumps numbers after a random time and why it keeps going forever other times?
And just to remember, if I stop the program and start again and put the folder that was messed up as the first one, it goes ok and only when it goes to the next folder, or the folder after next that it start to give me this error again.
Hope that I could make myself clear... Thanks for your attention!
EDIT: will try using FileInfo class to give me the parent folder with the SearchOption.AllDirectories option and exclude this 3 stage loop plus actually working for any kind of tree structure
EDIT2: Tried, worked as a "tree indepent" script but getting the same result with the files name after the first folder... As it's really fast, in 3 seconds it goes from 00000169.pdf to 00006239.pdf in a folder with just 330 items.

As commented already, it is not a good idea to move or rename files “WHILE” the code is enumerating though the list of those files as the posted code appears to do. This will cause obvious problems and you should simply mark the files somehow, then later come back and rename or move them.
More importantly, the big issue related to renaming/moving files is exactly as you describe with your current issue. The problem is that the errors are erratic and not consistent. Making it very difficult to trace. However, the problems you describe are classic trademarks of moving/renaming files while enumerating through those files.
With that said, the best way and easiest way to traverse an unknown number of folder levels given a starting folder is by using recursion. In a lot of cases, recursion can be avoided with some well though out loops, however when we do not know how many levels of folders there are, then, using a simple loop or foreach loop paradigm may be doable, however, you will most likely be adding variables and code that only makes this more complex. This is shown in the current code with the addition of the dir variable to keep track of “when” a different folder is used. Recursion is suited ideally for this situation.
In this case, this recursive method will be called ONCE for each folder and subfolders from a given “starting” folder location. This means that each time this recursive method is called is when a different folder is beginning to be processed. So n would always start at 1 and we do not need to keep track of the current folders path.
So the signature of this method will take a DirectoryFolder object as a “starting” folder. First we create some variables; a FileInfo array pdffiles to hold the pdf files in the given folder; in addition to a DirectoryInfo array foldersInThisFolder to hold all the other folders in this starting folder. Lastly an int n to index the files as the posted code is doing.
Next we get all the pdf files in this “starting” folder. If there are pdf files in this folder, then we loop through those files and process them. Next, we get all the other folders in this “starting” folder. Then start a loop through each folder. For each folder in this collection we will make the recursive call back to this method using the next folder as the “starting” folder, then the whole process continues until the loop through those folders ends.
static void TraverseDirectoryTree(DirectoryInfo startingFolder) {
FileInfo[] pdffiles = null;
DirectoryInfo[] foldersInThisFolder = null;
int n = 1;
Console.WriteLine(startingFolder.FullName);
// get all the pdf files in this folder
try {
pdffiles = startingFolder.GetFiles("*.pdf");
}
catch (Exception e) {
// you may want to catch specific exceptions
// however in this example we do not care what
// the exception is, we will simply ignore this.
// in most cases pdffiles will be null if an exception is thrown
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
if (pdffiles != null) {
foreach (FileInfo pdffile in pdffiles) {
Console.WriteLine(pdffile.FullName + " -> " + n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0') + " " + pdffile.Length);
//File.Move(pdffile.FullName, pdffile.DirectoryName + $"\\{n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0')}.pdf");
// add file path to a list of files to rename later?
n++;
}
// start over wiith the sub folders in this folder
foldersInThisFolder = startingFolder.GetDirectories();
foreach (DirectoryInfo dirInfo in foldersInThisFolder) {
TraverseDirectoryTree(dirInfo);
}
}
}
Usage…
Console.WriteLine("Type the folder you want to start with:");
string path = Console.ReadLine();
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(path);
TraverseDirectoryTree(di);
Edit… after further testing it appears that what you are wanting to do is simply “rename” the pdf files. As suggested a simple solution is to save the files that we want to rename, then, after we collect the files we want to rename, we simply loop through those files and rename them. This should eliminate any problems by renaming files while enumerating though the files collection.
To help, I created a Dictionary<string, int> called filesToRename. While recursively looping through all the folders, we will add the full path of each pdf file we want to rename as the Key and the int value n as the Value. After the dictionary is filled we would simply loop through it and rename the files.
private static Dictionary<string, int> filesToRename = new Dictionary<string, int>();
Then replace the commented-out line in the recursive method TraverseDirectoryTree…
//File.Move(pdffile.FullName, pdffile.DirectoryName + $"\\{n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0')}.pdf");
With…
filesToRename.Add(pdffile.FullName, n);
Then after the dictionary is filled we would loop through it and rename the files, something like…
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(path);
TraverseDirectoryTree(di);
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, int> kvp in filesToRename) {
int index = kvp.Key.ToString().LastIndexOf(#"\");
string dir = kvp.Key.ToString().Substring(0, index);
File.Move(kvp.Key, dir + $"\\{kvp.Value.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0')}.pdf");
}
I am hoping this makes sense…

Answer as Klaus Gütter helped me, I just added .ToList() to the Directory.EnumerateFiles so it made a fixed list first, and then made the foreach for each file
It will rename every pdf within the folder and it's subfolders
Console.WriteLine("Type the folder you want to start with:");
string path = Console.ReadLine();
string dir = "";
int n = 1;
foreach (string pdffile in Directory.EnumerateFiles(path, "*.pdf", SearchOption.AllDirectories).ToList())
{
FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(pdffile);
if (fi.DirectoryName == dir)
{
Console.WriteLine("\t" + n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0'));
File.Move(pdffile, dir + $"\\{n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0')}.pdf");
n++;
}
else
{
n = 1;
dir = fi.DirectoryName;
Console.WriteLine("\n\n" + dir);
File.Move(pdffile, dir + $"\\{n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0')}.pdf");
Console.WriteLine("\t" + n.ToString().PadLeft(8, '0'));
n++;
}
}

Apply Folder Icon Change

I am attempting to change the icon of a folder. The code below does all what I found online says to do but the icon never changes. Am I maybe not "Applying" the change?
string createdFile = Path.Combine(#"C:\Users\np\Desktop\PUTEST", "desktop.ini");
if (File.Exists(createdFile))
{
var di = new DirectoryInfo(createdFile);
di.Attributes &= ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
File.Delete(createdFile);
File.Create(createdFile).Dispose();
}
else
{
File.Create(createdFile).Dispose();
}
//string iconPath = #"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll";
string iconPath = Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(#"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll");
string iconIndex = "-183";
using (TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(createdFile))
{
tw.WriteLine("[.ShellClassInfo]");
tw.WriteLine("IconResource=" + iconPath + "," + iconIndex);
//tw.WriteLine("IconFile=" + iconPath);
//tw.WriteLine("IconIndex=" + iconIndex);
}
File.SetAttributes(createdFile, System.IO.FileAttributes.ReadOnly);
File.SetAttributes(createdFile, System.IO.FileAttributes.System);
File.SetAttributes(createdFile, System.IO.FileAttributes.Hidden);

When crafting a file like this it's always good to do so using Explorer or Notepad first, then write/adjust your code to match whatever was produced. Otherwise, it's harder to figure out if the problem is with your file or your code.
I believe the minimum requirements to make this work is Desktop.ini must be marked System and the parent directory must be marked ReadOnly (System may work there as well, but I know ReadOnly definitely does). So, your code is working with the right attributes, but there are still a few problems.
Your if ... else ... block is saying "If a file exists at this path, create a directory at that path, then delete the file at that path, then create a file at that path." Of course, the directory should not and cannot have the same path as the file. I assume you are deleting and recreating the file to clear the contents when it already exists, however File.Create() overwrites (truncates) existing files, making the calls to both File.Delete() and File.Exists() unnecessary.
More importantly is this line...
di.Attributes &= ~FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
...with which there are two problems. First, you are ANDing the directory's attributes with the negation of ReadOnly, which has the effect of removing ReadOnly and keeping the other attributes the same. You want to ensure ReadOnly is set on the directory, so you want to do the opposite of the code you used: OR the directory's attributes with ReadOnly (not negated)...
di.Attributes |= FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
Also, you need that attribute set regardless of whether you created the directory or not, so that line should be moved outside of the if ... else ....
Another issue is the successive calls to File.SetAttributes(). After those three calls the file's attributes will be only Hidden, since that was the value of the last call. Instead, you need to combine (bitwise OR) those attributes in a single call.
A couple of other minor tweaks...
As you know since you are calling Dispose() on it, File.Create() returns a FileStream to that file. Instead of throwing it away, you could use it to create your StreamWriter, which will have to create one, anyways, under the covers. Better yet, call File.CreateText() instead and it will create the StreamWriter for you.
Environment variables are supported in Desktop.ini files, so you don't have to expand them yourself. This would make the file portable between systems if, say, you copied it from one system to another, or the directory is on a network share accessed by multiple systems with different %SystemRoot% values.
Incorporating all of the above changes your code becomes...
// Create a new directory, or get the existing one if it exists
DirectoryInfo directory = Directory.CreateDirectory(#"C:\Users\np\Desktop\PUTEST");
directory.Attributes |= FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
string filePath = Path.Combine(directory.FullName, "desktop.ini");
string iconPath = #"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll";
string iconIndex = "-183";
using (TextWriter tw = File.CreateText(filePath))
{
tw.WriteLine("[.ShellClassInfo]");
tw.WriteLine("IconResource=" + iconPath + "," + iconIndex);
//tw.WriteLine("IconFile=" + iconPath);
//tw.WriteLine("IconIndex=" + iconIndex);
}
File.SetAttributes(filePath, FileAttributes.ReadOnly | FileAttributes.System | FileAttributes.Hidden);
One catch is that the above code throws an exception if you run it twice in succession. This is because the File.Create*() methods fail if the input file is Hidden or ReadOnly. We could use new FileStream() as an alternative, but that still throws an exception if the file is ReadOnly. Instead, we'll just have to remove those attributes from any existing input file before opening it...
// Create a new directory, or get the existing one if it exists
DirectoryInfo directory = Directory.CreateDirectory(#"C:\Users\np\Desktop\PUTEST");
directory.Attributes |= FileAttributes.ReadOnly;
string filePath = Path.Combine(directory.FullName, "desktop.ini");
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(filePath);
try
{
// Remove the Hidden and ReadOnly attributes so file.Create*() will succeed
file.Attributes = FileAttributes.Normal;
}
catch (FileNotFoundException)
{
// The file does not yet exist; no extra handling needed
}
string iconPath = #"%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll";
string iconIndex = "-183";
using (TextWriter tw = file.CreateText())
{
tw.WriteLine("[.ShellClassInfo]");
tw.WriteLine("IconResource=" + iconPath + "," + iconIndex);
//tw.WriteLine("IconFile=" + iconPath);
//tw.WriteLine("IconIndex=" + iconIndex);
}
file.Attributes = FileAttributes.ReadOnly | FileAttributes.System | FileAttributes.Hidden;
I changed from using File to FileInfo since that makes this a little easier.

What's the right way to copy a file in another folder?

I have to copy a certain file to another folder, and this has to happen when I click a button.
Now I have two problems: the file is not copied correctly, and the new folder with the new file is created after one or two minutes.
When i say copied incorrectly, I mean that -0.364384 becomes -0.365163223838319.
I'm currently using this script in my button (ps I have three buttons for files named 1.json 2.json and 3.json)
private string path = "Assets\\Modelli\\Sinc ";
public void salvaEs1()
{
if (Directory.Exists(path)) { Directory.Delete(path, true); }
Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
string fileToCopy = "Assets\\Modelli\\daMedico\\1.json";
string destinationDirectory = "Assets\\Modelli\\Sinc\\";
File.Copy(fileToCopy, destinationDirectory + "sinc.json");
}
Errors are about some code that I use to read the file. But the problem are the errors in the file, non the ones that come from them

Copy only new or modified files/directories in C#

I am trying to create a simple “directory/file copy" console application in C#. What I need is to copy all folders and files (keeping the original hierarchy) from one drive to another, like from drive C:\Data to drive E:\Data.
However, I only want it to copy any NEW or MODIFIED files from the source to the destination.
If the file on the destination drive is newer than the one on the source drive, then it does not copy.
(the problem)
In the code I have, it's comparing file "abc.pdf" in the source with file "xyz.pdf" in the destination and thus is overwriting the destination file with whatever is in the source even though the destination file is newer. I am trying to figure out how to make it compare "abc.pdf" in the source to "abc.pdf" in the destination.
This works if I drill the source and destination down to a specific file, but when I back out to the folder level, it overwrites the destination file with the source file, even though the destination file is newer.
(my solutions – that didn’t work)
I thought by putting the “if (file.LastWriteTime > destination.LastWriteTime)” after the “foreach” command, that it would compare the files in the two folders, File1 source to File1 destination, but it’s not.
It seems I’m missing something in either the “FileInfo[]”, “foreach” or “if” statements to make this a one-to-one comparison. I think maybe some reference to the “Path.Combine” statement or a “SearchOption.AllDirectories”, but I’m not sure.
Any suggestions?
As you can see from my basic code sample, I'm new to C# so please put your answer in simple terms.
Thank you.
Here is the code I have tried, but it’s not working.
class Copy
{
public static void CopyDirectory(DirectoryInfo source, DirectoryInfo destination)
{
if (!destination.Exists)
{
destination.Create();
}
// Copy files.
FileInfo[] files = source.GetFiles();
FileInfo[] destFiles = destination.GetFiles();
foreach (FileInfo file in files)
foreach (FileInfo fileD in destFiles)
// Copy only modified files
if (file.LastWriteTime > fileD.LastWriteTime)
{
file.CopyTo(Path.Combine(destination.FullName,
file.Name), true);
}
// Copy all new files
else
if (!fileD.Exists)
{
file.CopyTo(Path.Combine(destination.FullName, file.Name), true);
}
// Process subdirectories.
DirectoryInfo[] dirs = source.GetDirectories();
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in dirs)
{
// Get destination directory.
string destinationDir = Path.Combine(destination.FullName, dir.Name);
// Call CopyDirectory() recursively.
CopyDirectory(dir, new DirectoryInfo(destinationDir));
}
}
}

You can just take the array of files in "source" and check for a matching name in "destination"
/// <summary>
/// checks whether the target file needs an update (if it doesn't exist: it needs one)
/// </summary>
public static bool NeedsUpdate(FileInfo localFile, DirectoryInfo localDir, DirectoryInfo backUpDir)
{
bool needsUpdate = false;
if (!File.Exists(Path.Combine(backUpDir.FullName, localFile.Name)))
{
needsUpdate = true;
}
else
{
FileInfo backUpFile = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(backUpDir.FullName, localFile.Name));
DateTime lastBackUp = backUpFile.LastWriteTimeUtc;
DateTime lastChange = localFile.LastWriteTimeUtc;
if (lastChange != lastBackUp)
{
needsUpdate = true;
}
else
{/*no change*/}
}
return needsUpdate;
}

Update:
I modified my code with the suggestions above and all went well. It did exactly as I expected.
However, the problem I ran into was the amount of time it took run the application on a large folder. (containing 6,000 files and 5 sub-folders)
On a small folder, (28 files in 5 sub-folders) it only took a few seconds to run. But, on the larger folder it took 35 minutes to process only 1,300 files.
Solution:
The code below will do the same thing but much faster. This new version processed 6,000 files in about 10 seconds. It processed 40,000 files in about 1 minute and 50 seconds.
What this new code does (and doesn’t do)
If the destination folder is empty, copy all from the source to the destination.
If the destination has some or all of the same files / folders as the source, compare and copy any new or modified files from the source to the destination.
If the destination file is newer than the source, don’t copy.
So, here’s the code to make it happen. Enjoy and share.
Thanks to everyone who helped me get a better understanding of this.
using System;
using System.IO;
namespace VSU1vFileCopy
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
const string Src_FOLDER = #"C:\Data";
const string Dest_FOLDER = #"E:\Data";
string[] originalFiles = Directory.GetFiles(Src_FOLDER, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
Array.ForEach(originalFiles, (originalFileLocation) =>
{
FileInfo originalFile = new FileInfo(originalFileLocation);
FileInfo destFile = new FileInfo(originalFileLocation.Replace(Src_FOLDER, Dest_FOLDER));
if (destFile.Exists)
{
if (originalFile.Length > destFile.Length)
{
originalFile.CopyTo(destFile.FullName, true);
}
}
else
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(destFile.DirectoryName);
originalFile.CopyTo(destFile.FullName, false);
}
});
}
}
}

Check if file exists in folder in c#

I am moving files from source folder to destination folder. Before moving files, I am checking that directory exists or not which is working fine. The issue is with my second check where I want to make sure that folder is not empty before moving files but it is not giving me correct result.
public void MoveFilesFromTempToSourceTbl()
{
//Moving all files from temp folder to orig folder.
string sourceFolder = (twitterDO.Path + "\\" + msgDate.Year.ToString() + "\\" + msgDate.Month.ToString() + "\\" + msgDate.Day.ToString() + "_Temp").Replace("\\", #"\");
string destinationFolder = (twitterDO.Path + "\\" + msgDate.Year.ToString() + "\\" + msgDate.Month.ToString() + "\\" + msgDate.Day.ToString()).Replace("\\", #"\");
string pattern = "*.txt";
if (Directory.Exists(sourceFolder))
{
if (File.Exists(pattern))
{
foreach (var file in new DirectoryInfo(sourceFolder).GetFiles(pattern))
{
file.MoveTo(Path.Combine(destinationFolder, file.Name));
}
}
if (Directory.GetFiles(sourceFolder).Length == 0) //Before deleting make sure that Temp folder is empty.
Directory.Delete(sourceFolder, true); // Delete Temp folder after moving all the contents.
}
}
I know I am making some small mistake but not sure what it is. Following is the screenshot of the result which I got in immediate window.
http://imgur.com/FZvo9cj

There's a bit of redundancy in your current code. Starting with the if-checks, here's how I would approach this:
var sourceDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(sourceFolder); // remember this, it is reused
if (sourceDirectory.Exists)
{
// Look for the files in the directory, if none found, will be empty array
foreach (var file in sourceDirectory.GetFiles(pattern))
{
file.MoveTo(Path.Combine(destinationFolder, file.Name));
}
// Re-check the directory for any remaining files
if (sourceDirectory.GetFiles(pattern).Length == 0) //Before deleting make sure that Temp folder is empty.
sourceDirectory.Delete(); // Delete Temp folder after moving all the contents.
}
As a small performance improvement, you could replace sourceDirectory.GetFiles() with sourceDirectory.EnumerateFiles() in the for-loop. This will allow you to start moving them as the method finds them, not after they have all been found.

You are passing "*.txt" into the File.Exists() call when you need to be passing a path.
You can read the Documentation here
Alternatively you could use something like this:
Directory.GetFiles(destinationFolder).Contains(filename)

I agree with David here but also I think the flow of you logic should be adjusted a bit. The File.Exixts(filename); should occur inside the foreach.
That will allow you to iterate each file and if it exists do something.

Try adding the following to check if any files exist in the location:
bool exist = Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourceFolder, "*.txt").Any();