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Get the first character from the filename in a filepath

I have an array of filepaths in a directory and I'm trying to move certain files based on alphabet.
string[] filePaths = Directory.GetFiles(#"C:\user\desktop\folder", "*.txt");
foreach (var file in filePaths)
{
if (file.StartsWith("A"))
{
//Move file
The obvious problem is that file.StartWith is pulling the entire filepath (C:\user\desktop\folder\Albert.txt) Which doesn't start with 'A'
So what would be the best way to just target the start of the actual file?
Thanks in advance.

I got it working with Path.GetFileName as per the suggestion by #Jimi

What about this code
var dir = new DirectoryInfo(#"C:\user\desktop\folder");
var files = dir.GetFiles();
foreach (var file in files)
{
if(file.Name.StartsWith("A"))
{
//Move file

You say you're looking to move files by alphabet- if you mean to put files into a folder whose name is the same as the first char of the filename then perhaps:
var desktop = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop); //don't hard code the path to the desktop
var root = Path.Combine(desktop, "foldernamehere"); //use path.combine to build paths
foreach(var f in directory.EnumerateFiles(root, "*.txt")){ //prefer EnumerateFiles over GetFiles
var filename = Path.GetFileName(f);
var dest = Path.Combine(root, filename.Remove(1));
Directory.CreateDirectory(dest); //safe to call even if exists, ensures exists
File.Move(f, Path.Combine(dest, filename));
}
See comments for more info

If you have a string that represents a full filename (or directory name), and you want the name without the directory, consider to use Path.GetFileName
string fullFileName = "C:\user\desktop\folder\Albert.txt";
string fileName = Path.GetDirectoryName(fullFileName);
fileName will be "Albert.txt"
With this in mind, your query will be easy:
IEnumerable<string> fullFileNames = ...
char startChar = 'A';
IEnumerable<string> fileNamesThatStartWithStartChar = fullFileNames
.Where(fileName => Path.GetDirectoryName(fileName).StartsWitch(startChar));
In words: from every fileName in the sequence of fullFileName, take the fileName without the directory information. Keep the fileName if this "fileName without directory information" starts with the startChar.
Note: StartsWitch(char) is case sensitive. If you want to check case insensitive, use String.StartsWitch(string, stringComparison)
There's room for improvement!
If you think that there might be a chance that you won't be using all information of all files, consider to use Directory.EnymerateFiles instead of GetFiles. This way, if at the end of your LINQ you decide to use only 3 of the fetched files (or worse: FirstOrDefault(), or Any()), you won't have fetched all files.

Renaming a file using file.move, but adding a string for every new text

Beginner coder here.
I need to add the GetLastWriteTime string to my filename using the (rename) file.move method. How do I add a string using file.move?
I've looked up some similar info, and I've gotten part of the answer I need. System.IO.File.Move("oldfilename", "newfilename"); is the code I'll need help with. I tried adding a string to the newfilename, but it only supports directory.
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles("C:/foto's", "*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
string filename = Path.GetFileName(photo);
DateTime fileCreatedDate = System.IO.File.GetLastWriteTime(filename);
System.IO.File.Move(#"C:\foto's", #"C:\foto's" + fileCreatedDate);
Expected error, string cannot be accepted in a directory place.

I've always preferred to use FileInfo objects for stuff like this as they have the dates built in, have MoveTo rather than using the static File.Move etc ...
FileInfo[] fis = new DirectoryInfo(#"C:\foto's").GetFiles("*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
foreach(FileInfo fi in fis){
//format a string representing the last write time, that is safe for filenames
string datePart = fi.LastWriteTimeUtc.ToString("_yyyy-MM-dd HH;mm;ss"); //use ; for time because : is not allowed in path
//break the name into parts based on the .
string[] nameParts = fi.Name.Split('.');
//add the date to the last-but-one part of the name
if(nameParts.Length == 1) //there is no extension on the file
nameParts[0] += datePart;
else
nameParts[nameParts.Length-1] += datePart;
//join the name back together
string newName = string.Join(".", nameParts);
//move the file to the same directory but with a new name. Use Path.Combine to join directory and new file name into a full path
fi.MoveTo(Path.Combine(fi.DirectoryName, newName));
}
Directory.Move(#"c:\foto's", #"c:\photos"); //fix two typos in your directory name ;)

C# Directory.GetFiles with mask

In C#, I would like to get all files from a specific directory that matches the following mask:
prefix is "myfile_"
suffix is some numeric number
file extension is xml
i.e
myfile_4.xml
myfile_24.xml
the following files should not match the mask:
_myfile_6.xml
myfile_6.xml_
the code should like somehing this this (maybe some linq query can help)
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(folder, "???");
Thanks

I am not good with regular expressions, but this might help -
var myFiles = from file in System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(folder, "myfile_*.xml")
where Regex.IsMatch(file, "myfile_[0-9]+.xml",RegexOptions.IgnoreCase) //use the correct regex here
select file;

You can try it like:
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles("C:\\test", "myfile_*.xml");
//This will give you all the files with `xml` extension and starting with `myfile_`
//but this will also give you files like `myfile_ABC.xml`
//to filter them out
int temp;
List<string> selectedFiles = new List<string>();
foreach (string str in files)
{
string fileName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(str);
string[] tempArray = fileName.Split('_');
if (tempArray.Length == 2 && int.TryParse(tempArray[1], out temp))
{
selectedFiles.Add(str);
}
}
So if your Test folder has files:
myfile_24.xml
MyFile_6.xml
MyFile_6.xml_
myfile_ABC.xml
_MyFile_6.xml
Then you will get in selectedFiles
myfile_24.xml
MyFile_6.xml

You can do something like:
Regex reg = new Regex(#"myfile_\d+.xml");
IEnumerable<string> files = Directory.GetFiles("C:\\").Where(fileName => reg.IsMatch(fileName));

Remove part of the full directory name?

I have a list of filename with full path which I need to remove the filename and part of the file path considering a filter list I have.
Path.GetDirectoryName(file)
Does part of the job but I was wondering if there is a simple way to filter the paths using .Net 2.0 to remove part of it.
For example:
if I have the path + filename equal toC:\my documents\my folder\my other folder\filename.exe and all I need is what is above my folder\ means I need to extract only my other folder from it.
UPDATE:
The filter list is a text box with folder names separated by a , so I just have partial names on it like the above example the filter here would be my folder
Current Solution based on Rob's code:
string relativeFolder = null;
string file = #"C:\foo\bar\magic\bar.txt";
string folder = Path.GetDirectoryName(file);
string[] paths = folder.Split(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar);
string[] filterArray = iFilter.Text.Split(',');
foreach (string filter in filterArray)
{
int startAfter = Array.IndexOf(paths, filter) + 1;
if (startAfter > 0)
{
relativeFolder = string.Join(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar.ToString(), paths, startAfter, paths.Length - startAfter);
break;
}
}

How about something like this:
private static string GetRightPartOfPath(string path, string startAfterPart)
{
// use the correct seperator for the environment
var pathParts = path.Split(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar);
// this assumes a case sensitive check. If you don't want this, you may want to loop through the pathParts looking
// for your "startAfterPath" with a StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase check instead
int startAfter = Array.IndexOf(pathParts, startAfterPart);
if (startAfter == -1)
{
// path not found
return null;
}
// try and work out if last part was a directory - if not, drop the last part as we don't want the filename
var lastPartWasDirectory = pathParts[pathParts.Length - 1].EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar.ToString());
return string.Join(
Path.DirectorySeparatorChar.ToString(),
pathParts, startAfter,
pathParts.Length - startAfter - (lastPartWasDirectory?0:1));
}
This method attempts to work out if the last part is a filename and drops it if it is.
Calling it with
GetRightPartOfPath(#"C:\my documents\my folder\my other folder\filename.exe", "my folder");
returns
my folder\my other folder
Calling it with
GetRightPartOfPath(#"C:\my documents\my folder\my other folder\", "my folder");
returns the same.

you could use this method to split the path by "\" sign (or "/" in Unix environments). After this you get an array of strings back and you can pick what you need.
public static String[] SplitPath(string path)
{
String[] pathSeparators = new String[]
{
Path.DirectorySeparatorChar.ToString()
};
return path.Split(pathSeparators, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
}

Filtering file names: getting *.abc without *.abcd, or *.abcde, and so on

Directory.GetFiles(LocalFilePath, searchPattern);
MSDN Notes:
When using the asterisk wildcard character in a searchPattern, such as ".txt", the matching behavior when the extension is exactly three characters long is different than when the extension is more or less than three characters long. A searchPattern with a file extension of exactly three characters returns files having an extension of three or more characters, where the first three characters match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. A searchPattern with a file extension of one, two, or more than three characters returns only files having extensions of exactly that length that match the file extension specified in the searchPattern. When using the question mark wildcard character, this method returns only files that match the specified file extension. For example, given two files, "file1.txt" and "file1.txtother", in a directory, a search pattern of "file?.txt" returns just the first file, while a search pattern of "file.txt" returns both files.
The following list shows the behavior of different lengths for the searchPattern parameter:
*.abc returns files having an extension of .abc, .abcd, .abcde, .abcdef, and so on.
*.abcd returns only files having an extension of .abcd.
*.abcde returns only files having an extension of .abcde.
*.abcdef returns only files having an extension of .abcdef.
With the searchPattern parameter set to *.abc, how can I return files having an extension of .abc, not .abcd, .abcde and so on?
Maybe this function will work:
private bool StriktMatch(string fileExtension, string searchPattern)
{
bool isStriktMatch = false;
string extension = searchPattern.Substring(searchPattern.LastIndexOf('.'));
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(extension))
{
isStriktMatch = true;
}
else if (extension.IndexOfAny(new char[] { '*', '?' }) != -1)
{
isStriktMatch = true;
}
else if (String.Compare(fileExtension, extension, true) == 0)
{
isStriktMatch = true;
}
else
{
isStriktMatch = false;
}
return isStriktMatch;
}
Test Program:
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string[] fileNames = Directory.GetFiles("C:\\document", "*.abc");
ArrayList al = new ArrayList();
for (int i = 0; i < fileNames.Length; i++)
{
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(fileNames[i]);
if (StriktMatch(file.Extension, "*.abc"))
{
al.Add(fileNames[i]);
}
}
fileNames = (String[])al.ToArray(typeof(String));
foreach (string s in fileNames)
{
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
Console.Read();
}
Anybody else better solution?

The answer is that you must do post filtering. GetFiles alone cannot do it. Here's an example that will post process your results. With this you can use a search pattern with GetFiles or not - it will work either way.
List<string> fileNames = new List<string>();
// populate all filenames here with a Directory.GetFiles or whatever
string srcDir = "from"; // set this
string destDir = "to"; // set this too
// this filters the names in the list to just those that end with ".doc"
foreach (var f in fileNames.All(f => f.ToLower().EndsWith(".doc")))
{
try
{
File.Copy(Path.Combine(srcDir, f), Path.Combine(destDir, f));
}
catch { ... }
}

Not a bug, perverse but well-documented behavior. *.doc matches *.docx based on 8.3 fallback lookup.
You will have to manually post-filter the results for ending in doc.

use linq....
string strSomePath = "c:\\SomeFolder";
string strSomePattern = "*.abc";
string[] filez = Directory.GetFiles(strSomePath, strSomePattern);
var filtrd = from f in filez
where f.EndsWith( strSomePattern )
select f;
foreach (string strSomeFileName in filtrd)
{
Console.WriteLine( strSomeFileName );
}

This won't help in the short term, but voting on the MS Connect post for this issue may get things changed in the future.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=95415

Since for "*.abc" GetFiles will return extensions of 3 or more, anything with a length of 3 after the "." is an exact match, and anything longer is not.
string[] fileList = Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.abc");
foreach (string file in fileList)
{
FileInfo fInfo = new FileInfo(file);
if (fInfo.Extension.Length == 4) // "." is counted in the length
{
// exact extension match - process the file...
}
}
Not sure of the performance of the above - while it uses simple length comparisons rather than string manipulations, new FileInfo() is called each time around the loop.