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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.

Get File Extension C#

I have a dropdown with list of file names. When a file name is selected in the dropdown I do the following
string filename = ddl.SelectedItem.Text;
string path = "F:\\WorkingCopy\\files\\" + filename +".docx";
DownloadFile(path,filename);
In the file folder files may contain any extension . Since i have hard coded ".docx" in string path everything works fine. But I need to get the extension of the file name with the ddl.SelectedItem.Text alone. Can you tell me how to do this?
Things I have
1.) File name without extension in
string filename = ddl.SelectedItem.Text;
2.) Path where the file is located
string path = "F:\\WorkingCopy\\files\\" + filename
I am trying to get the file extension with these . Can any one suggest on this?

You can use Directory.EnumerateFiles() like this:
string path = "F:\\WorkingCopy\\files\\";
string filename = ddl.SelectedItem.Text;
string existingFile = Directory.EnumerateFiles(path, filename + ".*").FirstOrDefault();
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(existingFile))
Console.WriteLine("Extension is: " + Path.GetExtension(existingFile));
Directory.EnumerateFiles searches the path for files like filename.*. Path.GetExtension() returns the extension of the found file.
In general, I prefer to use EnumerateFiles() instead of GetFiles because it returns an IEnumerable<string> instead string[]. This suggests that it only returns the matching files as needed instead searching all matching files at once. (This doesn't really matter in your case, just a general note).

Use the Directory.GetFiles() method. Something like this
string[] files = Directory.GetFiles("F:\\WorkingCopy\\files\\", filename+".*");
This should get you an array of filenames with the same filename but different extensions. If you have only one, then you can always use the first one.

You can use Directory.GetFiles Method:
string result = Directory.GetFiles(path, filename + ".*").FirstOrDefault();
see here
here " * " is the WildCard and will search for the Filename starts with YourFileName.

you can achieve that with followed by line
try
{
var extensions = new List<string>();
var files = Directory.GetFiles("F:\\WorkingCopy\\files\\", filename + ".*", System.IO.SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
foreach (var tmpfile in files)
extensions.Add(Path.GetExtension(tmpfile));
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
will this help you?

You can simply split them by dot, For example, try this code
string folder = #"F:\\WorkingCopy\\files\\";
var files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(folder, filename + ".*");
if (files.Any())
{
string ext = System.IO.Path.GetExtension(files.First()).Substring(1);
}
This code gives me result that the extension for this is txt file.

Path.Combine() returns unexpected results

I'm trying to create a path using Path.Combine() but I am getting unexpected results.
using System;
using System.IO;
namespace PathCombine_Delete
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string destination = "D:\\Directory";
string destination02 = "it";
string path = "L:\\MyFile.pdf";
string sourcefolder = "L:\\";//In other instances, it could be L:\\SomeFolder\AndMayBeAnotherFolder
string replacedDetails = path.Replace(sourcefolder + "\\", "");
string result = Path.Combine(destination, destination02, replacedDetails);
Console.WriteLine(result);
Console.ReadKey();//Keep it on screen
}
}
}
I would expect the result D:\\Directory\it\MyFile.pdf but instead, I get L:\MyFile.pdf
I can't see why? I admit it's late in the evening here, but still, I've used Path.Combine many times, and since .NET 4.0 it allows the string param to be passed. However, it appears to be ignoring the first 2 and only reading the last.

Here is the error
string replacedDetails = path.Replace(sourcefolder + "\\" , "");
You are adding another backslash and nothing is found to be replaced.
Removing the added backslash gives the correct string to search for and replace
string replacedDetails = path.Replace(sourcefolder , "");
however you could avoid all that replace stuff and intermediate variables just with
string result = Path.Combine(destination, destination02, Path.GetFileName(path));

I would recommend using:
string replacedDetails = Path.GetFileName(path);
That will handle removing the source folder from the path without using string replacement, which isn't necessarily reliable if you're getting the path from elsewhere (eventually).

Have you read the documentation? Have you verified what you're passing to Path.Combine()? The documentation says, and I quote:
path1 should be an absolute path (for example, "d:\archives" or "\archives\public").
If path2 or path3 is also an absolute path, the combine operation discards all
previously combined paths and resets to that absolute path.
That should hint at the problem.

How to get the second to last directory in a path string in C#

For example,
string path = #"C:\User\Desktop\Drop\images\";
I need to get only #"C:\User\Desktop\Drop\
Is there any easy way of doing this?

You can use the Path and Directory classes:
DirectoryInfo parentDir = Directory.GetParent(Path.GetDirectoryName(path));
string parent = parentDir.FullName;
Note that you would get a different result if the path doesn't end with the directory-separator char \. Then images would be understood as filename and not as directory.
You can also use a subsequent call of Path.GetDirectoryName
string parent = Path.GetDirectoryName(Path.GetDirectoryName(path));
This behaviour is documented here:
Because the returned path does not include the DirectorySeparatorChar
or AltDirectorySeparatorChar, passing the returned path back into the
GetDirectoryName method will result in the truncation of one folder
level per subsequent call on the result string. For example, passing
the path "C:\Directory\SubDirectory\test.txt" into the
GetDirectoryName method will return "C:\Directory\SubDirectory".
Passing that string, "C:\Directory\SubDirectory", into
GetDirectoryName will result in "C:\Directory".

This will return "C:\User\Desktop\Drop\" e.g. everything but the last subdir
string path = #"C:\User\Desktop\Drop\images";
string sub = path.Substring(0, path.LastIndexOf(#"\") + 1);
Another solution if you have a trailing slash:
string path = #"C:\User\Desktop\Drop\images\";
var splitedPath = path.Split('\\');
var output = String.Join(#"\", splitedPath.Take(splitedPath.Length - 2));

var parent = "";
If(path.EndsWith(System.IO.Path.DirectorySeparatorChar) || path.EndsWith(System.IO.Path.AltDirectorySeparatorChar))
{
parent = Path.GetDirectoryName(Path.GetDirectoryName(path));
parent = Directory.GetParent(Path.GetDirectoryName(path)).FullName;
}
else
parent = Path.GetDirectoryName(path);
As i commented GetDirectoryName is self collapsing it returns path without tralling slash - allowing to get next directory.Using Directory.GetParent for then clouse is also valid.

Short Answer :)
path = Directory.GetParent(Directory.GetParent(path)).ToString();

Example on the bottom of the page probably will help:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.path.getdirectoryname(v=vs.110).aspx

using System;
namespace Programs
{
public class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
string inputText = #"C:\User\Desktop\Drop\images\";
Console.WriteLine(inputText.Substring(0, 21));
}
}
}
Output:
C:\User\Desktop\Drop\

There is probably some simple way to do this using the File or Path classes, but you could also solve it by doing something like this (Note: not tested):
string fullPath = "C:\User\Desktop\Drop\images\";
string[] allDirs = fullPath.split(System.IO.Path.PathSeparator);
string lastDir = allDirs[(allDirs.length - 1)];
string secondToLastDir= allDirs[(allDirs.length - 2)];
// etc...

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);
}