System.IO.FileSystemInfo Class

Summary

Provides the base class for both FileInfo and DirectoryInfo objects.

C# Syntax:

[Serializable] public abstract class FileSystemInfo : MarshalByRefObject

The FileSystemInfo class contains methods that are common to file and directory manipulation. A FileSystemInfo object can represent either a file or a directory, thus serving as the basis for FileInfo or DirectoryInfo objects. Use this base class when parsing a lot of files and directories.

In members that accept a path, the path can refer to a file or just a directory. The specified path can also refer to a relative path or a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path for a server and share name. For example, all of the following are acceptable paths:

• "c:\\MyDir\\MyFile.txt" in C#, or "c:\MyDir\MyFile.txt" in Visual Basic. (Visual Basic not implemented in the shared source CLI)
• "c:\\MyDir" in C#, or "c:\MyDir" in Visual Basic. (Visual Basic not implemented in the shared source CLI)
• "MyDir\\MySubdir" in C#, or "MyDir\MySubDir" in Visual Basic. (Visual Basic not implemented in the shared source CLI)
• "\\\\MyServer\\MyShare" in C#, or "\\MyServer\MyShare" in Visual Basic. (Visual Basic not implemented in the shared source CLI)

System.IO Namespace

System.IO.FileSystemInfo Member List:

Public Properties

Attributes	Read-write Gets or sets the FileAttributes of the current FileSystemInfo.
CreationTime	Read-write Gets or sets the creation time of the current FileSystemInfo object.
Exists	Read-only Gets a value indicating whether the file or directory exists.
Extension	Read-only Gets the string representing the extension part of the file.
FullName	Read-only Gets the full path of the directory or file.
LastAccessTime	Read-write Gets or sets the time the current file or directory was last accessed.
LastWriteTime	Read-write Gets or sets the time when the current file or directory was last written to.
Name	Read-only For files, gets the name of the file. For directories, gets the name of the last directory in the hierarchy if a hierarchy exists. Otherwise, the Name property gets the name of the directory.

Public Methods

CreateObjRef (inherited from System.MarshalByRefObject)	See base class member description: System.MarshalByRefObject.CreateObjRef Creates an object that contains all the relevant information required to generate a proxy used to communicate with a remote object.
Delete	Deletes a file or directory.
Equals (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.Equals Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
GetHashCode (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.GetHashCode Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
GetLifetimeService (inherited from System.MarshalByRefObject)	See base class member description: System.MarshalByRefObject.GetLifetimeService Retrieves the current lifetime service object that controls the lifetime policy for this instance.
GetType (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.GetType Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
InitializeLifetimeService (inherited from System.MarshalByRefObject)	See base class member description: System.MarshalByRefObject.InitializeLifetimeService Obtains a lifetime service object to control the lifetime policy for this instance.
Refresh	Refreshes the state of the object.
ToString (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.ToString Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.

Protected Constructors

ctor #1

Default constructor. This constructor is called by derived class constructors to initialize state in this type.

Protected Fields

FullPath	Represents the fully qualified path of the directory or file.
OriginalPath	The path originally specified by the user, whether relative or absolute.

Protected Methods

Finalize (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.Finalize Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.
MemberwiseClone (inherited from System.Object)	See base class member description: System.Object.MemberwiseClone Derived from System.Object, the primary base class for all objects.

Hierarchy:

• System.Object
• System.MarshalByRefObject
• System.IO.FileSystemInfo
  • System.IO.DirectoryInfo
  • System.IO.FileInfo

System.IO.FileSystemInfo Member Details

Summary:

Default constructor. This constructor is called by derived class constructors to initialize state in this type.

C# Syntax:

protected FileSystemInfo();

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Summary

Represents the fully qualified path of the directory or file.

C# Syntax:

protected string FullPath;

Notes to inheritors: Classes derived from FileSystemInfo can use the FullPath field to determine the full path of the object being manipulated.

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Summary

The path originally specified by the user, whether relative or absolute.

C# Syntax:

protected string OriginalPath;

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Summary

Gets or sets the FileAttributes of the current FileSystemInfo.

C# Syntax:

public FileAttributes Attributes {get; set;}

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
FileNotFoundException	The caller attempts to access a file that does not exist on disk.
SecurityException	The caller does not have the required permission.
ArgumentException	The caller attempts to set an invalid file attribute.
IOException	FileSystemInfo.Refresh cannot initialize the data.

The value of this property is a combination of the archive, compressed, directory, hidden, offline, read-only, system, and temporary file attribute flags.

FileIOPermissionAccess Write permission required to set the attributes for the specified file.

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Summary

Gets or sets the creation time of the current FileSystemInfo object.

C# Syntax:

public DateTime CreationTime {get; set;}

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
IOException	FileSystemInfo.Refresh cannot initialize the data.
FileNotFoundException	The FileSystemInfo object does not exist.

This property value is null if the file system containing the FileSystemInfo object does not support this information.

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Summary

Gets a value indicating whether the file or directory exists.

C# Syntax:

public abstract bool Exists {get;}

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Summary

Gets the string representing the extension part of the file.

C# Syntax:

public string Extension {get;}

The Extension property returns the FileSystemInfo extension, including the period (.). For example, for a file c:\NewFile.txt, this property returns ".txt".

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Summary

Gets the full path of the directory or file.

C# Syntax:

public virtual string FullName {get;}

For example, for a file c:\NewFile.txt, this property returns "NewFile.txt".

FileIOPermission for access to the path. Associated enumeration: FileIOPermissionAccess.PathDiscovery

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Summary

Gets or sets the time the current file or directory was last accessed.

C# Syntax:

public DateTime LastAccessTime {get; set;}

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
IOException	FileSystemInfo.Refresh cannot initialize the data.

This property value is null if the file system containing the file does not support this information.

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Summary

Gets or sets the time when the current file or directory was last written to.

C# Syntax:

public DateTime LastWriteTime {get; set;}

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
IOException	FileSystemInfo.Refresh cannot initialize the data.

This property value is null if the file system containing the file does not support this information.

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Summary

For files, gets the name of the file. For directories, gets the name of the last directory in the hierarchy if a hierarchy exists. Otherwise, the Name property gets the name of the directory.

C# Syntax:

public abstract string Name {get;}

For a directory, Name returns only the name of the parent directory, such as Dir, not c:\Dir. For a subdirectory, Name returns only the name of the subdirectory, such as Sub1, not c:\Dir\Sub1.

For a file, Name returns only the file name and file name extension, such as MyFile.txt, not c:\Dir\Myfile.txt.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.MarshalByRefObject.CreateObjRef

Summary

Creates an object that contains all the relevant information required to generate a proxy used to communicate with a remote object.

C# Syntax:

public virtual ObjRef CreateObjRef(    Type requestedType );

requestedType

The Type of the object that the new ObjRef will reference.

Return Value:

Information required to generate a proxy.

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
RemotingException	This instance is not a valid remoting object.

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Summary

Deletes a file or directory.

C# Syntax:

public abstract void Delete();

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.Equals

C# Syntax:

public virtual bool Equals(    object obj );

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.Finalize

C# Syntax:

~FileSystemInfo();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.GetHashCode

C# Syntax:

public virtual int GetHashCode();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.MarshalByRefObject.GetLifetimeService

Summary

Retrieves the current lifetime service object that controls the lifetime policy for this instance.

C# Syntax:

public object GetLifetimeService();

Return Value:

An object of type ILease used to control the lifetime policy for this instance.

For more information about lifetime services, see the LifetimeServices class.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.GetType

C# Syntax:

public Type GetType();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.MarshalByRefObject.InitializeLifetimeService

Summary

Obtains a lifetime service object to control the lifetime policy for this instance.

C# Syntax:

public virtual object InitializeLifetimeService();

Return Value:

An object of type ILease used to control the lifetime policy for this instance. This is the current lifetime service object for this instance if one exists; otherwise, a new lifetime service object initialized to the value of the LifetimeServices.LeaseManagerPollTime property.

For more information about lifetime services, see the LifetimeServices class.

The following code example demonstrates creating a lease.

 public class MyClass : MarshalByRefObject
 {
   public override Object InitializeLifetimeService()
   {
     ILease lease = (ILease)base.InitializeLifetimeService();
     if (lease.CurrentState == LeaseState.Initial)
     {
          lease.InitialLeaseTime = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1);
          lease.SponsorshipTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2);
           lease.RenewOnCallTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2);
     }
       return lease;
   }
 }

    

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.MemberwiseClone

C# Syntax:

protected object MemberwiseClone();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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Summary

Refreshes the state of the object.

C# Syntax:

public void Refresh();

Exceptions

Exception Type	Condition
ArgumentException	The file is not found.
IOException	A device such as a disk drive is not ready.

FileSystemInfo.Refresh takes a snapshot of the file from the current file system.Refresh cannot correct the underlying file system even if the file system returns incorrect or outdated information. This can happen on platforms such as Windows 98.

Calls must be made to Refresh before attempting to get the attribute information, or the information will be outdated.

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Inherited
See base class member description: System.Object.ToString

C# Syntax:

public virtual string ToString();

For more information on members inherited from System.Object click on the link above.

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