This example shows how to get list of file names from a directory (including subdirectories) using multiple include- and exclude patterns.
The buildin method System.IO.Directory.GetFiles can handle only one include pattern and no exclude pattern and multiple patterns a definitely out of the question.
So I had to write a little helper method using LINQ to do the trick!
/// <summary>
/// Get the files from the specified path, including subdirectories, which match the specified pattern.
/// Note: To specified multiple patterns, separate them by a semicolumn (;)
/// </summary>
/// <param name="path">The path.</param>
/// <param name="includePatterns">An array of include patterns. Using wildcards.</param>
/// <param name="excludePatterns">An array of exclude patterns. Using Regular expressions.</param>
/// <returns>Returns an array of filenames.</returns>
public static string[] GetFiles(string path, string[] includePatterns, string[] excludePatterns)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("path", "Argument should not be NULL or an empty string.");
}
if (includePatterns == null)
{
includePatterns = new string[0];
}
if (excludePatterns == null)
{
excludePatterns = new string[0];
}
var files = from includePattern in includePatterns
from includeFile in Directory.GetFiles(path, includePattern, SearchOption.AllDirectories)
from excludePattern in excludePatterns.DefaultIfEmpty()
where excludePattern == null || !Regex.IsMatch(includeFile, excludePattern, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
select includeFile;
return files.ToArray();
}
The following example gets all files that match the wildcard patterns 'DdH.*.Helpers.dll' & 'DdH.*.exe' from the c:\temp directory, but will exclude all files that match the regular expression 'Tests\.dll'.
string[] fileNames = GetFiles(@"c:\temp", new string[] { "DdH.Helpers.*.dll", "DdH.*.exe" }, new string[] { "Tests\.dll" });
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