how to list all sub directories in a directory

by

Use Directory.GetDirectories to get the subdirectories of the directory specified by “your_directory_path”. The result is an array of strings.

var directories = Directory.GetDirectories("your_directory_path");

By default, that only returns subdirectories one level deep. There are options to return all recursively and to filter the results, documented here, and shown in Clive’s answer.

Avoiding an UnauthorizedAccessException

It’s easily possible that you’ll get an UnauthorizedAccessException if you hit a directory to which you don’t have access.

You may have to create your own method that handles the exception, like this:

public class CustomSearcher
{ 
    public static List<string> GetDirectories(string path, string searchPattern = "*",
        SearchOption searchOption = SearchOption.AllDirectories)
    {
        if (searchOption == SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly)
            return Directory.GetDirectories(path, searchPattern).ToList();

        var directories = new List<string>(GetDirectories(path, searchPattern));

        for (var i = 0; i < directories.Count; i++)
            directories.AddRange(GetDirectories(directories[i], searchPattern));

        return directories;
    }

    private static List<string> GetDirectories(string path, string searchPattern)
    {
        try
        {
            return Directory.GetDirectories(path, searchPattern).ToList();
        }
        catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
        {
            return new List<string>();
        }
    }
}

And then call it like this:

var directories = CustomSearcher.GetDirectories("your_directory_path");

This traverses a directory and all its subdirectories recursively. If it hits a subdirectory that it cannot access, something that would’ve thrown an UnauthorizedAccessException, it catches the exception and just returns an empty list for that inaccessible directory. Then it continues on to the next subdirectory.

More Related Contents:

  1. How to remove illegal characters from path and filenames?
  2. Checking for directory and file write permissions in .NET
  3. Copy the entire contents of a directory in C#
  4. C# Test if user has write access to a folder
  5. How to get a path to the desktop for current user in C#?
  6. If a folder does not exist, create it
  7. Getting the absolute path of the executable, using C#?
  8. Getting all file names from a folder using C# [duplicate]
  9. Microsoft Azure: How to create sub directory in a blob container
  10. Directory.GetFiles of certain extension
  11. How to get files in a relative path in C#
  12. How can I list the contents of a .zip folder in c#?
  13. Get target of shortcut folder
  14. Getting Downloads Folder in C#? [duplicate]
  15. Retrieving files from directory that contains large amount of files
  16. How do I get the directory from a file’s full path?
  17. How do I find the parent directory in C#?
  18. List all files and directories in a directory + subdirectories
  19. How do I detect when a directory or file changes without constant scanning
  20. Properties.Settings.Default.Save(); -> Where is that file
  21. Delete files older than 3 months old in a directory using .NET
  22. Renaming a directory in C# [closed]
  23. Exclude certain file extensions when getting files from a directory
  24. Given full path, check if path is subdirectory of some other path, or otherwise
  25. .Net’s Directory Services throws a strange exception
  26. C#: How to open Windows Explorer windows with a number of files selected
  27. Directory.Move doesn’t work (file already exist)
  28. Best way to iterate folders and subfolders
  29. C# – Set Directory Permissions for All Users in Windows 7
  30. Method to get all files within folder and subfolders that will return a list

Leave a Comment