FileInfo Class

[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]

Provides instance methods for the creation, copying, deletion, moving, and opening of files, and aids in the creation of FileStream objects. This class cannot be inherited.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System..::.Object
  System.IO..::.FileSystemInfo
    System.IO..::.FileInfo

Namespace:  System.IO
Assembly:  mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Public NotInheritable Class FileInfo _
    Inherits FileSystemInfo

public sealed class FileInfo : FileSystemInfo

The FileInfo type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	FileInfo	Initializes a new instance of the FileInfo class, which acts as a wrapper for a file path.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	Attributes	Gets or sets the FileAttributes of the current FileSystemInfo. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	CreationTime	Gets or sets the creation time of the current FileSystemInfo object. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	Directory	Gets an instance of the parent directory.
	DirectoryName	Gets a string representing the directory's full path.
	Exists	Gets a value indicating whether a file exists. (Overrides FileSystemInfo..::.Exists.)
	Extension	Gets the string representing the extension part of the file. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	FullName	Gets the full path of the directory or file. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	LastAccessTime	Gets or sets the time the current file or directory was last accessed. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	LastWriteTime	Gets or sets the time when the current file or directory was last written to. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	Length	Gets the size, in bytes, of the current file.
	Name	Gets the name of the file. (Overrides FileSystemInfo..::.Name.)

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Methods

	Name	Description
	AppendText	Creates a StreamWriter that appends text to the file represented by this instance of the FileInfo.
	CopyTo(String)	Copies an existing file to a new file, disallowing the overwriting of an existing file.
	CopyTo(String, Boolean)	Copies an existing file to a new file, allowing the overwriting of an existing file.
	Create	Creates a file.
	CreateText	Creates a StreamWriter that writes a new text file.
	Delete	Permanently deletes a file. (Overrides FileSystemInfo..::.Delete()()().)
	Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	MoveTo	Moves a specified file to a new location, providing the option to specify a new file name.
	Open(FileMode)	Opens a file in the specified mode.
	Open(FileMode, FileAccess)	Opens a file in the specified mode with read, write, or read/write access.
	Open(FileMode, FileAccess, FileShare)	Opens a file in the specified mode with read, write, or read/write access and the specified sharing option.
	OpenRead	Creates a read-only FileStream.
	OpenText	Creates a StreamReader with UTF8 encoding that reads from an existing text file.
	OpenWrite	Creates a write-only FileStream.
	Refresh	Refreshes the state of the object. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	ToString	Returns the path as a string. (Overrides Object..::.ToString()()().)

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Fields

	Name	Description
	FullPath	Infrastructure. Represents the fully qualified path of the directory or file. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)
	OriginalPath	Infrastructure. The path originally specified by the user, whether relative or absolute. (Inherited from FileSystemInfo.)

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Remarks

Use the FileInfo class for typical operations such as copying, moving, renaming, creating, opening, deleting, and appending to files.

Many of the FileInfo methods return other I/O types when you create or open files. You can use these other types to further manipulate a file. For more information, see specific FileInfo members such as Open, OpenRead, OpenText, CreateText, or Create.

If you are going to reuse an object several times, consider using the instance method of FileInfo instead of the corresponding static methods of the File class, because a security check will not always be necessary.

Note

In members that accept a path as an input string, that path must be well-formed or an exception is raised. For example, if a path is fully qualified but begins with a space, the path is not trimmed in methods of the class. Therefore, the path is malformed and an exception is raised. Similarly, a path or a combination of paths cannot be fully qualified twice. For example, "c:\temp c:\windows" also raises an exception in most cases. Ensure that your paths are well-formed when using methods that accept a path string.

In members that accept a path, the path can refer to a file or just a directory.

The FileInfo class provides the following properties that enable you to retrieve information about a file. For an example of how to use each property, see the property pages.

• The Directory property retrieves an object that represents the parent directory of a file.

• The DirectoryName property retrieves the full path of the parent directory of a file.

• The Exists property checks for the presence of a file before operating on it.

• The Length retrieves the size of a file.

• The Name retrieves the name of a file.

Examples

The following example displays an image picked at random from the user's My Pictures folder. It uses the DirectoryInfo class to obtain an enumerable collection of FileInfo objects that represent files that have a .jpg or .png extension. That collection is used to construct a List<(Of <(T>)>) collection so that its index can be used to select a file that corresponds to the random number.

The example then creates a bitmap image by using the FileStream class and sets it as the source for an Image control (named myImage).

Private Sub LoadImage()

    
        Dim di As New DirectoryInfo(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyPictures))

        Dim files = From f In di.EnumerateFiles() _
            Where f.Extension.ToLower() = ".jpg" OrElse f.Extension = ".png" _
            Select f

        Dim max As Integer = files.Count() + 1

        Dim rnd As New Random()
        Dim r As Integer = rnd.[Next](0, max)

        Dim pics As New List(Of FileInfo)(files)

        Dim randpic As String = pics(r).FullName

        Dim img As New BitmapImage()
        img.SetSource(New FileStream(randpic, FileMode.Open))


        MyImage.Source = img
    
End Sub

private void LoadImage()
{

    DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(Environment.GetFolderPath(
        Environment.SpecialFolder.MyPictures));

    var files = from f in di.EnumerateFiles()
                where f.Extension.ToLower() == ".jpg" || 
                    f.Extension == ".png"
                select f;

    int max = files.Count() + 1;

    Random rnd = new Random();
    int r = rnd.Next(0, max);

    List<FileInfo> pics = new List<FileInfo>(files);

    string randpic = pics[r].FullName;

    BitmapImage img = new BitmapImage();
    img.SetSource(new FileStream(randpic, FileMode.Open));

    MyImage.Source = img;

    
}

Version Information

Windows Phone OS

Supported in: 8.1, 8.0, 7.1, 7.0

Platforms

Windows Phone

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

See Also

Reference

System.IO Namespace

DirectoryInfo