Question

I am trying to determine whether a given path points to a file or a directory. Currently my logic is very plain and involves the following check

if (sourcePath.Contains(".")) // then treat this path as a file 

The problem above is that folder names can have periods in them too. I would like to be able to ascertain that a given path is that of a file without having to try and instantiate a filestream type and attempting to access it or anything like that.

Is there someway to do this?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You could use the File.Exists method:

If path describes a directory, this
method returns false

So:

if (File.Exists(sourcePath))
{
    // then treat this path as a file
}

There’s also the Directory.Exists method and the following example is given in the documentation:

if(File.Exists(path)) 
{
    // This path is a file
    ProcessFile(path); 
}               
else if(Directory.Exists(path)) 
{
    // This path is a directory
    ProcessDirectory(path);
}
else 
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a valid file or directory.", path);
}