Question

I am trying to display a list of all files found in the selected directory (and optionally any subdirectories). The problem I am having is that when the GetFiles() method comes across a folder that it cannot access, it throws an exception and the process stops.

How do I ignore this exception (and ignore the protected folder/file) and continue adding accessible files to the list?

try {     if (cbSubFolders.Checked == false)     {         string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath);         foreach (string fileName in files)             ProcessFile(fileName);     }     else     {         string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath, '*.*', SearchOption.AllDirectories);         foreach (string fileName in files)             ProcessFile(fileName);     }     lblNumberOfFilesDisplay.Enabled = true; } catch (UnauthorizedAccessException) { } finally {} 

Answer 1

You will have to do the recursion manually; don’t use AllDirectories – look one folder at a time, then try getting the files from sub-dirs. Untested, but something like below (note uses a delegate rather than building an array):

using System; using System.IO; static class Program {     static void Main()     {         string path = ''; // TODO         ApplyAllFiles(path, ProcessFile);     }     static void ProcessFile(string path) {/* ... */}     static void ApplyAllFiles(string folder, Action<string> fileAction)     {         foreach (string file in Directory.GetFiles(folder))         {             fileAction(file);         }         foreach (string subDir in Directory.GetDirectories(folder))         {             try             {                 ApplyAllFiles(subDir, fileAction);             }             catch             {                 // swallow, log, whatever             }         }     } }