Question

I have this code that opens a directory and checks if the list is not a regular file (means it’s a folder) it will open it too. How can I distinguish between files and folders with C++.
here is my code if this helps :

#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <dirent.h>
using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

// Pointer to a directory
DIR *pdir = NULL;
pdir = opendir(".");

struct dirent *pent = NULL;

if(pdir == NULL){
    cout<<" pdir wasn't initialized properly!";
    exit(8);
}

while (pent = readdir(pdir)){ // While there is still something to read
    if(pent == NULL){
    cout<<" pdir wasn't initialized properly!";
    exit(8);
}

    cout<< pent->d_name << endl;
}

return 0;

}

Answer 1

One way would be:

switch (pent->d_type) {
    case DT_REG:
        // Regular file
        break;
    case DT_DIR:
        // Directory
        break;
    default:
        // Unhandled by this example
}

You can see the struct dirent documentation on the GNU C Library Manual.