Question

Is there an method to get the contents of a folder in a particular order? I’d like an array of file attribute dictionaries (or just file names) ordered by date modified.

Right now, I’m doing it this way:

• get an array with the file names
• get the attributes of each file
• store the file’s path and modified date in a dictionary with the date as a key

Next I have to output the dictionary in date order, but I wondered if there’s an easier way? If not, is there a code snippet somewhere which will do this for me?

Thanks.

Answer 1

nall’s code above pointed me in the right direction, but I think there are some mistakes in the code as posted above. For instance:

1. Why is filesAndProperties allocated using NMutableDictonary rather than an NSMutableArray?

2. 
   NSDictionary* properties = [[NSFileManager defaultManager]
                                           attributesOfItemAtPath:NSFileModificationDate
                                           error:&error];
   
   

   The code above is passing the wrong parameter for attributesOfItemAtPath – it should be attributesOfItemAtPath:path

3. Your are sorting the files array, but you should be sorting filesAndProperties.

I have implemented the same, with corrections, and using blocks and posted below:

    NSArray *searchPaths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains (NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString* documentsPath = [searchPaths objectAtIndex: 0]; 

    NSError* error = nil;
    NSArray* filesArray = [[NSFileManager defaultManager] contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:documentsPath error:&error];
    if(error != nil) {
        NSLog(@"Error in reading files: %@", [error localizedDescription]);
        return;
    }

    // sort by creation date
    NSMutableArray* filesAndProperties = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:[filesArray count]];
    for(NSString* file in filesArray) {
        NSString* filePath = [iMgr.documentsPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:file];
        NSDictionary* properties = [[NSFileManager defaultManager]
                                    attributesOfItemAtPath:filePath
                                    error:&error];
        NSDate* modDate = [properties objectForKey:NSFileModificationDate];

        if(error == nil)
        {
            [filesAndProperties addObject:[NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                                           file, @"path",
                                           modDate, @"lastModDate",
                                           nil]];                 
        }
    }

        // sort using a block
        // order inverted as we want latest date first
    NSArray* sortedFiles = [filesAndProperties sortedArrayUsingComparator:
                            ^(id path1, id path2)
                            {                               
                                // compare 
                                NSComparisonResult comp = [[path1 objectForKey:@"lastModDate"] compare:
                                                           [path2 objectForKey:@"lastModDate"]];
                                // invert ordering
                                if (comp == NSOrderedDescending) {
                                    comp = NSOrderedAscending;
                                }
                                else if(comp == NSOrderedAscending){
                                    comp = NSOrderedDescending;
                                }
                                return comp;                                
                            }];