Question

Let say, a file has the following attributes: ReadOnly, Hidden, Archived, System.
How can I remove only one Attribute? (for example ReadOnly)

If I use the following, it removes all the attributes:

IO.File.SetAttributes("File.txt",IO.FileAttributes.Normal)

Answer 1

From MSDN: You can remove any attribute like this

(but @sll’s answer for just ReadOnly is better for just that attribute)

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
class Test 
{
    public static void Main() 
    {
        string path = @"c:\temp\MyTest.txt";

        // Create the file if it exists.
        if (!File.Exists(path)) 
        {
            File.Create(path);
        }

        FileAttributes attributes = File.GetAttributes(path);

        if ((attributes & FileAttributes.ReadOnly) == FileAttributes.ReadOnly)
        {
            // Make the file RW
            attributes = RemoveAttribute(attributes, FileAttributes.ReadOnly);
            File.SetAttributes(path, attributes);
            Console.WriteLine("The {0} file is no longer RO.", path);
        } 
        else 
        {
            // Make the file RO
            File.SetAttributes(path, File.GetAttributes(path) | FileAttributes.Hidden);
            Console.WriteLine("The {0} file is now RO.", path);
        }
    }

    private static FileAttributes RemoveAttribute(FileAttributes attributes, FileAttributes attributesToRemove)
    {
        return attributes & ~attributesToRemove;
    }
}