Question

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Best way to determine if two path reference to same file in C#

There are several ways to specify a directory location.

For example:
\\machineName\c$\rootPath\subPath
\\machineName\shareName (share pointing to subPath)
C:\rootPath\subPath
subPath (relative path if already in C:\rootPath

I need to determine that all of these paths “equal” each other (are really the same physical location on the hard drive).

Is there any way I can do this in C#?

Answer 1

As Oded states this is tricky to do in .Net. You could possibly cheat (depening on your exact requirements and permissions etc) by writing a file with a long randomly generated filename to the location and then seeing if you can see it from the other location. Bit of a hack but this is a pretty sound test I think, rather than relying on resolving mapped drives etc etc.

Ok many apologies for the VB – it’s all I’ve got on this tiny netbook… C# wouldn’t be too different…

usage eg

If sameLocation("\\machineName\c$\rootPath\subPath","\\machineName\shareName") Then...

Public Function sameLocation(ByVal sPath1 As String, ByVal sPath2 As String) As TriState
    Dim sFile As String = randomFilename()
    Dim sFullPath1 As String = sPath1 & "\" & sFile
    Dim sFullPath2 As String = sPath2 & "\" & sFile
    Dim bReturn As Boolean = False
    Try
        Dim fs As New FileStream(sFullPath1, FileMode.CreateNew)
        fs.Close()
    Catch ex As Exception
        Return TriState.UseDefault
    End Try

    Try
        bReturn = File.Exists(sFullPath2)
    Catch ex As Exception
        Return TriState.UseDefault
    End Try

    File.Delete(sFullPath1)
    Return bReturn
End Function

Public Function randomFilename() As String
    Dim r As New Random
    Randomize(My.Computer.Clock.TickCount)
    Dim sb As New StringBuilder
    Dim chars As Int16 = 100
    While chars > 0
        chars -= 1
        sb.Append(Chr(r.Next(26) + 65))
    End While
    Return sb.ToString
End Function

You could add more security, ie reading the timestamp etc…