Read a file, knowing only a part of its name

20 Feb 2006 9:50 PM

Jason

I need to open a file for reading, but I only know part of it's name.

The file I want to read is in the format of xxx-yyyy-zzz.EXT

The last three digits of the file name are different on each pc, for example

PC7 has xxx-yyyy-zz1.ext
PC5 has xxx-yyyy-zz2.ext
PC3 has xxx-yyyy-zz8.ext

and so on.

I need to find out if that file exists by using the first 7 seven digits
and if it does exist, then open it up for reading.

The way I do this now is to loop through the folder, and look at the first
7seven digits using the substing method and if that name equals a constant
(xxx-yyyy) then I open that file.
It works, but it seems like extra work, plus depending on the number of
files it can eat up alot of time.

Any ideas

20 Feb 2006 10:32 PM

Kerry Moorman

Jason,

Retrieve just the file names that begin with the known string:

        Dim dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\test", "123-4567*")

Then see how many files you got and proceed accordingly:

        If dirs.Length = 1 Then
            'Display the file name
            MsgBox(dirs(0))
        ElseIf dirs.Length = 0 Then
            MsgBox("Not found")
        Else
            MsgBox("More than 1 file found")
        End If

Kerry Moorman

Show quoteHide quote

"Jason" wrote:

> I need to open a file for reading, but I only know part of it's name.
>
> The file I want to read is in the format of xxx-yyyy-zzz.EXT
>
> The last three digits of the file name are different on each pc, for example
>
> PC7 has xxx-yyyy-zz1.ext
> PC5 has xxx-yyyy-zz2.ext
> PC3 has xxx-yyyy-zz8.ext
>
> and so on.
>
> I need to find out if that file exists by using the first 7 seven digits
> and if it does exist, then open it up for reading.
>
>
> The way I do this now is to loop through the folder, and look at the first
> 7seven digits using the substing method and if that name equals a constant
> (xxx-yyyy) then I open that file.
> It works, but it seems like extra work, plus depending on the number of
> files it can eat up alot of time.
>
>
> Any ideas
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

22 Feb 2006 1:34 PM

Jason

Kerry

That works great, but is there a way I can determine if that file first
exists?
CAn I do a ....

If ((Dim dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\test", "123-4567*")) <>
true) Then
'File does not exist

or is there a easier way?

Thanks

Show quoteHide quote

"Kerry Moorman" <KerryMoor***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:78569B97-C5EB-4BF9-8205-503795C96B9E@microsoft.com...
> Jason,
>
> Retrieve just the file names that begin with the known string:
>
>        Dim dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\test", "123-4567*")
>
> Then see how many files you got and proceed accordingly:
>
>        If dirs.Length = 1 Then
>            'Display the file name
>            MsgBox(dirs(0))
>        ElseIf dirs.Length = 0 Then
>            MsgBox("Not found")
>        Else
>            MsgBox("More than 1 file found")
>        End If
>
> Kerry Moorman
>
>
> "Jason" wrote:
>
>> I need to open a file for reading, but I only know part of it's name.
>>
>> The file I want to read is in the format of xxx-yyyy-zzz.EXT
>>
>> The last three digits of the file name are different on each pc, for
>> example
>>
>> PC7 has xxx-yyyy-zz1.ext
>> PC5 has xxx-yyyy-zz2.ext
>> PC3 has xxx-yyyy-zz8.ext
>>
>> and so on.
>>
>> I need to find out if that file exists by using the first 7 seven digits
>> and if it does exist, then open it up for reading.
>>
>>
>> The way I do this now is to loop through the folder, and look at the
>> first
>> 7seven digits using the substing method and if that name equals a
>> constant
>> (xxx-yyyy) then I open that file.
>> It works, but it seems like extra work, plus depending on the number of
>> files it can eat up alot of time.
>>
>>
>> Any ideas
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

22 Feb 2006 2:07 PM

Cerebrus

Hi Jason,

Directory.GetFiles() returns a String array, not a boolean value, so you
can't do it that way.

In my opinion, this method will only return the names of matching files in
the folder, so they *have* to be existing, don't they ? Why would you need
to check if the file exists in this case ?

If you want to check if anything was returned at all, then just use Kerry's
method and check for the Length property of the returned String array.

Dim Dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\test", "123-4567*")
If Dirs.Length > 0 then
'Atleast 1 file was found
Else
'No file matching this pattern was found
End if

Show quoteHide quote

"Jason" <ja***@someone.com> wrote in message
news:ehaAUT7NGHA.3460@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Kerry
>
> That works great, but is there a way I can determine if that file first
> exists?
> CAn I do a ....
>
> If ((Dim dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\test", "123-4567*")) <>
> true) Then
> 'File does not exist
>
> or is there a easier way?
>
> Thanks
>
>
> "Kerry Moorman" <KerryMoor***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:78569B97-C5EB-4BF9-8205-503795C96B9E@microsoft.com...
> > Jason,
> >
> > Retrieve just the file names that begin with the known string:
> >
> >        Dim dirs As String() = Directory.GetFiles("c:\test", "123-4567*")
> >
> > Then see how many files you got and proceed accordingly:
> >
> >        If dirs.Length = 1 Then
> >            'Display the file name
> >            MsgBox(dirs(0))
> >        ElseIf dirs.Length = 0 Then
> >            MsgBox("Not found")
> >        Else
> >            MsgBox("More than 1 file found")
> >        End If
> >
> > Kerry Moorman
> >
> >
> > "Jason" wrote:
> >
> >> I need to open a file for reading, but I only know part of it's name.
> >>
> >> The file I want to read is in the format of xxx-yyyy-zzz.EXT
> >>
> >> The last three digits of the file name are different on each pc, for
> >> example
> >>
> >> PC7 has xxx-yyyy-zz1.ext
> >> PC5 has xxx-yyyy-zz2.ext
> >> PC3 has xxx-yyyy-zz8.ext
> >>
> >> and so on.
> >>
> >> I need to find out if that file exists by using the first 7 seven
digits
> >> and if it does exist, then open it up for reading.
> >>
> >>
> >> The way I do this now is to loop through the folder, and look at the
> >> first
> >> 7seven digits using the substing method and if that name equals a
> >> constant
> >> (xxx-yyyy) then I open that file.
> >> It works, but it seems like extra work, plus depending on the number of
> >> files it can eat up alot of time.
> >>
> >>
> >> Any ideas
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>

21 Feb 2006 4:07 AM

Homer J Simpson

"Jason" <ja***@someone.com> wrote in message
news:%23IpU8emNGHA.536@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

>I need to open a file for reading, but I only know part of it's name.
>
> The file I want to read is in the format of xxx-yyyy-zzz.EXT
>
> The last three digits of the file name are different on each pc, for
> example
>
> PC7 has xxx-yyyy-zz1.ext
> PC5 has xxx-yyyy-zz2.ext
> PC3 has xxx-yyyy-zz8.ext

Use FindFirstFile with "xxx-yyyy-???.ext" or use DirectoryInfo

(FindFirstFile exported from Kernel32.dll)

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