C# Get Directory Size - Dot Net Perls

Get Directory SizeUse the Length property on FileInfo to compute the total size of a directory in bytes.

This page was last reviewed on Feb 19, 2023.

Directory size. A C# method can calculate the total size of a directory. It considers each file. It returns the total bytes of all files.

Some uses. This C# method is useful for compression or file transfers. We determine the size of a directory. We can detect changes in directory sizes.

Directory.GetFiles

Directory

File

Example. We can use the Directory class and a foreach-loop. We write our own custom method—we sum the length of each file, returning the total size in bytes.

Step 1 The program calls Directory.GetFiles(). This gets all the files matching the "filter" at the directory in the path specified.

Array

Step 2 The program loops over each file. The foreach-loop looks through each file name and then creates a new FileInfo object.

Info FileInfo allows us to easily find certain informational properties of the file.

FileInfo

Finally It returns the sum of all the bytes in the first level of the folder. This value is stored in the long type.

long

using System; using System.IO; class Program { static void Main() { var size = GetDirectorySize("/Users/sam/programs"); Console.WriteLine(size); } static long GetDirectorySize(string p) { // Get array of all file names. string[] a = Directory.GetFiles(p, "*.*"); // Calculate total bytes of all files in a loop. long b = 0; foreach (string name in a) { // Use FileInfo to get length of each file. FileInfo info = new FileInfo(name); b += info.Length; } // Return total size return b; } }

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All directories. To get files in nested folders, use the SearchOption.AllDirectories argument. This returns an array with files from subdirectories.

Recursive File List

Info You can modify the method to return only the sizes of files of a specific type (like PNG).

SearchOption.AllDirectories "*.*" "*.png"

A summary. We measured directory sizes in bytes. We can use a combination of Directory methods and FileInfo objects to sum the bytes.

Dot Net Perls is a collection of tested code examples. Pages are continually updated to stay current, with code correctness a top priority.

Sam Allen is passionate about computer languages. In the past, his work has been recommended by Apple and Microsoft and he has studied computers at a selective university in the United States.

This page was last updated on Feb 19, 2023 (edit).

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