Check whether a path is valid

Question

I am just wondering: I am looking for a way to validate if a given path is valid. (Note: I do not want to check if a file is existing! I only want to proof the validity

Answer 1

I haven't had any problems with the code below. (Relative paths must start with '/' or '\').

private bool IsValidPath(string path, bool allowRelativePaths = false)
{
    bool isValid = true;

    try
    {
        string fullPath = Path.GetFullPath(path);

        if (allowRelativePaths)
        {
            isValid = Path.IsPathRooted(path);
        }
        else
        {
            string root = Path.GetPathRoot(path);
            isValid = string.IsNullOrEmpty(root.Trim(new char[] { '\\', '/' })) == false;
        }
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        isValid = false;
    }

    return isValid;
}

For example these would return false:

IsValidPath("C:/abc*d");
IsValidPath("C:/abc?d");
IsValidPath("C:/abc\"d");
IsValidPath("C:/abc<d");
IsValidPath("C:/abc>d");
IsValidPath("C:/abc|d");
IsValidPath("C:/abc:d");
IsValidPath("");
IsValidPath("./abc");
IsValidPath("./abc", true);
IsValidPath("/abc");
IsValidPath("abc");
IsValidPath("abc", true);

And these would return true:

IsValidPath(@"C:\\abc");
IsValidPath(@"F:\FILES\");
IsValidPath(@"C:\\abc.docx\\defg.docx");
IsValidPath(@"C:/abc/defg");
IsValidPath(@"C:\\\//\/\\/\\\/abc/\/\/\/\///\\\//\defg");
IsValidPath(@"C:/abc/def~`!@#$%^&()_-+={[}];',.g");
IsValidPath(@"C:\\\\\abc////////defg");
IsValidPath(@"/abc", true);
IsValidPath(@"\abc", true);

Answer 2

The closest I have come is by trying to create it, and seeing if it succeeds.

Answer 3

private bool IsValidPath(string path)
{
    Regex driveCheck = new Regex(@"^[a-zA-Z]:\\$");
    if (!driveCheck.IsMatch(path.Substring(0, 3))) return false;
    string strTheseAreInvalidFileNameChars = new string(Path.GetInvalidPathChars());
    strTheseAreInvalidFileNameChars += @":/?*" + "\"";
    Regex containsABadCharacter = new Regex("[" + Regex.Escape(strTheseAreInvalidFileNameChars) + "]");
    if (containsABadCharacter.IsMatch(path.Substring(3, path.Length - 3)))
        return false;

    DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(Path.GetFullPath(path));
    if (!dir.Exists)
        dir.Create();
    return true;
}

Answer 4

Just Simply Use

if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(path))
{
    ...
}

Answer 5

Or use the FileInfo as suggested in In C# check that filename is possibly valid (not that it exists).

Answer 6

Get the invalid chars from System.IO.Path.GetInvalidPathChars(); and check if your string (Directory path) contains those or not.