Directory.Move doesn't work (file already exist)

Question

I\'ve got main folder:

c:\\test

And there I have 2 folders: Movies and Photos.

Photos has three folders with files with the same s

Answer 1

You can use move method directly.

Directory.Move(@"c:\test\Movies\", @"c:\test\Test\");

The folder will be deleted and copied it into Test Folder.

Answer 2

ProcessStartInfo p = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c move \"c:\\test\\Movies\" \"c:\\test\Test\\"");
p.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden; //hide mode
Process.Start(p);

Answer 3

The destination directory should not already exist - the Directory.Move method creates the destination directory for you.

Answer 4

Is it safe for you to delete the destination folder before copying new contents to it?

    Directory.Delete(@"c:\test\test");
    Directory.Move(@"c:\test\movies",@"c:\test\test");

Answer 5

The most common 2 reasons why Directory.Move could fail are, if:

• It's a different volume (you need to Copy/Delete)
• It already exists (doesn't support overwrite by default)

Here is my simple solution for the second problem (overwrite):

public bool MoveDirectory(string sourceDirName, string destDirName, bool overwrite)
{
    if (overwrite && Directory.Exists(destDirName))
    {
        var needRestore = false;
        var tmpDir = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), Path.GetRandomFileName());
        try
        {
            Directory.Move(destDirName, tmpDir);
            needRestore = true; // only if fails
            Directory.Move(sourceDirName, destDirName);
            return true;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            if (needRestore)
            {
                Directory.Move(tmpDir, destDirName);
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            Directory.Delete(tmpDir, true);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        Directory.Move(sourceDirName, destDirName); // Can throw an Exception
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

Answer 6

This method will move content of a folder recursively and overwrite existing files.
You should add some exception handling.
Edit:
This method is implemented with a while loop and a stack instead of recursion.

public static void MoveDirectory(string source, string target)
{
    var stack = new Stack<Folders>();
    stack.Push(new Folders(source, target));

    while (stack.Count > 0)
    {
        var folders = stack.Pop();
        Directory.CreateDirectory(folders.Target);
        foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(folders.Source, "*.*"))
        {
             string targetFile = Path.Combine(folders.Target, Path.GetFileName(file));
             if (File.Exists(targetFile)) File.Delete(targetFile);
             File.Move(file, targetFile);
        }

        foreach (var folder in Directory.GetDirectories(folders.Source))
        {
            stack.Push(new Folders(folder, Path.Combine(folders.Target, Path.GetFileName(folder))));
        }
    }
    Directory.Delete(source, true);
}
public class Folders
{
    public string Source { get; private set; }
    public string Target { get; private set; }

    public Folders(string source, string target)
    {
        Source = source;
        Target = target;
    }
}

Update:
This is a simpler version with the use of Directory.EnumerateFiles recursively instead of using a stack.
This will only work with .net 4 or later, to us it with an earlier version of .net change Directory.EnumerateFiles to Directory.GetFiles.

public static void MoveDirectory(string source, string target)
{
    var sourcePath = source.TrimEnd('\\', ' ');
    var targetPath = target.TrimEnd('\\', ' ');
    var files = Directory.EnumerateFiles(sourcePath, "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
                         .GroupBy(s=> Path.GetDirectoryName(s));
    foreach (var folder in files)
    {
        var targetFolder = folder.Key.Replace(sourcePath, targetPath);
        Directory.CreateDirectory(targetFolder);
        foreach (var file in folder)
        {
            var targetFile = Path.Combine(targetFolder, Path.GetFileName(file));
            if (File.Exists(targetFile)) File.Delete(targetFile);
            File.Move(file, targetFile);
        }
    }
    Directory.Delete(source, true);
}