How do I iterate through the files in a directory in Java?

Question

I need to get a list of all the files in a directory, including files in all the sub-directories. What is the standard way to accomplish directory iteration with Java?

Answer 1

For Java 7+, there is also https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/nio/file/DirectoryStream.html

Example taken from the Javadoc:

List<Path> listSourceFiles(Path dir) throws IOException {
   List<Path> result = new ArrayList<>();
   try (DirectoryStream<Path> stream = Files.newDirectoryStream(dir, "*.{c,h,cpp,hpp,java}")) {
       for (Path entry: stream) {
           result.add(entry);
       }
   } catch (DirectoryIteratorException ex) {
       // I/O error encounted during the iteration, the cause is an IOException
       throw ex.getCause();
   }
   return result;
}

Answer 2

You can use File#isDirectory() to test if the given file (path) is a directory. If this is true, then you just call the same method again with its File#listFiles() outcome. This is called recursion.

Here's a basic kickoff example.

public static void main(String... args) {
    File[] files = new File("C:/").listFiles();
    showFiles(files);
}

public static void showFiles(File[] files) {
    for (File file : files) {
        if (file.isDirectory()) {
            System.out.println("Directory: " + file.getName());
            showFiles(file.listFiles()); // Calls same method again.
        } else {
            System.out.println("File: " + file.getName());
        }
    }
}

Note that this is sensitive to StackOverflowError when the tree is deeper than the JVM's stack can hold. You may want to use an iterative approach or tail-recursion instead, but that's another subject ;)

Answer 3

Using org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils

File file = new File("F:/Lines");       
Collection<File> files = FileUtils.listFiles(file, null, true);     
for(File file2 : files){
    System.out.println(file2.getName());            
} 

Use false if you do not want files from sub directories.

Answer 4

As noted, this is a recursion problem. In particular, you may want to look at

listFiles() 

In the java File API here. It returns an array of all the files in a directory. Using this along with

isDirectory()

to see if you need to recurse further is a good start.

Answer 5

You can also misuse File.list(FilenameFilter) (and variants) for file traversal. Short code and works in early java versions, e.g:

// list files in dir
new File(dir).list(new FilenameFilter() {
    public boolean accept(File dir, String name) {
        String file = dir.getAbsolutePath() + File.separator + name;
        System.out.println(file);
        return false;
    }
});

Answer 6

I like to use Optional and streams to have a net and clear solution, i use the below code to iterate over a directory. the below cases are handled by the code:

1. handle the case of empty directory
2. Laziness

but as mentioned by others, you still have to pay attention for outOfMemory in case you have huge folders

    File directoryFile = new File("put your path here");
    Stream<File> files = Optional.ofNullable(directoryFile// directoryFile
                                                          .listFiles(File::isDirectory)) // filter only directories(change with null if you don't need to filter)
                                 .stream()
                                 .flatMap(Arrays::stream);// flatmap from Stream<File[]> to Stream<File>