Best way to copy or move files with Objective-C?

Question

I was wondering, is there a best practice to write an OSX programm that copies or moves a file from one place to another?

• is there some NSSomething method I c

Answer 1

NSFileManager and NSWorkspace both have methods to move, copy, and delete files. Usually you'd use NSFileManager since its easier to work with:

if ( [[NSFileManager defaultManager] isReadableFileAtPath:source] )
    [[NSFileManager defaultManager] copyItemAtURL:source toURL:destination error:nil];

However, NSWorkspace can easily move files to the Trash, which NSFileManager can't do.

[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] performFileOperation:NSWorkspaceRecycleOperation source:foldername destination:@"" files:filenamesArray tag:&tag];

Check the documentation for a more complete description of the two classes. (NSFileManager, NSWorkspace)

Answer 2

[[NSFileManager defaultManager] copyItemAtPath:srcPath toPath:dstPath error:&error]

Here's the link to the class reference:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSFileManager_Class/Reference/Reference.html#//apple_ref/occ/instm/NSFileManager/copyItemAtPath:toPath:error:

Answer 3

You can also use FSCopyObjectAsync function. You can display file copy progress and you can also cancel file copy using FSCopyObjectAsync().
Take a look at this post.

FSCopyObjectAsync is Deprecated in OS X v10.8

copyfile(3) is alternative for FSCopyObjectAsync. Here is example of copyfile(3) with Progress Callback.