Iterating Through a Windows File Directory Structure

The phrase "iterating through a directory tree" can also mean "iterating through a folder tree structure". Both statements are valid, when you talk about Windows 'directories' of 'folders'. Iteration means to access each file in each nested subdirectory under a specified root folder, to any depth, unless you specify how many levels 'down' you would like to search. You do not necessarily have to open each file. You can just retrieve the name of the file or subdirectory as a string, or you can retrieve additional information in the form of a System.IO.FileInfo or System.IO.DirectoryInfo object.

The following example shows how to iterate through files and folders in a directory tree without using recursion. You should be careful to modify this code to suit your needs.

static void Main()
        {
            //Specify the starting folder 
            string folder = "C:/myfolder/tips/dascode/";
            RetrieveTreeStructureFiles(folder);

            Console.WriteLine("Press any key");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

        public static void RetrieveTreeStructureFiles(string root)
        {
            // Data structure to hold names of subfolders to be
            // examined for files.
            Stack dirs = new Stack(2);

            if (!System.IO.Directory.Exists(root))
            {
                throw new ArgumentException();
            }
            dirs.Push(root);

            while (dirs.Count > 0)
            {
                string currentDir = dirs.Pop();
                string[] subDirs;
                try
                {
                    subDirs = System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(currentDir);
                }
                // An UnauthorizedAccessException exception will be thrown if we do not have
                // discovery permission on a folder or file.
                catch (UnauthorizedAccessException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
                    continue;
                }
                catch (System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
                    continue;
                }

                string[] files = null;
                try
                {
                    files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(currentDir);
                }

                catch (UnauthorizedAccessException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
                    continue;
                }

                catch (System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException e)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
                    continue;
                }
                // Perform the required action on each file here.
                // Modify this block to perform your required task.
                foreach (string file in files)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        // Perform whatever action is required in your scenario.
                        System.IO.FileInfo fi = new System.IO.FileInfo(file);
                        Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}, {2}", fi.Name, fi.Length, fi.CreationTime);
                    }
                    catch (System.IO.FileNotFoundException e)
                    {
                        // If file was deleted by a separate application
                        // or thread since the call to TraverseTree()
                        // then just continue.
                        Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
                        continue;
                    }
                }

                foreach (string str in subDirs)
                {
                    dirs.Push(str);
                }
            }
        }