Common I/O Tasks

Article
09/15/2021

The System.IO namespace provides several classes that allow for various actions, such as reading and writing, to be performed on files, directories, and streams. For more information, see File and Stream I/O.

Common File Tasks

To do this...	See the example in this topic...
Create a text file	File.CreateText method FileInfo.CreateText method File.Create method FileInfo.Create method
Write to a text file	How to: Write Text to a File How to: Write a Text File (C++/CLI)
Read from a text file	How to: Read Text from a File
Append text to a file	How to: Open and Append to a Log File File.AppendText method FileInfo.AppendText method
Rename or move a file	File.Move method FileInfo.MoveTo method
Delete a file	File.Delete method FileInfo.Delete method
Copy a file	File.Copy method FileInfo.CopyTo method
Get the size of a file	FileInfo.Length property
Get the attributes of a file	File.GetAttributes method
Set the attributes of a file	File.SetAttributes method
Determine whether a file exists	File.Exists method
Read from a binary file	How to: Read and Write to a Newly Created Data File
Write to a binary file	How to: Read and Write to a Newly Created Data File
Retrieve a file name extension	Path.GetExtension method
Retrieve the fully qualified path of a file	Path.GetFullPath method
Retrieve the file name and extension from a path	Path.GetFileName method
Change the extension of a file	Path.ChangeExtension method

Common Directory Tasks

To do this...	See the example in this topic...
Access a file in a special folder such as My Documents	How to: Write Text to a File
Create a directory	Directory.CreateDirectory method FileInfo.Directory property
Create a subdirectory	DirectoryInfo.CreateSubdirectory method
Rename or move a directory	Directory.Move method DirectoryInfo.MoveTo method
Copy a directory	How to: Copy Directories
Delete a directory	Directory.Delete method DirectoryInfo.Delete method
See the files and subdirectories in a directory	How to: Enumerate Directories and Files
Find the size of a directory	System.IO.Directory class
Determine whether a directory exists	Directory.Exists method

See also