My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile Method

Moves a file to a new location.

' Usage
My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile(sourceFileName ,destinationFileName)
My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile(sourceFileName ,destinationFileName ,overwrite)
My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile(sourceFileName ,destinationFileName ,showUI)
My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile(sourceFileName ,destinationFileName ,showUI ,onUserCancel)
' Declaration
Public Sub MoveFile( _
   ByVal sourceFileName As String, _
   ByVal destinationFileName As String _
)
' -or-
Public Sub MoveFile( _
   ByVal sourceFileName As String, _
   ByVal destinationFileName As String, _
   ByVal overwrite As Boolean _
)
' -or-
Public Sub MoveFile( _
   ByVal sourceFileName As String, _
   ByVal destinationFileName As String, _
   ByVal showUI As UIOption _
)
' -or-
Public Sub MoveFile( _
   ByVal sourceFileName As String, _
   ByVal destinationFileName As String, _
   ByVal showUI As UIOption, _
   ByVal onUserCancel As UICancelOption _
)

Parameters

• sourceFileName
  String. Path of the file to be moved. Required.

• destinationFileName
  String. Path of the directory into which the file should be moved. Required.

• overwrite
  Boolean. Specifies whether to overwrite existing files. Default is False. Required.

• showUI
  UIOption Enumeration. Specifies whether to visually track the operation's progress. Default is UIOption.OnlyErrorDialogs. Required.

• onUserCancel
  UICancelOption Enumeration. Specifies whether or not an exception is thrown when the user cancels the operation. Default is UICancelOption.ThrowException. Required.

Exceptions

The following conditions may cause an exception:

• The path is not valid for one of the following reasons: it is a zero-length string; it contains only white space; it contains invalid characters; or it is a device path (starts with \\.\) (ArgumentException).

• The file name ends with a backslash (\) (ArgumentException).

• The path is not valid because it is Nothing (ArgumentNullException).

• destinationFileName is Nothing or an empty string (ArgumentNullException).

• The source file is not valid or does not exist (FileNotFoundException).

• The combined path points to an existing directory, the destination file exists and overwrite is set to False, a file in the target directory with the same name is in use, orthe user does not have sufficient permissions to access the file (IOException).

• A file or directory name in the path contains a colon (:) or is in an invalid format (NotSupportedException).

• onUserCancel is set to ThrowException, and either the user has cancelled the operation or an unspecified I/O error occurs (OperationCanceledException).

• The path exceeds the system-defined maximum length (PathTooLongException).

• The user lacks necessary permissions to view the path (SecurityException).

• The user does not have required permission (UnauthorizedAccessException).

Remarks

If the target structure does not exist, it is created.

The MoveFile method preserves ACEs (Access Control Entries) only when moving the file within the same volume. This includes inherited ACEs, which become direct ACEs when moved (direct ACEs take precedence over inherited ACEs). If a file is moved between volumes, ACEs will not be copied.

Tasks

The following table lists examples of tasks involving the My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile method.

To	See
Move a file	How to: Move a File in Visual Basic
Move a collection of files	How to: Move a Collection of Files in Visual Basic
Move the contents of a directory	How to: Move the Contents of a Directory in Visual Basic

Example

This example moves the file Test.txt from TestDir1 to TestDir2.

My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile("C:\TestDir1\test.txt", "C:\TestDir2\test.txt")

This example moves the file Test.txt from TestDir1 to TestDir2 and renames it Test2.txt.

My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile("C:\TestDir1\test.txt", "C:\TestDir2\test2.txt")

Requirements

Namespace:Microsoft.VisualBasic.MyServices

Class:FileSystemProxy (provides access to FileSystem)

Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)

Availability by Project Type

Project type	Available
Windows Application	Yes
Class Library	Yes
Console Application	Yes
Windows Control Library	Yes
Web Control Library	Yes
Windows Service	Yes
Web Site	Yes

Permissions

The following permissions may be necessary:

Permission	Description
EnvironmentPermission	Controls the ability to access all environment variables. Associated enumeration: Unrestricted.
FileIOPermission	Controls the ability to access files and folders. Associated enumeration: Unrestricted.
RegistryPermission	Controls the ability to access registry variables. Associated enumeration: Unrestricted.
UIPermission	Controls the permissions related to user interfaces and the clipboard. Associated enumeration: SafeSubWindows.

For more information, see Code Access Security and Requesting Permissions.

See Also

Reference

My.Computer.FileSystem Object

UIOption Enumeration

UICancelOption Enumeration

Other Resources

Creating, Deleting, and Moving Files and Directories in Visual Basic