How to: Copy directories

Article
14/12/2022

This article demonstrates how to use I/O classes to synchronously copy the contents of a directory to another location.

For an example of asynchronous file copy, see Asynchronous file I/O.

This example copies subdirectories by setting the recursive parameter of the CopyDirectory method to true. The CopyDirectory method recursively copies subdirectories by calling itself on each subdirectory until there are no more to copy.

Example

using System.IO;

CopyDirectory(@".\", @".\copytest", true);

static void CopyDirectory(string sourceDir, string destinationDir, bool recursive)
{
    // Get information about the source directory
    var dir = new DirectoryInfo(sourceDir);

    // Check if the source directory exists
    if (!dir.Exists)
        throw new DirectoryNotFoundException($"Source directory not found: {dir.FullName}");

    // Cache directories before we start copying
    DirectoryInfo[] dirs = dir.GetDirectories();

    // Create the destination directory
    Directory.CreateDirectory(destinationDir);

    // Get the files in the source directory and copy to the destination directory
    foreach (FileInfo file in dir.GetFiles())
    {
        string targetFilePath = Path.Combine(destinationDir, file.Name);
        file.CopyTo(targetFilePath);
    }

    // If recursive and copying subdirectories, recursively call this method
    if (recursive)
    {
        foreach (DirectoryInfo subDir in dirs)
        {
            string newDestinationDir = Path.Combine(destinationDir, subDir.Name);
            CopyDirectory(subDir.FullName, newDestinationDir, true);
        }
    }
}

Imports System.IO

Module Program
    Sub Main(args As String())
        CopyDirectory(".\", ".\copytest", True)
    End Sub

    Public Sub CopyDirectory(sourceDir As String, destinationDir As String, recursive As Boolean)

        ' Get information about the source directory
        Dim dir As New DirectoryInfo(sourceDir)

        ' Check if the source directory exists
        If Not dir.Exists Then
            Throw New DirectoryNotFoundException($"Source directory not found: {dir.FullName}")
        End If

        ' Cache directories before we start copying
        Dim dirs As DirectoryInfo() = dir.GetDirectories()

        ' Create the destination directory
        Directory.CreateDirectory(destinationDir)

        ' Get the files in the source directory and copy to the destination directory
        For Each file As FileInfo In dir.GetFiles()
            Dim targetFilePath As String = Path.Combine(destinationDir, file.Name)
            file.CopyTo(targetFilePath)
        Next

        ' If recursive and copying subdirectories, recursively call this method
        If recursive Then
            For Each subDir As DirectoryInfo In dirs
                Dim newDestinationDir As String = Path.Combine(destinationDir, subDir.Name)
                CopyDirectory(subDir.FullName, newDestinationDir, True)
            Next
        End If

    End Sub
End Module

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How to: Copy directories

Example

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