How to delete files from folder NOT listed in listbox?

Question

Hi all,

Been toying around with this for a long time to no avail...

I have a listbox of items generated by a folder contents (location x, they're all *.mp3).

I have another listbox of items generated by a different folders contents (location y, they're all *.txt files)

(The listboxes are not necessary, I'm just a newbie and these help me wrap my head around the problem by breaking it down into manageable pieces - if it can be done without them I'm happy to oblige)

I want to delete any *.txt files in the folder that DON'T correspond to the names of the mp3 files.

Ie; I have song1.mp3, song2.mp3, song3.mp3 in folder x

and

song1.txt, song2.txt, song3.txt, song4.txt in folder y.

I want to delete song4.txt

Any help much appreciated :)

Answer 1

Hi

Here is some code that does it. This example uses 'hard coded' file paths (from a CopyAsPath), but you could very easily incorporate a folder browser to allow selection to be made.

This code can delete files so TEST it with some test files (I just copied some random .txt files and renamed to .mp3 and .txt in appropriate folders (see code at top for my test paths)

The actual DELETE function is commented out in the code, and only when you have set up a test environment, uncomment the line. I have also put a STOP in the code. When testing for first time, the STOP will allow you to check the values being used, in particular, the variable 'Name' which would be a file about to be deleted. Once happy with all of that, then stop the execution and remove the STOP command and allow the deletion on next run.

As you said, I have not bothered to add any Lists or anything in the UI, but that too is easily added if needed.

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Public Class Form1
  Dim mp3Path As String = "C:\Users\lesha\Desktop\MP3 Folder"
  Dim txtPath As String = "C:\Users\lesha\Desktop\TXT Folder"
  Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    ' create a collection of mp3 files
    Dim mp3s() As String = IO.Directory.GetFiles(mp3Path, "*.mp3")
    ' create a collection of txt files
    Dim txts() As String = IO.Directory.GetFiles(txtPath, "*.txt")

    ' loop through txt file names and
    ' check if in mp3 collection
    For Each txtFile As String In txts
      ' create a mp3 file name to search
      ' with (needs to be mp3 filename with
      ' a .mp3 extendion
      Dim name As String = IO.Path.Combine(mp3Path, IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(txtFile) & ".mp3")

      If Not mp3s.Contains(name) Then
        ' no file match in mp3 folder so
        ' can delete this file (the .txt one)

        ' this next line would do the delete
        ' but first, try out the code on
        ' some test files to ensure it does
        ' what it is supposed to do! Be careful
        ' to not mix up the paths.

        '  IO.File.Delete(txtFile)
        Stop
      End If
    Next
  End Sub
End Class

Answer 2

Ok, thanks again. I managed to solve my own question (a comment above) but would still like to know how to write text to the text file when I create it.

I simply need the text file to read "0" if I create it. I've managed to create them with the IO.File.Create(txtFile) - I reverse engineered your code to some success :)

Thanks again!

Answer 3

Hi

For your second question. (please put new questions in their own new thread to avoid filling a thread with multiple questions)

As you will see below, the code is very much like the first code. So much so, that you can quite easily incorporate the 2 code examples into one.

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Public Class Form1
  Dim mp3Path As String = "C:\Users\lesha\Desktop\MP3 Folder"
  Dim txtPath As String = "C:\Users\lesha\Desktop\TXT Folder"
  Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    ' what to write to new file (with
    ' a ctlf - delete if not needed)
    Dim texttowrite As String = "0" & vbCrLf

    ' create a collection of mp3 files
    Dim mp3s() As String = IO.Directory.GetFiles(mp3Path, "*.mp3")
    ' create a collection of txt files
    Dim txts() As String = IO.Directory.GetFiles(txtPath, "*.txt")

    ' loop through mp3 file names and
    ' check if in txt collection
    For Each txtFile As String In mp3s
      ' create a txt file and write the
      ' text from above to it.
      Dim name As String = IO.Path.Combine(txtPath, IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(txtFile) & ".txt")
      If Not txts.Contains(name) Then
        ' create a new file with contents
        IO.File.WriteAllText(name, texttowrite)
      End If
    Next
  End Sub
End Class