How to check if a path exists in Sharepoint and create it if it doesn't on Sharepoint using C#?

Question

So, I have a bunch of "paths to create" on a list (some paths may exist partially. For ex: A/B might already be there. But I might have to create A/B/C). I need to check if the path already exists and if it doesn't create it using CSOM on Sharepoint online.
Can you please help?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi @Puneeth, C ,

I'm glad to hear you solve the problem ,if you have any issue about SharePoint, you are welcome to raise a ticket in this forum.

By the way, since the Microsoft Q&A community has a policy that "The question author cannot accept their own answer. They can only accept answers by others." and according to the scenario introduced here: Answering your own questions on Microsoft Q&A, I would make a brief summary of this thread:

[How to check if a path exists in Sharepoint and create it if it doesn't on Sharepoint using C#?]

Issue Symptom:

I have a bunch of "paths to create" on a list (some paths may exist partially. For ex: A/B might already be there. But I might have to create A/B/C). I need to check if the path already exists and if it doesn't create it using CSOM on Sharepoint online.

Solutions:

public static Folder CreateFolder(Web web, string listTitle, string fullFolderPath)  
 {  
     if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fullFolderPath))  
         throw new ArgumentNullException("fullFolderPath");  
     var list = web.Lists.GetByTitle(listTitle);  
     return CreateFolderInternal(web, list.RootFolder, fullFolderPath);  
 }  
 private static Folder CreateFolderInternal(Web web, Folder parentFolder, string fullFolderPath)  
 {  
     var folderUrls = fullFolderPath.Split(new char[] { '/' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);  
     string folderUrl = folderUrls[0];  
     var curFolder = parentFolder.Folders.Add(folderUrl);  
     web.Context.Load(curFolder);  
     web.Context.ExecuteQuery();  
     if (folderUrls.Length > 1)  
     {  
         var folderPath = string.Join("/", folderUrls, 1, folderUrls.Length - 1);  
         return CreateFolderInternal(web, curFolder, folderPath);  
     }  
     return curFolder;  
 }  

You could click the "Accept Answer" button for this summary to close this thread, and this can make it easier for other community member's to see the useful information when reading this thread. Thanks for your understanding!

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Answer 2

Hi @Puneeth, C ,

Based on my research and testing, I have not yet found a way to check if the path exists in sharepoint using CSOM. As it is to check and create folders, you can refer to this document to check if a SharePoint folder exists using CSOM.

As a workaround, I also recommend you to use powershell to check if folder exists. Please refer to the following code:

#Parameters  
$SiteURL = "https://crescent.sharepoint.com/sites/Operations"  
$FolderURL = "/sites/Operations/Shared Documents/Classifieds" #Server Relative URL  
   
#Connect to PnP Online  
Connect-PnPOnline -Url $SiteURL -Interactive  
   
#Try to Get the Folder  
$Folder = Get-PnPFolder -Url $FolderURL -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue  
   
#sharepoint online powershell To check if folder exists  
If($Folder -ne $null)  
{  
    Write-Host -f Green "Folder exists!"  
}  
Else  
{  
    Write-Host -f Yellow "Folder does not exists!"  
}  

Hope it can help you. Thanks for your understanding.

---

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Answer 3

public static Folder CreateFolder(Web web, string listTitle, string fullFolderPath)  
{  
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fullFolderPath))  
        throw new ArgumentNullException("fullFolderPath");  
    var list = web.Lists.GetByTitle(listTitle);  
    return CreateFolderInternal(web, list.RootFolder, fullFolderPath);  
}  
private static Folder CreateFolderInternal(Web web, Folder parentFolder, string fullFolderPath)  
{  
    var folderUrls = fullFolderPath.Split(new char[] { '/' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);  
    string folderUrl = folderUrls[0];  
    var curFolder = parentFolder.Folders.Add(folderUrl);  
    web.Context.Load(curFolder);  
    web.Context.ExecuteQuery();  
    if (folderUrls.Length > 1)  
    {  
        var folderPath = string.Join("/", folderUrls, 1, folderUrls.Length - 1);  
        return CreateFolderInternal(web, curFolder, folderPath);  
    }  
    return curFolder;  
}  

The code above works perfectly for me.
Thanks