How to query the contents of text files in a folder (LINQ) (C#)
This example shows how to query over all the files in a specified directory tree, open each file, and inspect its contents. This type of technique could be used to create indexes or reverse indexes of the contents of a directory tree. A simple string search is performed in this example. However, more complex types of pattern matching can be performed with a regular expression. For more information, see How to combine LINQ queries with regular expressions (C#).
Example
class QueryContents
{
public static void Main()
{
// Modify this path as necessary.
string startFolder = @"c:\program files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\";
// Take a snapshot of the file system.
System.IO.DirectoryInfo dir = new System.IO.DirectoryInfo(startFolder);
// This method assumes that the application has discovery permissions
// for all folders under the specified path.
IEnumerable<System.IO.FileInfo> fileList = dir.GetFiles("*.*", System.IO.SearchOption.AllDirectories);
string searchTerm = @"Visual Studio";
// Search the contents of each file.
// A regular expression created with the RegEx class
// could be used instead of the Contains method.
// queryMatchingFiles is an IEnumerable<string>.
var queryMatchingFiles =
from file in fileList
where file.Extension == ".htm"
let fileText = GetFileText(file.FullName)
where fileText.Contains(searchTerm)
select file.FullName;
// Execute the query.
Console.WriteLine("The term \"{0}\" was found in:", searchTerm);
foreach (string filename in queryMatchingFiles)
{
Console.WriteLine(filename);
}
}
// Read the contents of the file.
static string GetFileText(string name)
{
string fileContents = String.Empty;
// If the file has been deleted since we took
// the snapshot, ignore it and return the empty string.
if (System.IO.File.Exists(name))
{
fileContents = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(name);
}
return fileContents;
}
}
Compiling the Code
Create a C# console application project, with using
directives for the System.Linq and System.IO namespaces.
Feedback
https://aka.ms/ContentUserFeedback.
Coming soon: Throughout 2024 we will be phasing out GitHub Issues as the feedback mechanism for content and replacing it with a new feedback system. For more information see:Submit and view feedback for