How to: List directory contents with FTP

This sample shows how to list the directory contents of an FTP server.

Note

This article is specific to projects that target .NET Framework. For projects that target .NET 6 and later versions, FTP is no longer supported.

Example

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;

namespace Examples.System.Net
{
    public class WebRequestGetExample
    {
        public static void Main ()
        {
            // Get the object used to communicate with the server.
            FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/");
            request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectoryDetails;

            // This example assumes the FTP site uses anonymous logon.
            request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential ("anonymous","janeDoe@contoso.com");

            FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

            Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
            Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadToEnd());

            Console.WriteLine($"Directory List Complete, status {response.StatusDescription}");

            reader.Close();
            response.Close();
        }
    }
}

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Net

Namespace Examples.System.Net
    Public Module WebRequestGetExample
        Public Sub Main()
            ' Get the object used to communicate with the server.
            Dim request As FtpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/"), FtpWebRequest)
            request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.ListDirectoryDetails

            ' This example assumes the FTP site uses anonymous logon.
            request.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("anonymous", "janeDoe@contoso.com")

            Dim response As FtpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), FtpWebResponse)

            Dim responseStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()
            Dim reader As StreamReader = New StreamReader(responseStream)
            Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadToEnd())

            Console.WriteLine($"Directory List Complete, status {response.StatusDescription}")

            reader.Close()
            response.Close()
        End Sub
    End Module
End Namespace

If you need to list a specific directory, just add the directory to the end of the URI you're using in the WebRequest.Create method:

FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/your_preferred_directory");

Dim request As FtpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create("ftp://www.contoso.com/your_preferred_directory"), FtpWebRequest)