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How to: Move a Collection of Files in Visual Basic

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The My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile method allows you to move files between directories.

If the target structure does not exist, it will be created.

To move a collection of files from one directory to another

  • Define the collection of files and call the MoveFile method. This example moves all files in the directory MyDocuments to the folder StorageDir.

    For Each foundFile As String In My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles( _
    My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyDocuments, _
    Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.SearchOption.SearchAllSubDirectories, "*.*")

    Dim foundFileInfo As New System.IO.FileInfo(foundFile)
    My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile(foundFile, "C:\StorageDir\" & foundFileInfo.Name)
Next

Robust Programming

The following conditions may cause an exception:

  • The path is not valid for one of the following reasons: it is a zero-length string, it contains only white space, it contains invalid characters, or it is a device path (starts with \\.\) (ArgumentException).

  • The path is not valid because it is Nothing (ArgumentNullException).

  • The source file is not valid or does not exist (FileNotFoundException).

  • The combined path points to an existing directory, the destination file exists and overwrite is set to False, a file in the target directory with the same name is in use, or the user does not have sufficient permissions to access the file (IOException).

  • A file or directory name in the path contains a colon (:) or is in an invalid format (NotSupportedException).

  • showUI is set to True, onUserCancelOption is set to ThrowException, and either the user has cancelled the operation or an unspecified I/O error occurs (OperationCanceledException).

  • The path exceeds the system-defined maximum length (PathTooLongException).

  • The user lacks necessary permissions to view the path (SecurityException).

  • The user does not have required permission (UnauthorizedAccessException).

See Also

Tasks

How to: Rename a File in Visual Basic

How to: Move a File in Visual Basic

How to: Create a Copy of a File in a Different Directory in Visual Basic

How to: Parse File Paths in Visual Basic

How to: Move a Directory in Visual Basic

How to: Move the Contents of a Directory in Visual Basic

Reference

My.Computer.FileSystem.MoveFile Method

My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles Method

Other Resources

Creating, Deleting, and Moving Files and Directories in Visual Basic