FileAttributes Enum

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.IO

Assemblies:: mscorlib.dll, System.IO.FileSystem.Primitives.dll

Assembly:: System.Runtime.dll

Assembly:: System.IO.FileSystem.Primitives.dll

Assembly:: mscorlib.dll

Assembly:: netstandard.dll

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Provides attributes for files and directories.

This enumeration supports a bitwise combination of its member values.

public enum class FileAttributes

[System.Flags]
public enum FileAttributes

[System.Flags]
[System.Serializable]
public enum FileAttributes

[System.Flags]
[System.Serializable]
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(true)]
public enum FileAttributes

[<System.Flags>]
type FileAttributes =

[<System.Flags>]
[<System.Serializable>]
type FileAttributes =

[<System.Flags>]
[<System.Serializable>]
[<System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(true)>]
type FileAttributes =

Public Enum FileAttributes

Inheritance: Object

ValueType

Enum
FileAttributes

Attributes: FlagsAttribute SerializableAttribute ComVisibleAttribute

Fields

Name	Value	Description
None	0
ReadOnly	1	The file is read-only. `ReadOnly` is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS. On Linux and macOS, changing the `ReadOnly` flag is a permissions operation.
Hidden	2	The file is hidden, and thus is not included in an ordinary directory listing. `Hidden` is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
System	4	The file is a system file. That is, the file is part of the operating system or is used exclusively by the operating system.
Directory	16	The file is a directory. `Directory` is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Archive	32	This file is marked to be included in incremental backup operation. Windows sets this attribute whenever the file is modified, and backup software should clear it when processing the file during incremental backup.
Device	64	Reserved for future use.
Normal	128	The file is a standard file that has no special attributes. This attribute is valid only if it is used alone. `Normal` is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Temporary	256	The file is temporary. A temporary file contains data that is needed while an application is executing but is not needed after the application is finished. File systems try to keep all the data in memory for quicker access rather than flushing the data back to mass storage. A temporary file should be deleted by the application as soon as it is no longer needed.
SparseFile	512	The file is a sparse file. Sparse files are typically large files whose data consists of mostly zeros.
ReparsePoint	1024	The file contains a reparse point, which is a block of user-defined data associated with a file or a directory. `ReparsePoint` is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Compressed	2048	The file is compressed.
Offline	4096	The file is offline. The data of the file is not immediately available.
NotContentIndexed	8192	The file will not be indexed by the operating system's content indexing service.
Encrypted	16384	The file or directory is encrypted. For a file, this means that all data in the file is encrypted. For a directory, this means that encryption is the default for newly created files and directories.
IntegrityStream	32768	The file or directory includes data integrity support. When this value is applied to a file, all data streams in the file have integrity support. When this value is applied to a directory, all new files and subdirectories within that directory, by default, include integrity support.
NoScrubData	131072	The file or directory is excluded from the data integrity scan. When this value is applied to a directory, by default, all new files and subdirectories within that directory are excluded from data integrity.

Examples

The following example shows how to retrieve the attributes for a file and check if the file is read-only.

using System;
using System.IO;

namespace ConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            FileAttributes attributes = File.GetAttributes("c:/Temp/testfile.txt");
            if ((attributes & FileAttributes.ReadOnly) == FileAttributes.ReadOnly)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("read-only file");
            }
            else
            {
                Console.WriteLine("not read-only file");
            }
        }
    }
}

open System.IO

let attributes = File.GetAttributes "c:/Temp/testfile.txt"
if attributes &&& FileAttributes.ReadOnly = FileAttributes.ReadOnly then
    printfn "read-only file"
else
    printfn "not read-only file"

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Text

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Dim attributes = File.GetAttributes("c:/Temp/testfile.txt")
        If ((attributes And FileAttributes.ReadOnly) = FileAttributes.ReadOnly) Then
            Console.WriteLine("read-only file")
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("not read-only file")
        End If
    End Sub
End Module

Remarks

You can get attributes for files and directories by calling the File.GetAttributes method, and you can set them by calling the File.SetAttributes method.

It is not possible to change the compression status of a File object by using the File.SetAttributes method. Instead, you must actually compress the file using either a compression tool or one of the classes in the System.IO.Compression namespace.

The following attributes are not supported by .NET Core on Linux and macOS:

On Unix systems, the value returned by File.GetAttributes includes Hidden for a file whose name begins with a period ("."). On macOS, you can get or set the hidden flag.

Applies to

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