Iterating through the FileSystemObject Collections
The FileSystemObject contains several collections. Each of these collections contains
information on a particular aspect of the web server's file system. These collections include:
Drives - The various drives on the computer's file system. Include floppy drives,
CD-ROMs, tape drives, etc., as well as hard drives.
SubFolders - The immediate subfolders of a given folder.
Files - The list of files in a particular folder.
There are, not surprisingly, three objects, one associated with each collection. These objects are the
Drive object, the Folder object, and the File object. It helps
to imagine your file system as a hierarchy, like so:
Note that the FileSystemObject contains all of the drive, folder, and files information
indirectly. Directly, it contains just the Drives collection- that is Drive 1 through Drive N.
Each Drive object in the Drives collection contains a series of Folder
objects, while each Folder object contains a Files collection.
The FileSystemObject also contains three functions to retrieve specific Drive,
Folder, and File objects: GetDrive, GetFolder, and
GetFile, respectively. Each of these three functions returns the appropriate object type.
So, if you want to obtain specific information about a particular file (for example, it's last modified
date, or its file size), you can use the GetFile method to retrieve the File
object that represents that particular file.
Dim objFSO
Set objFSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Get the file information
Dim objFile
Set objFile = objFSO.GetFile("C:\Windows\System.ini")
'Output some of the File object properties
Response.Write "Name: " & objFile.Name & "<br>"
Response.Write "Size: " & objFile.Size & "<br>"
Response.Write "Last Modified: " & objFile.DateLastModified & "<br>"
'Clean up
Set objFile = Nothing
Set objFSO = Nothing
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Note: in your applications, you should alway use the FileExists method to determine whether or not
a particular file exists before using the GetFile method. See the
second FSO FAQ for more information on FileExists.
A complete listing of the File object properties can be found at:
Microsoft's Scripting Site.
To get a specific folder, use the GetFolder object. You can then iterate through each of
the files in that folder by using the Files collection. For example, the following code
will list the files in the directory C:\InetPub\wwwroot.
Dim objFSO
Set objFSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Get the folder object associated with the directory
Dim objFolder
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder("C:\InetPub\wwwroot")
Response.Write "The files found in " & objFolder.Name & ":<br>"
'Loop through the Files collection
Dim objFile
For Each objFile in objFolder.Files
Response.Write objFile.Name & "<br>"
Next
'Clean up!
Set objFolder = Nothing
Set objFile = Nothing
Set objFSO = Nothing
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Again, your application code should first use the FolderExists method to make sure
the folder you are trying to obtain with the GetFolder method exists. (
View a list of the Folder object properties.)
You can use these collections to iterate through the entire file system of your web server! Two good
article on 4Guys that discuss using these collections are: A Text-Based
Search Engine, and Using the FileSystemObject for
Website Maintainence.
Happy Programming!
