How to Search a File through all the SubDirectories in Delphi - delphi

Question

I implemented this code but again i am not able to search through the subdirectories .
procedure TFfileSearch.FileSearch(const dirName:string);
begin
//We write our search code here
if FindFirst(dirName,faAnyFile or faDirectory,searchResult)=0 then
begin
try
repeat
ShowMessage(IntToStr(searchResult.Attr));
if (searchResult.Attr and faDirectory)=0 then //The Result is a File
//begin
lbSearchResult.Items.Append(searchResult.Name)
else
begin
FileSearch(IncludeTrailingBackSlash(dirName)+searchResult.Name);
//
end;
until FindNext(searchResult)<>0
finally
FindClose(searchResult);
end;
end;
end;
procedure TFfileSearch.btnSearchClick(Sender: TObject);
var
filePath:string;
begin
lbSearchResult.Clear;
if Trim(edtMask.Text)='' then
MessageDlg('EMPTY INPUT', mtWarning, [mbOK], 0)
else
begin
filePath:=cbDirName.Text+ edtMask.Text;
ShowMessage(filePath);
FileSearch(filePath);
end;
end;
I am giving the search for *.ini files in E:\ drive. so initially filePath is E:*.ini.
But the code does not search the directories in E:\ drive. How to correct it?
Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

You can't apply a restriction to the file extension in the call to FindFirst. If you did so then directories do not get enumerated. Instead you must check for matching extension in your code. Try something like this:
procedure TMyForm.FileSearch(const dirName:string);
var
searchResult: TSearchRec;
begin
if FindFirst(dirName+'\*', faAnyFile, searchResult)=0 then begin
try
repeat
if (searchResult.Attr and faDirectory)=0 then begin
if SameText(ExtractFileExt(searchResult.Name), '.ini') then begin
lbSearchResult.Items.Append(IncludeTrailingBackSlash(dirName)+searchResult.Name);
end;
end else if (searchResult.Name<>'.') and (searchResult.Name<>'..') then begin
FileSearch(IncludeTrailingBackSlash(dirName)+searchResult.Name);
end;
until FindNext(searchResult)<>0
finally
FindClose(searchResult);
end;
end;
end;
procedure TMyForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
FileSearch('c:\windows');
end;

Answer 2

I'd recommend doing as follows:
uses
System.Types,
System.IOUtils;
procedure TForm7.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
S: string;
begin
Memo1.Lines.Clear;
for S in TDirectory.GetFiles('C:\test', '*.bmp', TSearchOption.soAllDirectories) do
Memo1.Lines.Add(S);
Showmessage('Finished!');
end;

Answer 3

I hate those recursive solutions with FindFirst/FindNext and I consider it troublesome that some even forget to use FindClose to clean up resources. So, for the fun of it, a non-recursive solution that should be practical to use...
procedure FindDocs(const Root: string);
var
SearchRec: TSearchRec;
Folders: array of string;
Folder: string;
I: Integer;
Last: Integer;
begin
SetLength(Folders, 1);
Folders[0] := Root;
I := 0;
while (I < Length(Folders)) do
begin
Folder := IncludeTrailingBackslash(Folders[I]);
Inc(I);
{ Collect child folders first. }
if (FindFirst(Folder + '*.*', faDirectory, SearchRec) = 0) then
begin
repeat
if not ((SearchRec.Name = '.') or (SearchRec.Name = '..')) then
begin
Last := Length(Folders);
SetLength(Folders, Succ(Last));
Folders[Last] := Folder + SearchRec.Name;
end;
until (FindNext(SearchRec) <> 0);
FindClose(SearchRec);
end;
{ Collect files next.}
if (FindFirst(Folder + '*.doc', faAnyFile - faDirectory, SearchRec) = 0) then
begin
repeat
if not ((SearchRec.Attr and faDirectory) = faDirectory) then
begin
WriteLn(Folder, SearchRec.Name);
end;
until (FindNext(SearchRec) <> 0);
FindClose(SearchRec);
end;
end;
end;
While it seems to eat a lot of memory because it uses a dynamic array, a recursive method will do exactly the same but recursion happens on the stack! Also, with a recursive method, space is allocated for all local variables while my solution only allocates space for the folder names.
When you check for speed, both methods should be just as fast. The recursive method is easier to remember, though. You can also use a TStringList instead of a dynamic array, but I just like dynamic arrays.
One additional trick with my solution: It can search in multiple folders! I Initialized the Folders array with just one root, but you could easily set it's length to 3, and set Folders[0] to C:\, Folders[1] to D:\ and Folders[2] to E:\ and it will search on multiple disks!
Btw, replace the WriteLn() code with whatever logic you want to execute...

Answer 4

This is worked for me with multi-extension search support:
function GetFilesPro(const Path, Masks: string): TStringDynArray;
var
MaskArray: TStringDynArray;
Predicate: TDirectory.TFilterPredicate;
begin
MaskArray := SplitString(Masks, ',');
Predicate :=
function(const Path: string; const SearchRec: TSearchRec): Boolean
var
Mask: string;
begin
for Mask in MaskArray do
if MatchesMask(SearchRec.Name, Mask) then
exit(True);
exit(False);
end;
Result := TDirectory.GetFiles(Path, Predicate);
end;
Usage:
FileList := TStringList.Create;
FileSearch(s, '.txt;.tmp;.exe;.doc', FileList);

Answer 5

The problem with this file search is that it will loop infinitely, FindClose is like it does not exist.

Answer 6

procedure FindFilePattern(root:String;pattern:String);
var
SR:TSearchRec;
begin
root:=IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(root);
if FindFirst(root+'*.*',faAnyFile,SR) = 0 then
begin
repeat
Application.ProcessMessages;
if ((SR.Attr and faDirectory) = SR.Attr ) and (pos('.',SR.Name)=0) then
FindFilePattern(root+SR.Name,pattern)
else
begin
if pos(pattern,SR.Name)>0 then Form1.ListBox1.Items.Add(Root+SR.Name);
end;
until FindNext(SR)<>0;
end;
end;
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
FindFilePattern('C:\','.exe');
end;
This searches recursively to all folders displaying filenames that contain a certain pattern.