How to search for files in all directories c#?-CodePudding

I'm trying to find write a recursive method to find a file in given directory. I'm actually a beginner in programming and C#, this my first time writing a recursive method. The method will go through each file and all sub directories to find the file.

This is what I wrote:

  static string GetPath(string currentDirectory)
    {
        string requiredPath = "";            
                      
        string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(currentDirectory);
        string[] dirs = Directory.GetDirectories(currentDirectory);
                
        foreach (string aPath in files)
        {
            if (aPath.Contains("A.txt"))
            {
                requiredPath = aPath;                    
            }                                
        }

        foreach (string dir in dirs)
        {
            requiredPath = GetPath(dir);
        }
                                     
        return requiredPath;                        
    }

Now the problem is when I pass currentDirectory as C:\users\{Enviroment.UserName}\OneDrive\Desktop\TestFolder, which contains a few more test folders, it works. But when I try to run it in a folder that I want to find the file in, it doesn't return anything. Path to that folder is C:\users\{Enviroment.UserName}\OneDrive\Data\SomeFolder that folder has some subdirectories and files and also the file A.txt

I even tried:

 foreach (string aPath in files)
        {
            if (aPath.Contains("A.txt"))
            {
                requiredPath = aPath;                    
            }                                
        }

but it doesn't work. Am I doing something wrong? I don't understand why it works in the test folders and why it doesn't work When I'm trying to run it in a real folder. Again, I'm just a beginner teenage learning programming, this is my first time writing recursive methods so yeah. This is also my first question in this community.

CodePudding user response：

Okay I found the solution to this, I just had to put an if command when I was recursing it.

        foreach (string dir in dirs)
        {
            requiredPath = GetPath(dir);
            if (requiredPath.Contains("PasswordGenerator.py"))
                return requiredPath;
        }

It wasn't checking that if the file is in requiredPath it just kept on searching.

Well I showed my father my method and he made another simpler one for me.

 static string GetFilePath(string folderToSearch, string fileName)
    {
        if (Directory.GetFiles(folderToSearch).Any(x => x.Contains(fileName)))
            return folderToSearch;
        var folders = Directory.GetDirectories(folderToSearch);
        foreach(var folder in folders)
        {
            var filePath = GetFilePath(folder, fileName);
            if (filePath != null)
                return filePath;
        }
        return null;
    }