C# Newbie - Having a problem

dominick

I have a test file located here: C:\test.txt I am trying to see if the file exists: bool exists; exists = System.IO.File.Exists(@"c:\test.txt"); exists always returns false even though the file does exist the same thing happens if I try using: System.IO.File.Delete(@"c:\test.txt"); even thought he file exists, it is never deleted. Am I missing something? What is the purpose of the @ symbol before the file name? Thanks

2 Replies

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Scott Lysle19y ago
Not sure about why you cannot get the delete to work: I dropped a file on to the C root and ran these three operations:

if (!System.IO.File.Exists(@"C:\alabama-seal.jpg"))
     MessageBox.Show("It is NOT there");
else
     MessageBox.Show("It IS there");

System.IO.File.Delete(@"C:\alabama-seal.jpg");

if (!System.IO.File.Exists(@"C:\alabama-seal.jpg"))
     MessageBox.Show("It is NOT there");
else
     MessageBox.Show("It IS there");

As expected, the first message box said "It IS there", the file was then deleted and the second message box said "It is NOT there."

A check of the root file shows the file was in fact deleted.
Scott Lysle19y ago
The purpose of the '@' is to take the string following literally (without the use of any escape sequences); e.g., @"c:\Temp\Test.txt" works but so does "c:\\Temp\\Test.txt".

As for usage of the File.Exists method; this works fine:

if (!System.IO.File.Exists("C:\\Temp\\somefile.txt"))
     MessageBox.Show("It is NOT there");
else
     MessageBox.Show("It IS there");

And so does this:

if (!System.IO.File.Exists(@"C:\Temp\al_outline.gif"))
      MessageBox.Show("It is NOT there");
else
     MessageBox.Show("It IS there");