sort files into different folders

jesper

i need to sort files by date into different folders.

all files from januar must be moved from their current directory to a folder named januar and all files from february to a folder named february and so on..

the folder is not created, so the code have to create a folder from the date of the files..

Does any one of you know how to do this ?

:)

10 Replies

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Vulpes13y ago
Good, that makes sense :)

Try this:

string source = @"C:\testFolder\Backup"; //Folder where all files are stored
string target = @"C:\testFolder";
var di = new DirectoryInfo(source);
FileInfo[] fia = di.GetFiles();
var query = fia.GroupBy(fi =>
new
{
CreationMonth = fi.CreationTime.ToString("MMMM"),
CreationYear = fi.CreationTime.Year.ToString()
});

foreach(var grouping in query)
{
string yearPath = target + "\\" + grouping.Key.CreationYear;
if(!Directory.Exists(yearPath)) Directory.CreateDirectory(yearPath);
string monthPath = yearPath + "\\" + grouping.Key.CreationMonth;
if(!Directory.Exists(monthPath)) Directory.CreateDirectory(monthPath);

foreach(FileInfo file in grouping)
{
string dest = monthPath + "\\" + file.Name;
if(!File.Exists(dest))
{
File.Move(file.FullName, dest);
}
}
}
jesper13y ago
" I'd have thought it would make more sense to have top level folders for each year and then sub-folders for the months within each of those years. "

Its exact wat i wanted.. but the code have to create the folders on demand, is it still not clear :/ ?
Vulpes13y ago
Sorry, Jesper, but I'm still not clear what's wanted.

You seem to be saying that if there are any files from 2013 or older, then you need to create a folder called 2010 and then have sub-folders within that for each of the 12 months.

However, currently, all files will be dated 2013 or older and so will go into the same 2010 'top level' folder. If that's the case, you might as well define the target folder to be:

string target = @"C:\testFolder\2010";

and then use the previous code.

I'd have thought it would make more sense to have top level folders for each year and then sub-folders for the months within each of those years.
jesper13y ago
Hi i did minor changes. sorry for me not being clear.

Folder structure:

year folder
month folder
files

right now i have only month folder and down..

if there is any files from 2013 og older, it needs to create a folder named 2010 and again put files from january 2010 in the folder named january for example. how do i create the upper structure.. i have tried to extract the year from the files but the output its everything else than a year :)

string source = @"C:\testFolder\Backup"; //Folder where all files are stored
string target = @"C:\testFolder";
var di = new DirectoryInfo(source);
FileInfo[] fia = di.GetFiles();
var query = fia.GroupBy(fi => fi.LastWriteTime.ToString("mmmm"));
var queryYear = fia.GroupBy(fi => fi.LastWriteTime.ToString("yyyy")); //Tried to extract year here
foreach (var grouping in query)
{
foreach (FileInfo file in grouping)
{
string dest = target + "\\" + grouping.Key + "\\" + file.Name;
string monthFolder = target + "\\" + grouping.Key;
string yearfolder = queryYear.ToString(); // tried to put the current year in a string

if (System.IO.Directory.Exists(monthFolder))
{
if (!File.Exists(dest))
{
File.Move(file.FullName, dest);
}
}
else
{
System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(target);

if (!File.Exists(dest))
{
File.Move(file.FullName, dest);
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
Vulpes13y ago
If the target folders are already created and you don't want to overwrite the file if it already exists in the target folder, then try this (untested):

string source = @"C:\testFolder"; //Folder where all files are stored
string target = @"C:\";
var di = new DirectoryInfo(source);
FileInfo[] fia = di.GetFiles();
var query = fia.GroupBy(fi => fi.CreationTime.ToString("MMMM"));
foreach(var grouping in query)
{
foreach(FileInfo file in grouping)
{
string dest = target + "\\" + grouping.Key + "\\" + file.Name;
if(!File.Exists(dest))
{
File.Move(file.FullName, dest);
}
}
}
jesper13y ago
i see your point, and havnt noticed that it will move all files to the given driectory, if i run your code, it keeps saying file already exist, and i cant see where i can add a n option for "target folder"
Vulpes13y ago
There's nothing wrong with your code as such but the problem is that, because you're using DateTime.Now, you're going to place all files which are currently in the source directory in the target directory for the current month, even if they were created in a different month.

The way you couched the original question led manuprasad and myself to conclude that you wanted to group them by the month of creation?
jesper13y ago
right now i created this:

string source = @"C:\testFolder"; //Folder where all files are stored
string target = @"C:\";

foreach (var file in Directory.EnumerateFiles(source))
{
var dest = Path.Combine(target + DateTime.Now.ToString("MMMM"),
Path.GetFileName(file));
File.Move(file, dest);
}

is it bad programming ?

my directories are created before this code is executed.
Vulpes13y ago
Try the following.

The new directories are created as sub-directories of the current directory:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.IO;

class Test
{
static void Main()
{
string dirPath = @"c:\myfiles"; // or whatever the current directory is
var di = new DirectoryInfo(dirPath);
FileInfo[] fia = di.GetFiles("z*.*");
var query = fia.GroupBy(fi => fi.CreationTime.ToString("MMMM"));
foreach(var grouping in query)
{
DirectoryInfo dir = Directory.CreateDirectory(dirPath + "\\" + grouping.Key);
foreach(FileInfo file in grouping)
{
File.Move(file.FullName, dir + "\\" + file.Name);
}
}
}
}
manuprasad kadavat13y ago
use this code to get date of creation

FileInfo MyFile as new FileInfo("c:\\scale.txt") ;
string Strcreation = MyFile.creationTime.ToString();