File search with specific Extension Objective c

Question

I am working on some file manipulation in iPhone project. Where i need to search files of specific extension. One option is to manually process each file & directory to find. My Question is, Is there any simple way to do that ?

Thanks

Answer 1

What you need is a recursive method so that you can process sub-directories. The first of the following methods is public; the other private. Imagine they are implemented as static methods of a class called CocoaUtil:

CocoaUtil.h:

@interface CocoaUtil : NSObject

+ (NSArray *)findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
                           inFolder:(NSString *)folder;

@end

CocoaUtil.m:

// Private Methods
@interface CocoaUtil ()

+ (NSArray *)_findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
                            inFolder:(NSString *)folder
                        andSubFolder:(NSString *)subFolder;

@end

@implementation CocoaUtil

+ (NSArray *)findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
                           inFolder:(NSString *)folder
{
    return [CocoaUtil _findFilesWithExtension:extension
                                     inFolder:folder
                                 andSubFolder:nil];
}

+ (NSArray *)_findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
                            inFolder:(NSString *)folder
                        andSubFolder:(NSString *)subFolder
{
    NSMutableArray *found = [NSMutableArray array];
    NSString *fullPath = (subFolder != nil) ? [folder stringByAppendingPathComponent:subFolder] : folder;

    NSFileManager *fileman = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSError *error;
    NSArray *contents = [fileman contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
    if (contents == nil)
    {
        NSLog(@"Failed to find files in folder '%@': %@", fullPath, [error localizedDescription]);
        return nil;
    }

    for (NSString *file in contents)
    {
        NSString *subSubFolder = subFolder != nil ? [subFolder stringByAppendingPathComponent:file] : file;
        fullPath = [folder stringByAppendingPathComponent:subSubFolder];

        NSError *error = nil;
        NSDictionary *attributes = [fileman attributesOfItemAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
        if (attributes == nil)
        {
            NSLog(@"Failed to get attributes of file '%@': %@", fullPath, [error localizedDescription]);
            continue;
        }

        NSString *type = [attributes objectForKey:NSFileType];

        if (type == NSFileTypeDirectory)
        {
            NSArray *subContents = [CocoaUtil _findFilesWithExtension:extension inFolder:folder andSubFolder:subSubFolder];
            if (subContents == nil)
                return nil;
            [found addObjectsFromArray:subContents];
        }
        else if (type == NSFileTypeRegular)
        {
            // Note: case sensitive comparison!
            if ([[fullPath pathExtension] isEqualToString:extension])
            {
                [found addObject:fullPath];
            }
        }
    }

    return found;
}

@end

This will return an array containing the full path to every file with the specified file extension. Note that [NSString pathExtension] does not return the . of the file extension so be sure not to pass that in the extension parameter.

Answer 2

Use below code

NSArray *myFiles = [myBundle pathsForResourcesOfType:@"Your File extension"
                                    inDirectory:nil];

Answer 3

I have not found any thing which i could say is simple to do that & and finally i have to write my own code to do this. I am posting this here because maybe someone find this help full.

-(void)search{
@autoreleasepool {
    NSString *baseDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];

    NSFileManager *defFM = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    BOOL isDir = YES;

        NSArray *fileTypes = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"mp3",@"mp4",@"avi",nil];
        NSMutableArray *mediaFiles = [self searchfiles:baseDir ofTypes:fileTypes];
        NSString *docDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
        NSString *filePath = [docDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"playlist.plist"];
        if(![defFM fileExistsAtPath:filePath isDirectory:&isDir]){
            [defFM createFileAtPath:filePath contents:nil attributes:nil];
        }

        NSMutableDictionary *playlistDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
        for(NSString *path in mediaFiles){
            NSLog(@"%@",path);
            [playlistDict setValue:[NSNumber numberWithBool:YES] forKey:path];
        }

        [playlistDict writeToFile:filePath atomically:YES];

        [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"refreshplaylist" object:nil];
    }

}

Now the recursive Method

-(NSMutableArray*)searchfiles:(NSString*)basePath ofTypes:(NSArray*)fileTypes{
    NSMutableArray *files = [[[NSMutableArray alloc]init] autorelease];
    NSFileManager *defFM = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSError *error = nil;
    NSArray *dirPath = [defFM contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:basePath error:&error];
    for(NSString *path in dirPath){
       BOOL isDir;
       path = [basePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:path];
       if([defFM fileExistsAtPath:path isDirectory:&isDir] && isDir){
          [files addObjectsFromArray:[self searchfiles:path ofType:fileTypes]];
       }
    }


   NSArray *mediaFiles = [dirPath pathsMatchingExtensions:fileTypes];
   for(NSString *fileName in mediaFiles){
      fileName = [basePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
      [files addObject:fileName];
   }

   return files;
}

Answer 4

Like this way you can find your specific file extension

 NSString *bundleRoot = [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath];
    NSFileManager *manager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSDirectoryEnumerator *direnum = [manager enumeratorAtPath:bundleRoot];

    NSString *filename;

    while ((filename = [direnum nextObject] )) {


        if ([filename hasSuffix:@".doc"]) {   //change the suffix to what you are looking for


            [arrayListofFileName addObject:[filename stringByDeletingPathExtension]];


        }

    }

Answer 5

Yes we have direct method for NSArray below helps you

 NSMutableArray *arrayFiles = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:@"a.png", @"a.jpg",  @"a.pdf", @"h.png", @"f.png", nil];
    NSLog(@"pathsMatchingExtensions----%@",[arrayFiles pathsMatchingExtensions:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"png", nil]]);

//my output is
"a.png",
"h.png",
"f.png"

Answer 6

see using NSFileManager you can get the files and bellow the condition with you can get file with particular extension, Its work in Document Directory ..

-(NSArray *)findFiles:(NSString *)extension
{
    NSMutableArray *matches = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
    NSFileManager *manager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

    NSString *item;
    NSArray *contents = [manager contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:[NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Documents"] error:nil];
    for (item in contents)
    {
        if ([[item pathExtension]isEqualToString:extension])
        {
            [matches addObject:item];
        }
    }

    return matches;
}

use this array with your searched files.. get the return in NSArray type so use NSArray object to store this data...

i hope this helpful to you...