C# check if file is in use

Hello there, basically I have a little app that goes through a list of files and renames them according to some selectable options and all I need to know is how to check if the file is in use by someother process or application before I attempt to process it. It seems this should be a simple task, but any help would be appreciated. Follow Post Reply. Your best shoot is trying to rename it, and if an exception is throw , well then you cannot and go to the next : -- Ignacio Machin, ignacio.

Kevin Spencer. I know of no way to do this easily, or even conveniently. If the operation fails, the Exception will mention that the file is already in use, and you can handle it by trying again, or some other means.

Steve Alpert. Ken Adams wrote: Hello there, basically I have a little app that goes through a list of files and renames them according to some selectable options and all I need to know is how to check if the file is in use by someother process or application before I attempt to process it. Cleave Get a copy of "handle" from www. I don't know if they are provding source on that one but it shows all files in use!

Alan Pretre. Get a copy of "handle" from www. The trouble is, even if you are able to know that it wasn't in-use, it may become in-use in that instant before you decided to do something with it. Better to just try it and see if it works. This discussion thread is closed Start new discussion. Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. I have seen these questions, and I am not asking the same question: Is there a way to check if a file is in use?

I am asking the question, how to detect if file is open in another process. It's the same question those other guys asked, but the answers they got tell them to see if they can get exclusive lock on the file, in order to imply the file being open in another process. I do not wish to get exclusive lock on a file, because I don't want to potentially interfere with the operation of the other processes.

Also, different OSes might behave differently - some OSes might support things like filesystem-level or block-level snapshots or shadow copies, which might allow you to get exclusive lock on a file, even if some other process has the file open for reading.

One person in the other questions said you can test all the open file handles in the system. Is that the only way? And if so, how would one go about doing it in C? I don't see any obvious native. Exists String Method The Directory. Exists is Determines whether the given path refers to an existing directory on disk. Syntax public static bool Exists string path ; Example. View All. Check if a File Exists in C.

Dinesh Beniwal Updated date Jan 07, This method used to Day and night are parts of a Boolean condition. The Exists method should not be used for path validation, this method merely checks if the file specified in path exists file.

The File Class is Provides static methods for the creation, copying, deletion, moving, and opening of a single file, and aids in the creation of FileStream objects.

The following example demonstrates how to use the File class to check whether a file exists in File class, and depending on the result, either create a new file and write to it or open the existing file and read from it. The Directory. This example takes an array of file or directory names on the command line, determines what kind of name it is, and processes it appropriately.

The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory. If the path describes a directory, this method returns false. Trailing spaces are removed from the path parameter before determining if the file exists. The Exists method returns false if any error occurs while trying to determine if the specified file exists.

This can occur in situations that raise exceptions such as passing a file name with invalid characters or too many characters, a failing or missing disk, or if the caller does not have permission to read the file.