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e31. Listing the Files or Subdirectories in a Directory

This example lists the files and subdirectories in a directory. To list all descendant files and subdirectories under a directory, see e33 Traversing the Files and Directories Under a Directory.

    File dir = new File("directoryName");
    
    String[] children = dir.list();
    if (children == null) {
        // Either dir does not exist or is not a directory
    } else {
        for (int i=0; i<children.length; i++) {
            // Get filename of file or directory
            String filename = children[i];
        }
    }
    
    // It is also possible to filter the list of returned files.
    // This example does not return any files that start with `.'.
    FilenameFilter filter = new FilenameFilter() {
        public boolean accept(File dir, String name) {
            return !name.startsWith(".");
        }
    };
    children = dir.list(filter);
    
    
    // The list of files can also be retrieved as File objects
    File[] files = dir.listFiles();
    
    // This filter only returns directories
    FileFilter fileFilter = new FileFilter() {
        public boolean accept(File file) {
            return file.isDirectory();
        }
    };
    files = dir.listFiles(fileFilter);