What is the difference between Directory.EnumerateFiles
vs GetFiles
?
Obviously one returns an array and the other return Enumerable.
Anything else?
From the docs:
The EnumerateFiles and GetFiles methods differ as follows: When you use EnumerateFiles, you can start enumerating the collection of names before the whole collection is returned; when you use GetFiles, you must wait for the whole array of names to be returned before you can access the array. Therefore, when you are working with many files and directories, EnumerateFiles can be more efficient.
So basically, EnumerateFiles
returns an IEnumerable
which can be lazily evaluated somewhat, whereas GetFiles
returns a string[]
which has to be fully populated before it can return.
EnumerateFiles
returns IEnumerable<string>
and that implies deferred execution. It is only available in .net 4 and up.
As the File system is notoriously slow (especially for large folders) the deferred execution can be a real bonus for sequential processing. Depending on lots of other factors.
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