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What is the difference between Directory.EnumerateFiles vs Directory.GetFiles?

What is the difference between Directory.EnumerateFiles vs GetFiles?

Obviously one returns an array and the other return Enumerable.

Anything else?

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DarthVader Avatar asked Sep 25 '22 11:09

DarthVader


2 Answers

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.

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Daniel DiPaolo Avatar answered Oct 19 '22 20:10

Daniel DiPaolo


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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Henk Holterman Avatar answered Oct 19 '22 21:10

Henk Holterman