How to remove "." and ".." files from remote directory with C# and WinSCP

Question

I'm trying to get the files count from a remote directory using a SFTP connection, but I'm getting . and .. and these are counted these dots like a files, I have 2 files in the remote directory but is counting 4 files including . and ...

Someone can help me how to solve this?

This is my code:

filesCount = session.ListDirectory(DataFile.sRemoteDirectory).Files.Count;

Thanks!

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

5

According to the WinSCP documentation:

You can use Session.EnumerateRemoteFiles method instead, if you want to:

List only files matching a wildcard;

List the files recursively;

Have references to this (.) and parent (..) directories be excluded form the listing.

So it appears that you should change your code to do something more like this:

filesCount = 0; 
filesCount = session.EnumerateRemoteFiles(DataFile.sRemoteDirectory).Files.Count();                
session.Close();

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:41

Sumner Evans

8,951
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I tried that option, for some reason EnumerateRemoteFiles is not displayed when I do it Session. – Javier Salas Dec 29 '15 at 21:13
@JavierSalas Did you use uppercase or lowercase "session"? – Sumner Evans Dec 29 '15 at 23:31
`EnumerateRemoteFiles` is not available in the current stable release yet. + It returns `IEnumerable`, so you need to call `.Count()` on the return value, not `.Files.Count`. – Martin Prikryl Dec 30 '15 at 17:08

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:41

3

Instead of using ListDirectory you can use EnumerateRemoteFiles and it wont include ".." and "."

"." and ".." mean this directory and parent directory respectively.

answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:41

Lewis Taylor

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Martin Prikryl · Answer 3 · 2022-01-11T05:41:03.387

The . and .. are references to this and parent directories respectively on most file systems.

To filter them, you can use new properties .IsThisDirectory and .IsParentDirectory of the RemoteFileInfo class:

filesCount =   
    session.ListDirectory(DataFile.sRemoteDirectory).Files
        .Where(file => !file.IsThisDirectory && !file.IsParentDirectory).Count();

Note that you have to use the Enumerable.Count() extension method, instead of the ICollection.Count property as the result of the Enumerable.Where() is the IEnumerable, not the Collection anymore.

Or to make it even easier, use the Session.EnumerateRemoteFiles() method, which with the EnumerationOptions.None option is functionally equivalent to the Session.ListDirectory(), just that it excludes the . and ...

filesCount =
    session.EnumerateRemoteFiles(
        DataFile.sRemoteDirectory, null, EnumerationOptions.None).Count();

If you want to filter all directories, use:

filesCount =   
    session.ListDirectory(DataFile.sRemoteDirectory).Files
        .Where(file => !file.IsDirectory).Count();

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:42

0

Try session.EnumerateRemoteFiles instead.

answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:42

Richard Vasquez

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:49

0

Despite its naming, Files collection contains not only files, but all directory entries, including current and parent directory references.

If you want to count only files, filter them by IsDirectory property:

var filesCount = session.ListDirectory(dir).Files.Where(x => !x.IsDirectory).Count();

There's also IsParentDirectory and IsThisDirectory properties in the latest versions to filter ".." and "." cases without name comparison.

answered Dec 29 '15 at 20:49

Alex Skalozub

2,511
16
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This excludes all directories, not just `.` and `..`. So while it works, if there are no other directories, it does not do exactly what the the question is asking for. – Martin Prikryl Dec 30 '15 at 17:09

How to remove "." and ".." files from remote directory with C# and WinSCP

5 Answers5