Searching directories for files

[Huehnerschaender]

To search for specific files on your harddisk, use findfirst and findnext as wodzu said.
This is easy if you just want to search in one directory.

A call of FindFirst searches for the first file and FindNext within a repeat-clause will search for every follwing files.

The following code capsulates the functionality to search recursively in all subdirectories too!

The procedure needs 5 parameters:

- Directory (e.g. 'C:\Programs')
- Searchmask (e.g. '*.*' or '*.doc', in your case *.uj)
- a list where to store the filenames (e.g. Listbox1.Items)
- recursive search (True searches all subdirs recursively, false searches only in the parameter-directory).
- ClearList lets the List be cleared before the new filenames are attached.

procedure GetFilesInDirectory(Directory: String; const Mask: String;
                              List: TStrings;
                              WithSubDirs, ClearList: Boolean);

procedure ScanDir(const Directory: String);
var
  SR: TSearchRec;
begin
  if FindFirst(Directory + Mask, faAnyFile and not faDirectory, SR) = 0 then try
    repeat
      List.Add(Directory + SR.Name)
    until FindNext&#40;SR&#41; <> 0;
  finally
    FindClose&#40;SR&#41;;
  end;

  if WithSubDirs then begin
    if FindFirst&#40;Directory + '*.*', faAnyFile, SR&#41; = 0 then try
      repeat
        if &#40;&#40;SR.attr and faDirectory&#41; = faDirectory&#41; and
           &#40;SR.Name <> '.'&#41; and &#40;SR.Name <> '..'&#41; then
          ScanDir&#40;Directory + SR.Name + '\'&#41;;
      until FindNext&#40;SR&#41; <> 0;
    finally
      FindClose&#40;SR&#41;;
    end;
  end;
end;

begin
  List.BeginUpdate;
  try
    if ClearList then
      List.Clear;
    if Directory = '' then Exit;
    if Directory&#91;Length&#40;Directory&#41;&#93; <> '\' then
      Directory &#58;= Directory + '\';
    ScanDir&#40;Directory&#41;;
  finally
    List.EndUpdate;
  end;
end;

Here is an example how to call the procedure:

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  GetFilesInDirectory('C:\', '*.*', Listbox1.Items, False, True);
end;

In this example all filenames (*.*) in the directory 'C:\' are stored in 'Listbox1.Items'. Subdirectories are not searched (False).

You can now easily add your own functionalities at the position where the files are added to the list:

List.Add(Directory + SR.Name)

I hope this helps.

Note that the code and parts of the explanation are copied from a forum. I just translated it for your understanding.

Greetings,
Dirk