File search with specific Extension Objective c - iphone

Question

I am working on some file manipulation in iPhone project. Where i need to search files of specific extension. One option is to manually process each file & directory to find.
My Question is, Is there any simple way to do that ?
Thanks

Answer 1

see using NSFileManager you can get the files and bellow the condition with you can get file with particular extension, Its work in Document Directory ..
-(NSArray *)findFiles:(NSString *)extension
{
NSMutableArray *matches = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
NSFileManager *manager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSString *item;
NSArray *contents = [manager contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:[NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"Documents"] error:nil];
for (item in contents)
{
if ([[item pathExtension]isEqualToString:extension])
{
[matches addObject:item];
}
}
return matches;
}
use this array with your searched files.. get the return in NSArray type so use NSArray object to store this data...
i hope this helpful to you...

Answer 2

I have not found any thing which i could say is simple to do that & and finally i have to write my own code to do this. I am posting this here because maybe someone find this help full.
-(void)search{
#autoreleasepool {
NSString *baseDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSFileManager *defFM = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
BOOL isDir = YES;
NSArray *fileTypes = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:#"mp3",#"mp4",#"avi",nil];
NSMutableArray *mediaFiles = [self searchfiles:baseDir ofTypes:fileTypes];
NSString *docDir = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
NSString *filePath = [docDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"playlist.plist"];
if(![defFM fileExistsAtPath:filePath isDirectory:&isDir]){
[defFM createFileAtPath:filePath contents:nil attributes:nil];
}
NSMutableDictionary *playlistDict = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc]init];
for(NSString *path in mediaFiles){
NSLog(#"%#",path);
[playlistDict setValue:[NSNumber numberWithBool:YES] forKey:path];
}
[playlistDict writeToFile:filePath atomically:YES];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:#"refreshplaylist" object:nil];
}
}
Now the recursive Method
-(NSMutableArray*)searchfiles:(NSString*)basePath ofTypes:(NSArray*)fileTypes{
NSMutableArray *files = [[[NSMutableArray alloc]init] autorelease];
NSFileManager *defFM = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *dirPath = [defFM contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:basePath error:&error];
for(NSString *path in dirPath){
BOOL isDir;
path = [basePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:path];
if([defFM fileExistsAtPath:path isDirectory:&isDir] && isDir){
[files addObjectsFromArray:[self searchfiles:path ofType:fileTypes]];
}
}
NSArray *mediaFiles = [dirPath pathsMatchingExtensions:fileTypes];
for(NSString *fileName in mediaFiles){
fileName = [basePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName];
[files addObject:fileName];
}
return files;
}

Answer 3

What you need is a recursive method so that you can process sub-directories. The first of the following methods is public; the other private. Imagine they are implemented as static methods of a class called CocoaUtil:
CocoaUtil.h:
#interface CocoaUtil : NSObject
+ (NSArray *)findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
inFolder:(NSString *)folder;
#end
CocoaUtil.m:
// Private Methods
#interface CocoaUtil ()
+ (NSArray *)_findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
inFolder:(NSString *)folder
andSubFolder:(NSString *)subFolder;
#end
#implementation CocoaUtil
+ (NSArray *)findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
inFolder:(NSString *)folder
{
return [CocoaUtil _findFilesWithExtension:extension
inFolder:folder
andSubFolder:nil];
}
+ (NSArray *)_findFilesWithExtension:(NSString *)extension
inFolder:(NSString *)folder
andSubFolder:(NSString *)subFolder
{
NSMutableArray *found = [NSMutableArray array];
NSString *fullPath = (subFolder != nil) ? [folder stringByAppendingPathComponent:subFolder] : folder;
NSFileManager *fileman = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSError *error;
NSArray *contents = [fileman contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
if (contents == nil)
{
NSLog(#"Failed to find files in folder '%#': %#", fullPath, [error localizedDescription]);
return nil;
}
for (NSString *file in contents)
{
NSString *subSubFolder = subFolder != nil ? [subFolder stringByAppendingPathComponent:file] : file;
fullPath = [folder stringByAppendingPathComponent:subSubFolder];
NSError *error = nil;
NSDictionary *attributes = [fileman attributesOfItemAtPath:fullPath error:&error];
if (attributes == nil)
{
NSLog(#"Failed to get attributes of file '%#': %#", fullPath, [error localizedDescription]);
continue;
}
NSString *type = [attributes objectForKey:NSFileType];
if (type == NSFileTypeDirectory)
{
NSArray *subContents = [CocoaUtil _findFilesWithExtension:extension inFolder:folder andSubFolder:subSubFolder];
if (subContents == nil)
return nil;
[found addObjectsFromArray:subContents];
}
else if (type == NSFileTypeRegular)
{
// Note: case sensitive comparison!
if ([[fullPath pathExtension] isEqualToString:extension])
{
[found addObject:fullPath];
}
}
}
return found;
}
#end
This will return an array containing the full path to every file with the specified file extension. Note that [NSString pathExtension] does not return the . of the file extension so be sure not to pass that in the extension parameter.

Answer 4

Yes we have direct method for NSArray below helps you
NSMutableArray *arrayFiles = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithObjects:#"a.png", #"a.jpg", #"a.pdf", #"h.png", #"f.png", nil];
NSLog(#"pathsMatchingExtensions----%#",[arrayFiles pathsMatchingExtensions:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:#"png", nil]]);
//my output is
"a.png",
"h.png",
"f.png"

Answer 5

Like this way you can find your specific file extension
NSString *bundleRoot = [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath];
NSFileManager *manager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSDirectoryEnumerator *direnum = [manager enumeratorAtPath:bundleRoot];
NSString *filename;
while ((filename = [direnum nextObject] )) {
if ([filename hasSuffix:#".doc"]) { //change the suffix to what you are looking for
[arrayListofFileName addObject:[filename stringByDeletingPathExtension]];
}
}

Answer 6

Use below code
NSArray *myFiles = [myBundle pathsForResourcesOfType:#"Your File extension"
inDirectory:nil];