List All Files in Folder using VBScript

Sometimes you might require to get a list of all the files in a folder, I was thinking how it can be implemented, the solution is to used the WSH interface and write a script in VBScript.
Below is a sample script which will get the list of files on a directory, say c:\windows and save it to the file c:\windows\FileList.txt.

Code:

On Error Resume Next
  Dim fso, folder, files, NewsFile,sFolder
  
  Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
  sFolder = Wscript.Arguments.Item(0)
  If sFolder = "" Then
      Wscript.Echo "No Folder parameter was passed"
      Wscript.Quit
  End If
  Set NewFile = fso.CreateTextFile(sFolder&"\FileList.txt", True)
  Set folder = fso.GetFolder(sFolder)
  Set files = folder.Files
  
  For each folderIdx In files
    NewFile.WriteLine(folderIdx.Name)
  Next
  NewFile.Close

Example usage:

Code:

lister.vbs "c:\documents and settings"

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hi,
very nice
a wonderful example code

htl.

 

Hey, i would like to enchance it by providing a dialog box. However, i failed to make it work. Care to point me on the right direction?

 

Code:

On Error Resume Next

Const WINDOW_HANDLE = 0
Const BIF_EDITBOX = &H10
Const BIF_NONEWFOLDER = &H0200
Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = &H1

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set wshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'**Browse For Folder To Be Processed
strPrompt = "Please select the folder to process."
intOptions = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS + BIF_NONEWFOLDER + BIF_EDITBOX
strTargetPath = wshShell.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments")
strFolderPath = Browse4Folder(strPrompt, intOptions, strTargetPath)

Set objNewFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strFolderPath & "\filelist.txt", True)
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strFolderPath)
Set objColFiles = objFolder.Files

For Each file In objColFiles
	objNewFile.WriteLine(file.Name)
Next
objNewFile.Close

'**Browse4Folder Function
Function Browse4Folder(strPrompt, intOptions, strRoot)
	Dim objFolder, objFolderItem

	On Error Resume Next

	Set objFolder = objShell.BrowseForFolder(0, strPrompt, intOptions, strRoot)
  	If (objFolder Is Nothing) Then
  		Wscript.Quit
	End If
  	Set objFolderItem = objFolder.Self
  	Browse4Folder = objFolderItem.Path
  	Set objFolderItem = Nothing
  	Set objFolder = Nothing
End Function

Here ya go. I would change the createtext file to another location, such as to 'c:\'. You can also change the strTargetPath to any valid path.

 

So how could you modify this to list all sub directories inside the folder you choose?

 

It's really simple ! You just need to check <folder>.folders instead of <folder>.files.

Code:

On Error Resume Next

Const WINDOW_HANDLE = 0
Const BIF_EDITBOX = &H10
Const BIF_NONEWFOLDER = &H0200
Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = &H1

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set wshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'**Browse For Folder To Be Processed
strPrompt = "Please select the folder to process."
intOptions = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS + BIF_NONEWFOLDER + BIF_EDITBOX
strTargetPath = wshShell.SpecialFolders("MyDocuments")
strFolderPath = Browse4Folder(strPrompt, intOptions, strTargetPath)

Set objNewFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strFolderPath & "\filelist.txt", True)
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strFolderPath)
' CHANGE STARTS HERE :
Set objColFolders = objFolder.Folders

For Each tfolder In objColFolders
	objNewFile.WriteLine(tfolder.Name)
Next
' CHANGE DONE.
objNewFile.Close

'**Browse4Folder Function
Function Browse4Folder(strPrompt, intOptions, strRoot)
	Dim objFolder, objFolderItem

	On Error Resume Next

	Set objFolder = objShell.BrowseForFolder(0, strPrompt, intOptions, strRoot)
  	If (objFolder Is Nothing) Then
  		Wscript.Quit
	End If
  	Set objFolderItem = objFolder.Self
  	Browse4Folder = objFolderItem.Path
  	Set objFolderItem = Nothing
  	Set objFolder = Nothing
End Function

 

HI

hi,
very nice
a wonderful example code and i thank u really great.........


Staffing service

Seo master

 

You are welcome ! :smile:

 

This is definitley a great example.

How can it be modified to list files in the main directory and any subdirectories? I'd like to write something that will give me the name, create date, modify date for all files in the main directory and for any files in the sub-directories.

I wrote the following, but it can not handle sub-directories. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.



On Error Resume Next
Dim fso, folder, files, NewsFile,sFolder
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set folder = fso.GetFolder("C:\Documents and Settings\Phat Buddha\desktop\")
Set outfile = fso.CreateTextFile("c:\temp\testout.txt")
Set files = folder.Files


For each folderIdx In files
outfile.WriteLine(folderIdx.Name & ";" & folderIdx.DateCreated & ";" & folderIdx.DateLastModified)
Next
outfile.Close

 

Hi:
I am a novice to VBS. I was wodering if it is possible to read thru the files in a folder and capture the last line in every file(csv file) and write to a logfile that has the name(with date and time)
Also, is it possible that when capturing the last line , I have to extract the last field value compare it with a base value and if it is greater than the base value then write it the log file. Since it loops thru each file in the folder, base values for each file keep changing. I am not quite sure how to do it. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Yukta.

 

Hallo

This is what i was surching for a very long time. But i must filter the files i want listed in the .txt file by the extension of the files.. could someone help me?

 

Dis is great Keep it up. i hope to learn more from u.

 

I have tried this in both Windows Vista, and again on XP (thinking that maybe Vista had issues), and I cannot get this to read the folders. It just creates an empty 'filelist.txt' file. I have not modified this script in any way, and have tried diff. folders. Any suggestions from anyone?

 

Hi,

Thanx for reporting.

There was a typo at this line :Set objColFolders = objFolder.Folders
It should read :Set objColFolders = objFolder.SubFolders.

Correct code [ TESTED ] is :

Code:

On Error Resume Next

Const WINDOW_HANDLE = 0
Const BIF_EDITBOX = &H10
Const BIF_NONEWFOLDER = &H0200
Const BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS = &H1

Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
Set wshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'**Browse For Folder To Be Processed
strPrompt = "Please select the folder to process."
intOptions = BIF_RETURNONLYFSDIRS + BIF_NONEWFOLDER + BIF_EDITBOX
strTargetPath = wshShell.SpecialFolders("MyComputer")
strFolderPath = Browse4Folder(strPrompt, intOptions, strTargetPath)

Set objNewFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strFolderPath & "\filelist.txt", True)
Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(strFolderPath)
' CHANGE STARTS HERE :
Set objColFolders = objFolder.SubFolders

For Each tfolder In objColFolders
    objNewFile.WriteLine(tfolder.Name)
Next
' CHANGE DONE.
objNewFile.Close

'**Browse4Folder Function
Function Browse4Folder(strPrompt, intOptions, strRoot)
    Dim objFolder, objFolderItem

    On Error Resume Next

    Set objFolder = objShell.BrowseForFolder(0, strPrompt, intOptions, strRoot)
    If (objFolder Is Nothing) Then
      Wscript.Quit
    End If
    Set objFolderItem = objFolder.Self
    Browse4Folder = objFolderItem.Path
    Set objFolderItem = Nothing
    Set objFolder = Nothing
End Function

 

Well that did the trick. Thanks.

 

My pleasure

 

How do i code such that, the filename that is captures will be stored into an array of strings? Thanks!

 

Is it possible to tiune this skript, so I get a file contianing fileextention, size and owner of the file?
(I found something similar in asp: classicasp.aspfaq.com/files/directories-fso/how-do-i-find-the-owner-author-and-other-properties-of-a-file.html but I dont know how to do so in vbs or similar

 

This is very good and fairly simple. It would be nice if you explained each line for those not familiar with VB

 

Hi here,

Very good example guys. However, I would like to push a little bit ... Let's say I have a folder containing 140k .CSVs files (avg size 5k) and I want to list them all files not to a file but to memory into an array or something... so then after listing I would be about concatenate all those files into one single big.CSV file.

is that possible?

Rom