How do I get a list of files in a directory in C++?

Question

How do you get a list of files within a directory so each can be processed?

Answer 1

Here's what I use:

/* Returns a list of files in a directory (except the ones that begin with a dot) */

void GetFilesInDirectory(std::vector &out, const string &directory)
{
#ifdef WINDOWS
    HANDLE dir;
    WIN32_FIND_DATA file_data;

    if ((dir = FindFirstFile((directory + "/*").c_str(), &file_data)) == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
        return; /* No files found */

    do {
        const string file_name = file_data.cFileName;
        const string full_file_name = directory + "/" + file_name;
        const bool is_directory = (file_data.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) != 0;

        if (file_name[0] == '.')
            continue;

        if (is_directory)
            continue;

        out.push_back(full_file_name);
    } while (FindNextFile(dir, &file_data));

    FindClose(dir);
#else
    DIR *dir;
    class dirent *ent;
    class stat st;

    dir = opendir(directory);
    while ((ent = readdir(dir)) != NULL) {
        const string file_name = ent->d_name;
        const string full_file_name = directory + "/" + file_name;

        if (file_name[0] == '.')
            continue;

        if (stat(full_file_name.c_str(), &st) == -1)
            continue;

        const bool is_directory = (st.st_mode & S_IFDIR) != 0;

        if (is_directory)
            continue;

        out.push_back(full_file_name);
    }
    closedir(dir);
#endif
} // GetFilesInDirectory