Get list of sub-directories in VBA

Question

• I want to get a list of all sub-directories within a directory.
• If that works I want to expand it to a recursive function.

However my initial

Answer 1

Here is a Simple version without using Scripting.FileSystemObject because I found it slow and unreliable. In particular the .Name method, was slowing everything down. Also I tested this in Excel but I don't think anything I used wouldn't be available in Word.

First some functions:

This joins two strings to create a file path, similar to os.path.join in python. It is useful for not needing to remember if you tacked on that "\" at the end of your path.

Const sep as String = "\"

Function pjoin(root_path As String, file_path As String) As String
    If right(root_path, 1) = sep Then
        pjoin = root_path & file_path
    Else
        pjoin = root_path & sep & file_path
    End If
End Function

This create a collection of sub items of root directory root_path

Function subItems(root_path As String, Optional pat As String = "*", _
                  Optional vbtype As Integer = vbNormal) As Collection
    Set subItems = New Collection
    Dim sub_item As String
    sub_item= Dir(pjoin(root_path, pat), vbtype)
    While sub_item <> ""
        subItems.Add (pjoin(root_path, sub_item))
        sub_item = Dir()
    Wend
End Function

This creates a collection of sub items in directory root_path that including folders and then removes items that are not folders from the collection. And it can optionally remove those nasty . and .. folders

Function subFolders(root_path As String, Optional pat As String = "", _
                    Optional skipDots As Boolean = True) As Collection
    Set subFolders = subItems(root_path, pat, vbDirectory)
    If skipDots Then
        Dim dot As String
        Dim dotdot As String
        dot = pjoin(root_path, ".")
        dotdot = dot & "."
        Do While subFolders.Item(1) = dot _
        Or subFolders.Item(1) = dotdot
            subFolders.remove (1)
            If subFolders.Count = 0 Then Exit Do
        Loop
    End If
    For i = subFolders.Count To 1 Step -1
        ' This comparison could be replaced by and `fileExists` function
        If Dir(subFolders.Item(i), vbNormal) <> "" Then
            subFolders.remove (i)
        End If
    Next i
End Function

Finally is the recursive search function based on someone else function from this site that used Scripting.FileSystemObject I haven't done any comparison tests between it and the original. If I find that post again I will link it. Note collec is passed by reference so create a new collection and call this sub to populate it. Pass vbType:=vbDirectory for all sub folders.

Sub walk(root_path As String, ByRef collec as Collection, Optional pat As String = "*" _
         Optional vbType as Integer = vbNormal)
    Dim subF as Collection
    Dim subD as Collection
    Set subF = subItems(root_path, pat, vbType)
    For Each sub_file In subF
        collec.Add sub_file 
    Next sub_file 
    Set subD = subFolders(root_path)
    For Each sub_folder In subD
        walk sub_folder , collec, pat, vbType
    Next sub_folder 
End Sub