FileExist

Checks for the existence of a file or folder and returns its attributes.

AttributeString := FileExist(FilePattern)

Parameters

FilePattern

Type: String

The name of a single file or folder, or a wildcard pattern such as "C:\Temp\*.tmp". FilePattern is assumed to be in A_WorkingDir if an absolute path isn't specified.

Both asterisks (*) and question marks (?) are supported as wildcards. * matches zero or more characters and ? matches any single character. Usage examples:

• *.* or * matches all files.
• *.htm matches files with the extension .htm, .html, etc.
• *. matches files without an extension.
• log?.txt matches e.g. log1.txt but not log10.txt.
• *report* matches any filename containing the word "report".

Return Value

Type: String

This function returns the attributes of the first matching file or folder. This string is a subset of RASHNDOCTL, where each letter means the following:

• R = READONLY
• A = ARCHIVE
• S = SYSTEM
• H = HIDDEN
• N = NORMAL
• D = DIRECTORY
• O = OFFLINE
• C = COMPRESSED
• T = TEMPORARY
• L = REPARSE_POINT (typically a symbolic link)

If the file has no attributes (rare), "X" is returned. If no file or folder is found, an empty string is returned.

Remarks

Note that a wildcard check like InStr(FileExist("MyFolder\*"), "D") with MyFolder containing files and subfolders will only tell you whether the first matching file is a folder, not whether a folder exists. To check for the latter, use DirExist, e.g. DirExist("MyFolder\*").

Unlike FileGetAttrib, FileExist supports wildcard patterns and always returns a non-empty value if a matching file exists.

Since an empty string is seen as "false", the function's return value can always be used as a quasi-boolean value. For example, the statement if FileExist("C:\My File.txt") would be true if the file exists and false otherwise.

Since FilePattern may contain wildcards, FileExist may be unsuitable for validating a file path which is to be used with another function or program. For example, FileExist("*.txt") may return attributes even though "*.txt" is not a valid filename. In such cases, FileGetAttrib is preferred.

Related

DirExist, FileGetAttrib, file loops

Examples

if FileExist("D:\")
    MsgBox "The drive exists."

if FileExist("D:\Docs\*.txt")
    MsgBox "At least one .txt file exists."

if not FileExist("C:\Temp\FlagFile.txt")
    MsgBox "The target file does not exist."

if InStr(FileExist("C:\My File.txt"), "H")
    MsgBox "The file is hidden."