Is there a way to check if a file is in use?
Use this to check if a file is locked:
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
internal static class Helper
{
const int ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION = 32;
const int ERROR_LOCK_VIOLATION = 33;
private static bool IsFileLocked(Exception exception)
{
int errorCode = Marshal.GetHRForException(exception) & ((1 << 16) - 1);
return errorCode == ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION || errorCode == ERROR_LOCK_VIOLATION;
}
internal static bool CanReadFile(string filePath)
{
//Try-Catch so we dont crash the program and can check the exception
try {
//The "using" is important because FileStream implements IDisposable and
//"using" will avoid a heap exhaustion situation when too many handles
//are left undisposed.
using (FileStream fileStream = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.None)) {
if (fileStream != null) fileStream.Close(); //This line is me being overly cautious, fileStream will never be null unless an exception occurs... and I know the "using" does it but its helpful to be explicit - especially when we encounter errors - at least for me anyway!
}
}
catch (IOException ex) {
//THE FUNKY MAGIC - TO SEE IF THIS FILE REALLY IS LOCKED!!!
if (IsFileLocked(ex)) {
// do something, eg File.Copy or present the user with a MsgBox - I do not recommend Killing the process that is locking the file
return false;
}
}
finally
{ }
return true;
}
}
For performance reasons I recommend you read the file content in the same operation. Here are some examples:
public static byte[] ReadFileBytes(string filePath)
{
byte[] buffer = null;
try
{
using (FileStream fileStream = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.None))
{
int length = (int)fileStream.Length; // get file length
buffer = new byte[length]; // create buffer
int count; // actual number of bytes read
int sum = 0; // total number of bytes read
// read until Read method returns 0 (end of the stream has been reached)
while ((count = fileStream.Read(buffer, sum, length - sum)) > 0)
sum += count; // sum is a buffer offset for next reading
fileStream.Close(); //This is not needed, just me being paranoid and explicitly releasing resources ASAP
}
}
catch (IOException ex)
{
//THE FUNKY MAGIC - TO SEE IF THIS FILE REALLY IS LOCKED!!!
if (IsFileLocked(ex))
{
// do something?
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
finally
{
}
return buffer;
}
public static string ReadFileTextWithEncoding(string filePath)
{
string fileContents = string.Empty;
byte[] buffer;
try
{
using (FileStream fileStream = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.None))
{
int length = (int)fileStream.Length; // get file length
buffer = new byte[length]; // create buffer
int count; // actual number of bytes read
int sum = 0; // total number of bytes read
// read until Read method returns 0 (end of the stream has been reached)
while ((count = fileStream.Read(buffer, sum, length - sum)) > 0)
{
sum += count; // sum is a buffer offset for next reading
}
fileStream.Close(); //Again - this is not needed, just me being paranoid and explicitly releasing resources ASAP
//Depending on the encoding you wish to use - I'll leave that up to you
fileContents = System.Text.Encoding.Default.GetString(buffer);
}
}
catch (IOException ex)
{
//THE FUNKY MAGIC - TO SEE IF THIS FILE REALLY IS LOCKED!!!
if (IsFileLocked(ex))
{
// do something?
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
finally
{ }
return fileContents;
}
public static string ReadFileTextNoEncoding(string filePath)
{
string fileContents = string.Empty;
byte[] buffer;
try
{
using (FileStream fileStream = File.Open(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite, FileShare.None))
{
int length = (int)fileStream.Length; // get file length
buffer = new byte[length]; // create buffer
int count; // actual number of bytes read
int sum = 0; // total number of bytes read
// read until Read method returns 0 (end of the stream has been reached)
while ((count = fileStream.Read(buffer, sum, length - sum)) > 0)
{
sum += count; // sum is a buffer offset for next reading
}
fileStream.Close(); //Again - this is not needed, just me being paranoid and explicitly releasing resources ASAP
char[] chars = new char[buffer.Length / sizeof(char) + 1];
System.Buffer.BlockCopy(buffer, 0, chars, 0, buffer.Length);
fileContents = new string(chars);
}
}
catch (IOException ex)
{
//THE FUNKY MAGIC - TO SEE IF THIS FILE REALLY IS LOCKED!!!
if (IsFileLocked(ex))
{
// do something?
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
finally
{
}
return fileContents;
}
Try it out yourself:
byte[] output1 = Helper.ReadFileBytes(@"c:\temp\test.txt");
string output2 = Helper.ReadFileTextWithEncoding(@"c:\temp\test.txt");
string output3 = Helper.ReadFileTextNoEncoding(@"c:\temp\test.txt");
You can suffer from a thread race condition on this which there are documented examples of this being used as a security vulnerability. If you check that the file is available, but then try and use it you could throw at that point, which a malicious user could use to force and exploit in your code.
Your best bet is a try catch / finally which tries to get the file handle.
try
{
using (Stream stream = new FileStream("MyFilename.txt", FileMode.Open))
{
// File/Stream manipulating code here
}
} catch {
//check here why it failed and ask user to retry if the file is in use.
}
Updated NOTE on this solution: Checking with FileAccess.ReadWrite will fail for Read-Only files so the solution has been modified to check with FileAccess.Read.
ORIGINAL: I've used this code for the past several years, and I haven't had any issues with it.
Understand your hesitation about using exceptions, but you can't avoid them all of the time:
protected virtual bool IsFileLocked(FileInfo file)
{
try
{
using(FileStream stream = file.Open(FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.None))
{
stream.Close();
}
}
catch (IOException)
{
//the file is unavailable because it is:
//still being written to
//or being processed by another thread
//or does not exist (has already been processed)
return true;
}
//file is not locked
return false;
}