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NSFileManager Class Reference

Inherits from	NSObject
Conforms to	NSObject (NSObject)
Framework	/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework
Availability	Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.
Companion guide	Low-Level File Management Programming Topics
Declared in	NSFileManager.h
Related sample code	Core Data HTML Store CoreRecipes MyPhoto Quartz Composer WWDC 2005 TextEdit TextEditPlus

Overview

NSFileManager enables you to perform many generic file-system operations and insulates an application from the underlying file system.

Tasks

Getting the Default Manager

Moving an Item

Copying an Item

Removing an Item

Creating an Item

Linking an Item

Symbolic-Link Operations

Handling File Operations

The methods described in this section are methods to be implemented by the callback handler passed to several methods of NSFileManager.

Getting and Comparing File Contents

Discovering Directory Contents

Determining Access to Files

Getting and Setting Attributes

Getting Representations of File Paths

Managing the Delegate

Managing the Current Directory

Class Methods

defaultManager

Returns the default NSFileManager object for the file system.

+ (NSFileManager *)defaultManager

Return Value

The default NSFileManager object for the file system.

Discussion

You invoke all NSFileManager instance methods with this object as the receiver.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

Instance Methods

attributesOfFileSystemForPath:error:

Returns a dictionary that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which a given path resides.

- (NSDictionary *)attributesOfFileSystemForPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: Any pathname within the mounted file system.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which path resides. See “File-System Attribute Keys” for a description of the keys available in the dictionary.

Discussion

This method does not traverse an initial symbolic link.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

attributesOfItemAtPath:error:

An NSDictionary object containing the attributes of the item at a given path.

- (NSDictionary *)attributesOfItemAtPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: The path of a file or directory.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the attributes (file, directory, symlink, and so on) of the file specified by path. The keys in the dictionary are described in “File Attribute Keys”.

Discussion

This method does not traverse an initial symbolic link.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

changeCurrentDirectoryPath:

Changes the path of the current directory for the current process to a given path.

- (BOOL)changeCurrentDirectoryPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of the directory to which to change.

Return Value

YES if successful, otherwise NO.

Discussion

All relative pathnames refer implicitly to the current working directory. The current working directory is stored per process.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

changeFileAttributes:atPath:

Changes the attributes of a given file or directory.

- (BOOL)changeFileAttributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes atPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

attributes

A dictionary containing as keys the attributes to set for path and as values the corresponding value for the attribute. You can set following: NSFileBusy, NSFileCreationDate, NSFileExtensionHidden, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName, NSFileHFSCreatorCode, NSFileHFSTypeCode, NSFileImmutable, NSFileModificationDate, NSFileOwnerAccountID, NSFileOwnerAccountName, NSFilePosixPermissions. You can change single attributes or any combination of attributes; you need not specify keys for all attributes.

For the NSFilePosixPermissions value, specify a file mode from the OR’d permission bit masks defined in sys/stat.h. See the man page for the chmod function (man 2 chmod) for an explanation.

path

A path to a file or directory.

Return Value

YES if all changes succeed. If any change fails, returns NO, but it is undefined whether any changes actually occurred.

Discussion

As in the POSIX standard, the application either must own the file or directory or must be running as superuser for attribute changes to take effect. The method attempts to make all changes specified in attributes and ignores any rejection of an attempted modification.

The NSFilePosixPermissions value must be initialized with the code representing the POSIX file-permissions bit pattern. NSFileHFSCreatorCode and NSFileHFSTypeCode will only be heeded when path specifies a file.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use setAttributes:ofItemAtPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

componentsToDisplayForPath:

Returns an array of NSString objects representing the user-visible components of a given path.

- (NSArray *)componentsToDisplayForPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A pathname.

Return Value

An array of NSString objects representing the user-visible (for the Finder, Open and Save panels, and so on) components of path.

Discussion

These components cannot be used for path operations and are only suitable for display to the user.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.

Related Sample Code

QTAudioExtractionPanel

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

contentsAtPath:

Returns as an NSData object the contents of the file at at given path.

- (NSData *)contentsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of a file.

Return Value

The contents of the file specified by path as an NSData object. If path specifies a directory, or if some other error occurs, returns nil.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

contentsEqualAtPath:andPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the files or directories in specified paths have the same contents.

- (BOOL)contentsEqualAtPath:(NSString *)path1 andPath:(NSString *)path2

Parameters

path1: The path of a file or directory to compare with the contents of path2.
path2: The path of a file or directory to compare with the contents of path1.

Return Value

YES if file or directory specified in path1 has the same contents as that specified in path2, otherwise NO.

Discussion

If path1 and path2 are directories, the contents are the list of files and subdirectories each contains—contents of subdirectories are also compared. For files, this method checks to see if they’re the same file, then compares their size, and finally compares their contents. This method does not traverse symbolic links, but compares the links themselves.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:error:

Returns an array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in a given directory.

- (NSArray *)contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: A path to a directory.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in path. Returns an empty array if the directory exists but has no contents. Returns nil if the directory specified at path does not exist or there is some other error accessing it.

Discussion

The search is shallow and therefore does not return the contents of any subdirectories. This returned array does not contain strings for the current directory (“.”), parent directory (“..”), or resource forks (begin with “._”) and does not traverse symbolic links.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

copyItemAtPath:toPath:error:

Copies the directory or file specified in a given path to a different location in the file system identified by another path.

- (BOOL)copyItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

srcPath: The path of a file or directory.
dstPath: The path of a file or directory.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

copyPath:toPath:handler:

Copies the directory or file specified in a given path to a different location in the file system identified by another path.

- (BOOL)copyPath:(NSString *)source toPath:(NSString *)destination handler:(id)handler

Parameters

source: The location of the source file.
destination: The location to which to copy the file specified by source.
handler: An object that responds to the callback messages fileManager:willProcessPath: and fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:. You can specify nil for handler; if you do so and an error occurs, the method automatically returns NO.

Return Value

YES if the copy operation is successful. If the operation is not successful, but the callback handler of fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: returns YES, copyPath:toPath:handler: also returns YES. Otherwise this method returns NO. The method also attempts to make the attributes of the directory or file at destination identical to source, but ignores any failure at this attempt.

Discussion

If source is a file, the method creates a file at destination that holds the exact contents of the original file (this includes BSD special files). If source is a directory, the method creates a new directory at destination and recursively populates it with duplicates of the files and directories contained in source, preserving all links. The file specified in source must exist, while destination must not exist prior to the operation. When a file is being copied, the destination path must end in a filename—there is no implicit adoption of the source filename. Symbolic links are not traversed but are themselves copied. File or directory attributes—that is, metadata such as owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date—are also copied.

The handler callback mechanism is similar to delegation. NSFileManager sends fileManager:willProcessPath: when it begins a copy, move, remove, or link operation. It sends fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: when it encounters any error in processing.

This code fragment verifies that the file to be copied exists and then copies that file to the user’s ~/Library/Reports directory:

NSString *source = @"/tmp/quarterly_report.rtf";

NSString *destination = [[[NSHomeDirectory()

        stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Library"]

        stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Reports"]

        stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"new_quarterly_report.rtf"];

NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:source]) {

    [fileManager copyPath:source toPath:destination handler:nil];

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Core Data HTML Store

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

createDirectoryAtPath:attributes:

Creates a directory (without contents) at a given path with given attributes.

- (BOOL)createDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)path attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes

Parameters

path: The path at which to create the new directory. The directory to be created must not yet exist, but its parent directory must exist.
attributes: The file attributes for the new directory. The attributes you can set are owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date. If you specify nil for attributes, default values for these attributes are set (particularly write access for the creator and read access for others). The “Constants” section lists the global constants used as keys in the attributes dictionary. Some of the keys, such as NSFileHFSCreatorCode and NSFileHFSTypeCode, do not apply to directories.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use createDirectoryAtPath:withIntermediateDirectories:attributes:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

createDirectoryAtPath:withIntermediateDirectories:attributes:error:

Creates a directory with given attributes at a specified path.

- (BOOL)createDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)path withIntermediateDirectories:(BOOL)createIntermediates attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: The path at which to create the new directory. The directory to be created must not yet exist.
createIntermediates: If YES, then the method will also create any necessary intermediate directories; if NO, then the method will fail if any parent of the directory to be created does not exist.
attributes: The file attributes for the new directory. The attributes you can set are owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date. If you specify nil for attributes, the directory is created according to the umask of the process. The “Constants” section lists the global constants used as keys in the attributes dictionary. Some of the keys, such as NSFileHFSCreatorCode and NSFileHFSTypeCode, do not apply to directories.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

createFileAtPath:contents:attributes:

Creates a file at a given path that has given attributes and contents.

- (BOOL)createFileAtPath:(NSString *)path contents:(NSData *)contents attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes

Parameters

path: The path for the new file.
contents: The contents for the new file.
attributes: A dictionary that describes the attributes of the new file. The file attributes you can set are owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date. “File Attribute Keys” lists the global constants used as keys in the attributes dictionary. If you specify nil for attributes, the file is given a default set of attributes.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Discussion

If a file already exists at path, then if the file can be overwritten (subject to user privileges) it will be.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

createSymbolicLinkAtPath:pathContent:

Creates a symbolic link identified by a given path that refers to a given location.

- (BOOL)createSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)path pathContent:(NSString *)otherPath

Parameters

path: The path for a symbolic link.
otherPath: The path to which path should refer.

Return Value

YES if the operation is successful, otherwise NO. Returns NO if a file, directory, or symbolic link identical to path already exists.

Discussion

Creates a symbolic link identified by path that refers to the location otherPath in the file system.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use createSymbolicLinkAtPath:withDestinationPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

createSymbolicLinkAtPath:withDestinationPath:error:

Creates a symbolic link identified by a given path that refers to a given location.

- (BOOL)createSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)path withDestinationPath:(NSString *)destPath error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: The path for a symbolic link.
destPath: The path to which path should refer.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the operation is successful, otherwise NO. Returns NO if a file, directory, or symbolic link identical to path already exists.

Discussion

Creates a symbolic link identified by path that refers to the location destPath in the file system.

This method does not traverse an initial symlink.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

currentDirectoryPath

Returns the path of the program’s current directory.

- (NSString *)currentDirectoryPath

Return Value

The path of the program’s current directory. If the program’s current working directory isn’t accessible, returns nil.

Discussion

The string returned by this method is initialized to the current working directory; you can change the working directory by invoking changeCurrentDirectoryPath:.

Relative pathnames refer implicitly to the current directory. For example, if the current directory is /tmp, and the relative pathname reports/info.txt is specified, the resulting full pathname is /tmp/reports/info.txt.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

delegate

Returns the delegate for the receiver.

- (id)delegate

Return Value

The delegate for the receiver.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

destinationOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:error:

Returns an NSString object containing the path of the item pointed at by the symlink specified by a given path.

- (NSString *)destinationOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: The path of a file or directory.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An NSString object containing the path of the directory or file to which the symbolic link path refers, or nil upon failure. If the symbolic link is specified as a relative path, that relative path is returned.

Discussion

This method does not traverse an initial symlink.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

directoryContentsAtPath:

Returns an array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in a given directory.

- (NSArray *)directoryContentsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A path to a directory.

Return Value

Discussion

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

displayNameAtPath:

Returns the name of the file or directory at a given path in a localized form appropriate for presentation to the user.

- (NSString *)displayNameAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of a file or directory.

Return Value

The name of the file or directory at path in a localized form appropriate for presentation to the user. If there is no file or directory at path, or if an error occurs, returns [path lastPathComponent].

Discussion

The returned value is localized where appropriate. For example, if you have selected French as your preferred language, the following code fragment logs “Bibliothèque”:

NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSLibraryDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);

if ([paths count] > 0)

    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];

    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

    NSString *displayNameAtPath = [fileManager displayNameAtPath:documentsDirectory];

    NSLog(@"%@", displayNameAtPath);

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.1 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

enumeratorAtPath:

Creates and returns an NSDirectoryEnumerator object that enumerates the contents of the directory at a given path.

- (NSDirectoryEnumerator *)enumeratorAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of the directory to enumerate.

Return Value

An NSDirectoryEnumerator object that enumerates the contents of the directory at path. If path is a symbolic link, this method evaluates the link and returns an enumerator for the file or directory the link points to. If the link cannot be evaluated, the method returns nil.

If path is a filename, the method returns an enumerator object that enumerates no files—the first call to nextObject will return nil.

Discussion

Because the enumeration is deep—that is, it lists the contents of all subdirectories—this enumerator object is useful for performing actions that involve large file-system subtrees. If the method is passed a directory on which another file system is mounted (a mount point), it traverses the mount point. This method does not resolve symbolic links encountered in the traversal process, nor does it recurse through them if they point to a directory.

This code fragment enumerates the subdirectories and files under a user’s Documents directory and processes all files with an extension of .doc:

NSString *file;

NSString *docsDir = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:  @"Documents"];

NSDirectoryEnumerator *dirEnum =

    [[NSFileManager defaultManager] enumeratorAtPath:docsDir];

while (file = [dirEnum nextObject]) {

    if ([[file pathExtension] isEqualToString: @"doc"]) {

        [self scanDocument: [docsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:file]];

The NSDirectoryEnumerator class has methods for obtaining the attributes of the existing path and of the parent directory and for skipping descendants of the existing path.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileAttributesAtPath:traverseLink:

Returns a dictionary that describes the POSIX attributes of the file specified at a given.

- (NSDictionary *)fileAttributesAtPath:(NSString *)path traverseLink:(BOOL)flag

Parameters

path

A file path.

flag

If path is not a symbolic link, this parameter has no effect. If path is a symbolic link, then:

If YES the attributes of the linked-to file are returned, or if the link points to a nonexistent file the method returns nil.
If NO, the attributes of the symbolic link are returned.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the POSIX attributes of the file specified at path. The keys in the dictionary are described in “File Attribute Keys”. If there is no item at path, returns nil.

Discussion

This code example gets several attributes of a file and logs them.

NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

NSString *path = @"/tmp/List";

NSDictionary *fileAttributes = [fileManager fileAttributesAtPath:path traverseLink:YES];

if (fileAttributes != nil) {

    NSNumber *fileSize;

    NSString *fileOwner;

    NSDate *fileModDate;

    if (fileSize = [fileAttributes objectForKey:NSFileSize]) {

        NSLog(@"File size: %qi\n", [fileSize unsignedLongLongValue]);

    if (fileOwner = [fileAttributes objectForKey:NSFileOwnerAccountName]) {

        NSLog(@"Owner: %@\n", fileOwner);

    if (fileModDate = [fileAttributes objectForKey:NSFileModificationDate]) {

        NSLog(@"Modification date: %@\n", fileModDate);

else {

    NSLog(@"Path (%@) is invalid.", path);

As a convenience, NSDictionary provides a set of methods (declared as a category in NSFileManager.h) for quickly and efficiently obtaining attribute information from the returned dictionary: fileGroupOwnerAccountName, fileModificationDate, fileOwnerAccountName, filePosixPermissions, fileSize, fileSystemFileNumber, fileSystemNumber, and fileType. For example, you could rewrite the file modification statement in the code example above as:

if (fileModDate = [fileAttributes fileModificationDate])

    NSLog(@"Modification date: %@\n", fileModDate);

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use attributesOfItemAtPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileExistsAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a file or directory exists at a specified path.

- (BOOL)fileExistsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of a file or directory. If path begins with a tilde (~), it must first be expanded with stringByExpandingTildeInPath, or this method will return NO.

Return Value

YES if a file specified in path exists, otherwise NO. If the final element in path specifies a symbolic link, this method traverses the link and returns YES or NO based on the existence of the file at the link destination.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileExistsAtPath:isDirectory:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a file or directory exists at a specified path.

- (BOOL)fileExistsAtPath:(NSString *)path isDirectory:(BOOL *)isDirectory

Parameters

path: The path of a file or directory. If path begins with a tilde (~), it must first be expanded with stringByExpandingTildeInPath, or this method will return NO.
isDirectory: Upon return, contains YES if path is a directory or if the final path element is a symbolic link that points to a directory, otherwise contains NO. If path doesn’t exist, the return value is undefined. Pass NULL if you do not need this information.

Return Value

YES if there is a file or directory at path, otherwise NO. If the final element in path specifies a symbolic link, this method traverses the link and returns YES or NO based on the existence of the file or directory at the link destination.

Discussion

If you need to further determine if path is a package, use the NSWorkspace method isFilePackageAtPath:.

This example gets an array that identifies the fonts in the user's fonts directory:

NSArray *subpaths;

BOOL isDir;

NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains

                     (NSLibraryDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);

if ([paths count] == 1) {

    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

    NSString *fontPath = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Fonts"];

    if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:fontPath isDirectory:&isDir] && isDir) {

        subpaths = [fileManager subpathsAtPath:fontPath];

// ...

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileSystemAttributesAtPath:

Returns a dictionary that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which a given path resides.

- (NSDictionary *)fileSystemAttributesAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: Any pathname within the mounted file system.

Return Value

Discussion

The following code example checks to see if there’s sufficient space on the file system before adding a new file to it:

NSData *contents = [myImage TIFFRepresentation];

NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

NSString *path = ...;

NSString *fileName = ...;

NSDictionary *fsAttributes =

        [fileManager fileSystemAttributesAtPath:path];

if ([[fsAttributes objectForKey:NSFileSystemFreeSize] unsignedLongLongValue]  >

        [contents length])

    [fileManager createFileAtPath:[path stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName]

            contents:contents attributes:nil];

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use attributesOfFileSystemForPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileSystemRepresentationWithPath:

Returns a C-string representation of a given path that properly encodes Unicode strings for use by the file system.

- (const char *)fileSystemRepresentationWithPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A file path.

Return Value

A C-string representation of path that properly encodes Unicode strings for use by the file system.

Discussion

If you need the C string beyond the scope of your autorelease pool, you must copy it. This method raises an exception upon error. Use this method if your code calls system routines that expect C-string path arguments.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

isDeletableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the invoking object appears able to delete a specified file.

- (BOOL)isDeletableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A file path.

Return Value

YES if the invoking object appears able to delete the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

For a directory or file to be able to be deleted, either the parent directory of path must be writable or its owner must be the same as the owner of the application process. If path is a directory, every item contained in path must be able to be deleted.

This method does not traverse symbolic links.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

isExecutableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the operating system appears able to execute a specified file.

- (BOOL)isExecutableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A file path.

Return Value

YES if the operating system appears able to execute the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

This method traverses symbolic links. This method uses the real user ID and group ID, as opposed to the effective user and group IDs, to determine if the file is executable.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

isReadableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the invoking object appears able to read a specified file.

- (BOOL)isReadableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A file path.

Return Value

YES if the invoking object appears able to read the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

This method traverses symbolic links. This method uses the real user ID and group ID, as opposed to the effective user and group IDs, to determine if the file is readable.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

QTQuartzPlayer

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

isWritableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the invoking object appears able to write to a specified file.

- (BOOL)isWritableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: A file path.

Return Value

YES if the invoking object appears able to write to the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

This method traverses symbolic links. This method uses the real user ID and group ID, as opposed to the effective user and group IDs, to determine if the file is writable.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

linkItemAtPath:toPath:error:

Creates a link from a source to a destination.

- (BOOL)linkItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

srcPath

A path that identifies a source file.

The file or link specified by srcPath must exist. srcPath must not identify a directory.

dstPath

A path that identifies a destination file or directory on the same filesystem as srcPath.

The destination should not yet exist. The destination path must end in a filename; there is no implicit adoption of the source filename.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the link operation is successful, otherwise NO.

Discussion

If pathname srcPath identifies a file, this method hard-links the file specified in dstPath to it. If srcPath is a symbolic link, this method copies it to dstPath instead of creating a hard link. Symbolic links in srcPath are not traversed.

Amongst other reasons (such as the disk being full, permissions problems, and so on), this method will fail if:

srcPath doesn't point to any file in the file system;
srcPath points to an existing symbolic link, but the symbolic link is “broken" (it doesn't in turn point to an existing regular file in the file system);
srcPath points to a directory;
The computer has more than one file system (such as extra partitions, mounted disk images, or network volumes), and srcPath and dstPath specify paths in different file systems.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

linkPath:toPath:handler:

Creates a link from a source to a destination.

- (BOOL)linkPath:(NSString *)source toPath:(NSString *)destination handler:(id)handler

Parameters

source

A path that identifies a source file or directory.

The file, link, or directory specified by source must exist.

destination

A path that identifies a destination file or directory.

The destination should not yet exist. The destination path must end in a filename; there is no implicit adoption of the source filename.

handler

An object that responds to the callback messages fileManager:willProcessPath: and fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:. You can specify nil for handler; if you do so and an error occurs, the method automatically returns NO.

Return Value

YES if the link operation is successful. If the operation is not successful, but the handler method fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: returns YES, also returns YES. Otherwise returns NO.

Discussion

If pathname source identifies a file, this method hard-links the file specified in destination to it. If source is a directory or symbolic link, this method copies it to destination instead of creating a hard link. Symbolic links in source are not traversed.

This code fragment verifies the pathname typed in a text field (documentFileField) and then links the file to the user’s Documents directory:

NSString *source = [documentFileField stringValue];

NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);

if ([paths count] > 0)

    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];

    NSString *documentFileName = [source lastPathComponent];

    NSString *destination = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:documentFileName];

    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

    if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:source])

        [fileManager linkPath:source toPath:destination handler:self];

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

moveItemAtPath:toPath:error:

Moves the directory or file specified by a given path to a different location in the file system identified by another path.

- (BOOL)moveItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

srcPath: The path of a file or directory to move. srcPath must exist.
dstPath: The path to which the file or directory at srcPath is moved. destination must not yet exist. The destination path must end in a filename; there is no implicit adoption of the source filename.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the move operation is successful, otherwise NO.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

movePath:toPath:handler:

Moves the directory or file specified by a given path to a different location in the file system identified by another path.

- (BOOL)movePath:(NSString *)source toPath:(NSString *)destination handler:(id)handler

Parameters

source: The path of a file or directory to move. source must exist.
destination: The path to which source is moved. destination must not yet exist. The destination path must end in a filename; there is no implicit adoption of the source filename.
handler: An object that responds to the callback messages fileManager:willProcessPath: and fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:. You can specify nil for handler; if you do so and an error occurs, the method automatically returns NO.

Return Value

YES if the move operation is successful. If the operation is not successful, but the handler method fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: returns YES, movePath:toPath:handler: also returns YES; otherwise returns NO.

Discussion

If source is a file, the method creates a file at destination that holds the exact contents of the original file and then deletes the original file. If source is a directory, movePath:toPath:handler: creates a new directory at destination and recursively populates it with duplicates of the files and directories contained in source. It then deletes the old directory and its contents. Symbolic links are not traversed, however links are preserved. File or directory attributes—that is, metadata such as owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date—are also moved.

If a failure in a move operation occurs, either the preexisting path or the new path remains intact, but not both.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

pathContentOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:

Returns the path of the directory or file that a symbolic link at a given path refers to.

- (NSString *)pathContentOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of a symbolic link.

Return Value

The path of the directory or file to which the symbolic link path refers, or nil upon failure. If the symbolic link is specified as a relative path, that relative path is returned.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use destinationOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

removeFileAtPath:handler:

Deletes the file, link, or directory (including, recursively, all subdirectories, files, and links in the directory) identified by a given path.

- (BOOL)removeFileAtPath:(NSString *)path handler:(id)handler

Parameters

path: The path of a file, link, or directory to delete. The value must not be "." or "..".
handler: An object that responds to the callback messages fileManager:willProcessPath: and fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:. You can specify nil for handler; if you do so and an error occurs, the deletion stops and the method automatically returns NO.

Return Value

YES if the removal operation is successful. If the operation is not successful, but the handler method fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: returns YES, also returns YES; otherwise returns NO.

Discussion

This callback mechanism provided by handler is similar to delegation. NSFileManager sends fileManager:willProcessPath: when it begins a copy, move, remove, or link operation. It sends fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: when it encounters any error in processing.

Since the removal of directory contents is so thorough and final, be careful when using this method. If you specify "." or ".." for path an NSInvalidArgumentException exception is raised. This method does not traverse symbolic links.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Related Sample Code

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

removeItemAtPath:error:

Deletes the file, link, or directory (including, recursively, all subdirectories, files, and links in the directory) identified by a given path.

- (BOOL)removeItemAtPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: The path of a file, link, or directory to delete. The value must not be "." or "..".
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the removal operation is successful, otherwise NO.

Discussion

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Related Sample Code

URL CacheInfo

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

setAttributes:ofItemAtPath:error:

Sets the attributes of a given file or directory.

- (BOOL)setAttributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes ofItemAtPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

attributes: A dictionary containing as keys the attributes to set for path and as values the corresponding value for the attribute. You can set following: NSFileBusy, NSFileCreationDate, NSFileExtensionHidden, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName, NSFileHFSCreatorCode, NSFileHFSTypeCode, NSFileImmutable, NSFileModificationDate, NSFileOwnerAccountID, NSFileOwnerAccountName, NSFilePosixPermissions. You can change single attributes or any combination of attributes; you need not specify keys for all attributes.
path: The path of a file or directory.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if all changes succeed. If any change fails, returns NO, but it is undefined whether any changes actually occurred.

Discussion

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

setDelegate:

Sets the delegate for the receiver.

- (void)setDelegate:(id)delegate

Parameters

delegate: The delegate for the receiver.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

stringWithFileSystemRepresentation:length:

Returns an NSString object converted from the C-string representation of a pathname in the current file system.

- (NSString *)stringWithFileSystemRepresentation:(const char *)string length:(NSUInteger)len

Parameters

string: A C string representation of a pathname.
len: The number of characters in string.

Return Value

An NSString object converted from the C-string representation string with length len of a pathname in the current file system.

Discussion

Use this method if your code receives paths as C strings from system routines.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

subpathsAtPath:

Returns an array that contains (as NSString objects) the contents of the directory identified by a given path.

- (NSArray *)subpathsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

path: The path of the directory to list.

Return Value

An array that contains (as NSString objects) the contents of the directory identified by path. If path is a symbolic link, subpathsAtPath: traverses the link. Returns nil if it cannot get the device of the linked-to file.

Discussion

This list of directory contents goes very deep and hence is very useful for large file-system subtrees. The method skips “.” and “..”.

This method reveals every element of the subtree at path, including the contents of file packages (such as applications, nib files, and RTFD files). This code fragment gets the contents of /System/Library/Fonts after verifying that the directory exists:

BOOL isDir=NO;

NSArray *subpaths;

NSString *fontPath = @"/System/Library/Fonts";

NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:fontPath isDirectory:&isDir] && isDir)

    subpaths = [fileManager subpathsAtPath:fontPath];

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use subpathsOfDirectoryAtPath:error: instead.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

subpathsOfDirectoryAtPath:error:

Returns an array that contains the filenames of the items in the directory specified by a given path and all its subdirectories recursively.

- (NSArray *)subpathsOfDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)path error:(NSError **)error

Parameters

path: The path of the directory to list.
error: If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An array that contains NSString objects representing the filenames of the items in the directory specified by path and all its subdirectories recursively. If path is a symbolic link, subpathsOfDirectoryAtPath:error: traverses the link. Returns nil if it cannot get the device of the linked-to file.

Discussion

This list of directory contents goes very deep and hence is very useful for large file-system subtrees. The method skips “.” and “..”.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

Delegate Methods

fileManager:shouldCopyItemAtPath:toPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message immediately before attempting to copy to a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldCopyItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
srcPath: The path or a file or directory that manager is about to attempt to copy.
dstPath: The path or a file or directory to which manager is about to attempt to copy.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Discussion

You can implement this method in your delegate to monitor file operations.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldLinkItemAtPath:toPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message immediately before attempting to link to a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldLinkItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
srcPath: The path or a file or directory that manager is about to attempt to link.
dstPath: The path or a file or directory to which manager is about to attempt to link.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Discussion

You can implement this method in your delegate to monitor file operations.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldMoveItemAtPath:toPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message immediately before attempting to move to a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldMoveItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
srcPath: The path or a file or directory that manager is about to attempt to move.
dstPath: The path or a file or directory to which manager is about to attempt to move.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Discussion

You can implement this method in your delegate to monitor file operations.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:

An NSFileManager object sends this message to its handler for each error it encounters when copying, moving, removing, or linking files or directories.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)manager shouldProceedAfterError:(NSDictionary *)errorInfo

Parameters

manager

The file manager that sent this message.

errorInfo

A dictionary that contains two or three pieces of information (all NSString objects) related to the error:

Key	Value
`@"Path"`	The path related to the error (usually the source path)
`@"Error"`	A description of the error
`@"ToPath"`	The destination path (not all errors)

Return Value

YES if the operation (which is often continuous within a loop) should proceed, otherwise NO.

Discussion

An NSFileManager object, manager, sends this message for each error it encounters when copying, moving, removing, or linking files or directories. The return value is passed back to the invoker of copyPath:toPath:handler:, movePath:toPath:handler:, removeFileAtPath:handler:, or linkPath:toPath:handler:. If an error occurs and your handler has not implemented this method, the invoking method automatically returns NO.

The following implementation of fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: displays the error string in an alert dialog and leaves it to the user whether to proceed or stop:

-(BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)manager

        shouldProceedAfterError:(NSDictionary *)errorInfo

    int result;

    result = NSRunAlertPanel(@"Gumby App", @"File  operation error:

            %@ with file: %@", @"Proceed", @"Stop",  NULL,

            [errorInfo objectForKey:@"Error"],

            [errorInfo objectForKey:@"Path"]);

    if (result == NSAlertDefaultReturn)

        return YES;

    else

        return NO;

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:copyingItemAtPath:toPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message if an error occurs during an attempt to copy to a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldProceedAfterError:(NSError *)error copyingItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
error: The error that occurred during the attempt to copy.
srcPath: The path or a file or directory that manager is attempting to copy.
dstPath: The path or a file or directory to which manager is attempting to copy.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Discussion

You can implement this method in your delegate to monitor file operations.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:linkingItemAtPath:toPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message if an error occurs during an attempt to link to a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldProceedAfterError:(NSError *)error linkingItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
error: The error that occurred during the attempt to link.
srcPath: The path or a file or directory that manager is attempting to link.
dstPath: The path or a file or directory to which manager is attempting to link.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:movingItemAtPath:toPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message if an error occurs during an attempt to move to a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldProceedAfterError:(NSError *)error movingItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPath toPath:(NSString *)dstPath

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
error: The error that occurred during the attempt to move.
srcPath: The path or a file or directory that manager is attempting to move.
dstPath: The path or a file or directory to which manager is attempting to move.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:removingItemAtPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message if an error occurs during an attempt to delete a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldProceedAfterError:(NSError *)error removingItemAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
error: The error that occurred during the attempt to copy.
path: The path or a file or directory that manager is attempting to delete.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:shouldRemoveItemAtPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message immediately before attempting to delete an item at a given path.

- (BOOL)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)fileManager shouldRemoveItemAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

fileManager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
path: The path or a file or directory that manager is about to attempt to delete.

Return Value

YES if the operation should proceed, otherwise NO.

Discussion

You can implement this method in your delegate to monitor file operations.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.5 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

fileManager:willProcessPath:

An NSFileManager object sends this message to a handler immediately before attempting to move, copy, rename, or delete, or before attempting to link to a given path.

- (void)fileManager:(NSFileManager *)manager willProcessPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters

manager: The NSFileManager object that sent this message.
path: The path or a file or directory that manager is about to attempt to move, copy, rename, delete, or link to.

Discussion

You can implement this method in your handler to monitor file operations.

Availability

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

Constants

File Attribute Keys

These keys access file attribute values contained in NSDictionary objects used by changeFileAttributes:atPath:, fileAttributesAtPath:traverseLink:, createDirectoryAtPath:attributes:, and createFileAtPath:contents:attributes:.

NSString *NSFileType;
NSString *NSFileTypeDirectory;
NSString *NSFileTypeRegular;
NSString *NSFileTypeSymbolicLink;
NSString *NSFileTypeSocket;
NSString *NSFileTypeCharacterSpecial;
NSString *NSFileTypeBlockSpecial;
NSString *NSFileTypeUnknown;
NSString *NSFileSize;
NSString *NSFileModificationDate;
NSString *NSFileReferenceCount;
NSString *NSFileDeviceIdentifier;
NSString *NSFileOwnerAccountName;
NSString *NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName;
NSString *NSFilePosixPermissions;
NSString *NSFileSystemNumber;
NSString *NSFileSystemFileNumber;
NSString *NSFileExtensionHidden;
NSString *NSFileHFSCreatorCode;
NSString *NSFileHFSTypeCode;
NSString *NSFileImmutable;
NSString *NSFileAppendOnly;
NSString *NSFileCreationDate;
NSString *NSFileOwnerAccountID;
NSString *NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID;
NSString *NSFileBusy;

Constants

NSFileAppendOnly

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates whether the file is read-only.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing a Boolean value.

Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileBusy

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates whether the file is busy.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing a Boolean value.

Available in Mac OS X v10.4 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileCreationDate

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's creation date.

The corresponding value is an NSDate object.

Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileOwnerAccountName

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the name of the file's owner.

The corresponding value is an NSString object.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the group name of the file's owner.

The corresponding value is an NSString object.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileDeviceIdentifier

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the identifier for the device on which the file resides.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileExtensionHidden

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates whether the file's extension is hidden.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing a Boolean value.

Available in Mac OS X v10.1 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's group ID.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long.

Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileHFSCreatorCode

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's HFS creator code.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long. See HFS File Types for possible values.

Available in Mac OS X v10.1 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileHFSTypeCode

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's HFS type code.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long. See HFS File Types for possible values.

Available in Mac OS X v10.1 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileImmutable

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates whether the file is mutable.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing a Boolean value.

Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileModificationDate

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's last modified date.

The corresponding value is an NSDate object.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileOwnerAccountID

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's owner's account ID.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long.

Available in Mac OS X v10.2 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFilePosixPermissions

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's Posix permissions.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileReferenceCount

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's reference count.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long.

The number specifies the number of hard links to a file.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileSize

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's size in bytes.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long long.

Important: If the file has a resource fork, the returned value does not include the size of the resource fork.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileSystemFileNumber

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's filesystem file number.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object containing an unsigned long. The value corresponds to the value of st_ino, as returned by stat(2).

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileType

The key in a file attribute dictionary whose value indicates the file's type.

The corresponding value is an NSString object (see below for possible values).

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

Discussion

NSFileDeviceIdentifier is used to access the identifier of a remote device.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

File Type Attribute Keys

These strings the possible values for the NSFileType attribute key contained in the NSDictionary object returned from NSFileManager's fileAttributesAtPath:traverseLink:.

extern NSString *NSFileTypeDirectory;
extern NSString *NSFileTypeRegular;
extern NSString *NSFileTypeSymbolicLink;
extern NSString *NSFileTypeSocket;
extern NSString *NSFileTypeCharacterSpecial;
extern NSString *NSFileTypeBlockSpecial;
extern NSString *NSFileTypeUnknown;

Constants

NSFileTypeDirectory

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

File-System Attribute Keys

Keys to access the file attribute values contained in the NSDictionary object returned from NSFileManager’s fileSystemAttributesAtPath: method.

extern NSString *NSFileSystemSize;
extern NSString *NSFileSystemFreeSize;
extern NSString *NSFileSystemNodes;
extern NSString *NSFileSystemFreeNodes;
extern NSString *NSFileSystemNumber;

Constants

NSFileSystemSize

The key in a file system attribute dictionary whose value indicates the size of the file system.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object that specifies the size of the file system in bytes. The value is determined by statfs().

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileSystemFreeSize

The key in a file system attribute dictionary whose value indicates the amount of free space on the file system.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object that specifies the amount of free space on the file system in bytes. The value is determined by statfs().

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileSystemNodes

The key in a file system attribute dictionary whose value indicates the number of nodes in the file system.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object that specifies the number of nodes in the file system.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileSystemFreeNodes

The key in a file system attribute dictionary dictionary whose value indicates the number of free nodes in the file system.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object that specifies the number of free nodes in the file system.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

NSFileSystemNumber

The key in a file system attribute dictionary dictionary whose value indicates the filesystem number of the file system.

The corresponding value is an NSNumber object that specifies the filesystem number of the file system. The value corresponds to the value of st_dev, as returned by stat(2).

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

Resource Fork Support

Specifies the version of the Foundation framework in which NSFileManager first supported resource forks.

#define NSFoundationVersionWithFileManagerResourceForkSupport 412

Constants

NSFoundationVersionWithFileManagerResourceForkSupport

The version of the Foundation framework in which NSFileManager first supported resource forks.

Available in Mac OS X v10.1 and later.

Declared in NSFileManager.h.

Declared In

NSFileManager.h

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NSFileManager Class Reference

Overview

Tasks

Getting the Default Manager

Moving an Item

Copying an Item

Removing an Item

Creating an Item

Linking an Item

Symbolic-Link Operations

Handling File Operations

Getting and Comparing File Contents

Discovering Directory Contents

Determining Access to Files

Getting and Setting Attributes

Getting Representations of File Paths

Managing the Delegate

Managing the Current Directory

Class Methods

defaultManager

Return Value

Discussion

Availability

Related Sample Code

Declared In

Instance Methods

attributesOfFileSystemForPath:error:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion

Availability

See Also

Declared In

attributesOfItemAtPath:error:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion

Availability

See Also

Declared In

changeCurrentDirectoryPath:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion

Availability

See Also

Declared In

changeFileAttributes:atPath:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion

Special Considerations

Availability

See Also

Related Sample Code

Declared In

componentsToDisplayForPath:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion

Availability

Related Sample Code

Declared In

contentsAtPath:

Parameters

Return Value

Availability

See Also

Declared In

contentsEqualAtPath:andPath:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion

Availability

See Also

Declared In

contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:error:

Parameters

Return Value

Discussion