Windows File Management

Introduction

This section provides comprehensive documentation on file and directory management operations within the Windows operating system. Learn how to create, read, write, delete, move, and copy files, as well as manage directories and their properties programmatically.

Core File Operations

File Creation and Writing

Windows offers robust APIs for creating new files and writing data to them. You can control access rights, share modes, and file attributes during creation.

CreateFile DWORD CreateFile(LPCTSTR lpFileName, DWORD dwDesiredAccess, DWORD dwShareMode, LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpSecurityAttributes, DWORD dwCreationDisposition, DWORD dwFlagsAndAttributes, HANDLE hTemplateFile);

Opens or creates a specified file or I/O device.


// Example: Creating and writing to a file
HANDLE hFile = CreateFile(
    L"C:\\MyNewFile.txt",      // File name
    GENERIC_WRITE,             // Desired access
    0,                         // Share mode
    NULL,                      // Security attributes
    CREATE_ALWAYS,             // Creation disposition
    FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,     // File attributes
    NULL);                     // Template file

if (hFile != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
    DWORD dwBytesWritten;
    LPCSTR message = "Hello, Windows File Management!";
    WriteFile(hFile, message, strlen(message), &dwBytesWritten, NULL);
    CloseHandle(hFile);
}

Reading File Data

Retrieve data from existing files using functions like ReadFile. Specify the buffer, number of bytes to read, and handle to the file.

ReadFile BOOL ReadFile(HANDLE hFile, LPVOID lpBuffer, DWORD nNumberOfBytesToRead, LPDWORD lpNumberOfBytesRead, LPOVERLAPPED lpOverlapped);

Reads data from a file or input device.

File Deletion

Remove files from the file system using the DeleteFile function.

DeleteFile BOOL DeleteFile(LPCTSTR lpFileName);

Deletes an existing file.

Directory Management

Creating Directories

Use CreateDirectory to create new folders on the file system.

CreateDirectory BOOL CreateDirectory(LPCTSTR lpPathName, LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpAttribute);

Creates a new directory.

Listing Directory Contents

Navigate through directories and retrieve information about files and subdirectories.

FindFirstFile HANDLE FindFirstFile(LPCTSTR lpFileName, LPWIN32_FIND_DATA lpFindFileData);

Begins the search for a file in a directory.

FindNextFile BOOL FindNextFile(HANDLE hFindFile, LPWIN32_FIND_DATA lpFindFileData);

Continues a file search.

Deleting Directories

Remove empty directories with RemoveDirectory. For non-empty directories, you may need to delete their contents first or use alternative methods.

RemoveDirectory BOOL RemoveDirectory(LPCTSTR lpPathName);

Removes an existing empty directory.

Advanced Concepts

File Attributes and Properties

Manage file attributes like read-only, hidden, system, and archive. Access file size, creation time, last modified time, and other metadata.

GetFileAttributes DWORD GetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR lpFileName);

Retrieves the attributes of a specified file or directory.

SetFileAttributes BOOL SetFileAttributes(LPCTSTR lpFileName, DWORD dwFileAttributes);

Sets the attributes for a specified file or directory.

File I/O Modes

Understand asynchronous I/O operations for improved performance in I/O-bound applications.