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FileNames[]

lists all files in the current working directory.

FileNames[form]

lists all files in the current working directory whose names match the string pattern form.

FileNames[{form1,form2,…}]

lists all files whose names match any of the formi.

FileNames[All,dir]

lists all files in the directory dir.

FileNames[forms,{dir1,dir2,…}]

lists files with names matching forms in any of the directories diri.

FileNames[forms,dirs,n]

includes files that are in subdirectories up to n levels down.

Details and Options
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Cite this Page

FileNames

FileNames[]

lists all files in the current working directory.

FileNames[form]

lists all files in the current working directory whose names match the string pattern form.

FileNames[{form1,form2,…}]

lists all files whose names match any of the formi.

FileNames[All,dir]

lists all files in the directory dir.

FileNames[forms,{dir1,dir2,…}]

lists files with names matching forms in any of the directories diri.

FileNames[forms,dirs,n]

includes files that are in subdirectories up to n levels down.

Details and Options

  • File names can be given as literal strings, StringExpression string patterns, RegularExpression objects, or abbreviated string patterns.
  • In abbreviated string patterns, * stands for any sequence of zero or more characters. @ stands for any sequence of one or more characters other than uppercase letters.
  • FileNames[All], FileNames["*"], or FileNames[__] is equivalent to FileNames[].
  • In abbreviated string patterns, Verbatim["s"] specifies that the string "s" should be matched with * and @ treated literally.
  • FileNames[forms,dirs,Infinity] looks for files in all subdirectories of the dirs.
  • The list of files returned by FileNames is sorted in the order generated by the function Sort.
  • FileNames[forms,dirs,{n}] includes names of directories only if they appear exactly at level n.
  • The forms can include relative or absolute directory specifications, in addition to names of files.
  • Setting the option IgnoreCase->True makes FileNames treat lowercase and uppercase letters in file names as equivalent.
  • With the default setting IgnoreCase->Automatic, FileNames treats lowercase and uppercase letters in file names as equivalent under Microsoft Windows operating systems, but not elsewhere.
  • File["dir"] may be used to specify a literal directory name to search.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (1)

List the file and directory names in the $InstallationDirectory:

Count the files in the whole installation directory:

Scope  (1)

List files in the directory specified by the File object:

Wolfram Research (1991), FileNames, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FileNames.html (updated 2019).

Text

Wolfram Research (1991), FileNames, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FileNames.html (updated 2019).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1991. "FileNames." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2019. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FileNames.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1991). FileNames. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FileNames.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_filenames, author="Wolfram Research", title="{FileNames}", year="2019", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FileNames.html}", note=[Accessed: 11-August-2025]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_filenames, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={FileNames}, year={2019}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FileNames.html}, note=[Accessed: 11-August-2025]}