std::filesystem::exists

 

C++

Language

Standard library headers

Concepts

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

 

Filesystem library

Classes
filesystem::path filesystem::filesystem_error filesystem::directory_entry filesystem::directory_iterator filesystem::recursive_directory_iterator filesystem::file_status	filesystem::space_info filesystem::file_type filesystem::perms filesystem::copy_options filesystem::directory_options filesystem::file_time_type
Functions
filesystem::absolute filesystem::system_complete filesystem::canonicalfilesystem::weakly_canonical filesystem::relativefilesystem::proximate filesystem::copy filesystem::copy_file filesystem::copy_symlink filesystem::create_directory filesystem::create_directories filesystem::create_hard_link filesystem::create_symlink filesystem::create_directory_symlink filesystem::current_path	filesystem::exists filesystem::equivalent filesystem::file_size filesystem::hard_link_count filesystem::last_write_time filesystem::permissions filesystem::read_symlink filesystem::remove filesystem::remove_all filesystem::rename filesystem::resize_file filesystem::space filesystem::status filesystem::symlink_status filesystem::temp_directory_path
File types
filesystem::is_block_file filesystem::is_character_file filesystem::is_directory filesystem::is_empty filesystem::status_known	filesystem::is_fifo filesystem::is_other filesystem::is_regular_file filesystem::is_socket filesystem::is_symlink

 

Defined in header <filesystem>
bool exists( std::filesystem::file_status s )	(1)	(since C++17)
bool exists( const std::filesystem::path& p ); bool exists( const std::filesystem::path& p, std::error_code& ec )	(2)	(since C++17)

Checks if the given file status or path corresponds to an existing file or directory.

1) Equivalent to status_known(s) && s.type() != file_type::not_found.

2) Equivalent to exists(status(p)) or exists(status(p, ec)) (symlinks are followed). The non-throwing overload returns false if an error occurs.

Parameters

s	-	file status to check
p	-	path to examine
ec	-	out-parameter for error reporting in the non-throwing overload

Return value

true if the given path or file status corresponds to an existing file or directory, false otherwise.

Exceptions

1)

noexcept specification:  

noexcept

  

2) The overload that does not take a std::error_code& parameter throws filesystem_error on underlying OS API errors, constructed with p as the first argument and the OS error code as the error code argument. std::bad_alloc may be thrown if memory allocation fails. The overload taking a std::error_code& parameter sets it to the OS API error code if an OS API call fails, and executes ec.clear() if no errors occur. This overload has

noexcept specification:  

noexcept

  

Notes

The information provided by this function is usually also provided as a byproduct of directory iteration. During directory iteration, calling exists(*iterator) is less efficient than exists(iterator->status())

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdint>
#include <filesystem>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
void demo_exists(const fs::path& p, fs::file_status s = fs::file_status{})
{
    std::cout << p;
    if(fs::status_known(s) ? fs::exists(s) : fs::exists(p))
        std::cout << " exists\n";
    else
        std::cout << " does not exist\n";
}
int main()
{
    fs::create_directory("sandbox");
    std::ofstream("sandbox/file"); // create regular file
    fs::create_symlink("non-existing", "sandbox/symlink");
 
    demo_exists("sandbox");
    for(auto it = fs::directory_iterator("sandbox"); it != fs::directory_iterator(); ++it)
        demo_exists(*it, it->status()); // use cached status from directory entry
    fs::remove_all("sandbox");
}

Output:

"sandbox" exists
"sandbox/file" exists
"sandbox/symlink" does not exist

See also

statussymlink_status (C++17)(C++17)	determines file attributes determines file attributes, checking the symlink target (function)
file_status (C++17)	represents file type and permissions (class)
statussymlink_status	status of the file designated by this directory entry symlink_status of the file designated by this directory entry (public member function of std::filesystem::directory_entry)