`File.Exists`

Does a file exist? We can answer this question with File.Exists in the VB.NET language. File.Exists, part of System.IO, returns a Boolean.

Exists() avoids throwing exceptions, so is easy to use. We often call the File.Exists function in an If-statement in VB.NET programs.

Example

This program calls File.Exists twice. Please notice first how it imports the System.IO namespace. Around the first File.Exists call, it uses an if-statement.

And In the second call, it stores the result of File.Exists in a boolean value.

Tip File.Exists will not throw an exception if the file does not exist. This makes it helpful to call before using other file methods.

So Using File.Exists is a way to prevent exceptions from other types. StreamReader, for example, will throw if a file is not found.

Imports System.IO

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        ' See if the file exists in the program directory.
        If File.Exists("TextFile1.txt") Then
            Console.WriteLine("The file exists.")
        End If

        ' Check a file in the C volume.
        Dim exists As Boolean = File.Exists("C:\lost.txt")
        Console.WriteLine(exists)
    End Sub

End ModuleThe file exists.
False

Discussion

File.Exists internally accesses the disk. This causes an IO read. Sometimes it is better to simply try to read a file, as with StreamReader.

Then We could catch exceptions if the file is not found. This has fewer steps.

Also Exception handling is faster in many cases than disk reads. Therefore, skipping File.Exists and just trying to read files may be better.

Tip In some situations, File.Exists is still useful. It may prevent an incorrect state in memory.

File.Exists returns True, if a file exists. And it returns False if one does not. It is used within an If-statement conditional, and it may be stored in a Boolean field.