C# find most recent file in dir

Question

I need to find the most recently modified file in a directory. I know I can loop through every file in a folder and compare File.GetLastWriteTime but is there a better way to do this without looping?

Answer 1

You can react to new file activity with FileSystemWatcher.

Answer 2

how about something like this...

var directory = new DirectoryInfo("C:\\MyDirectory");
var myFile = (from f in directory.GetFiles()
             orderby f.LastWriteTime descending
             select f).First();

// or...
var myFile = directory.GetFiles()
             .OrderByDescending(f => f.LastWriteTime)
             .First();

Answer 3

A non-LINQ version:

private FileInfo GetLastUpdatedFileInDirectory(DirectoryInfo directoryInfo)
{
    FileInfo[] files = directoryInfo.GetFiles();

    FileInfo[] lastUpdatedFile = null;
    DateTime lastUpdate = new DateTime(1, 0, 0);

    foreach (FileInfo file in files)
    {
        if (file.LastAccessTime > lastUpdate)
        {
            lastUpdatedFile = file;
            lastUpdate = file.LastAccessTime;
        }
    }

    return lastUpdatedFile;           
}