std::filesystem::directory_iterator

Defined in header `<filesystem>`
class directory_iterator;		(since C++17)

directory_iterator is a LegacyInputIterator that iterates over the directory_entry elements of a directory (but does not visit the subdirectories). The iteration order is unspecified, except that each directory entry is visited only once. The special pathnames dot and dot-dot are skipped.

If the directory_iterator reports an error or is advanced past the last directory entry, it becomes equal to the default-constructed iterator, also known as the end iterator. Two end iterators are always equal, dereferencing or incrementing the end iterator is undefined behavior.

If a file or a directory is deleted or added to the directory tree after the directory iterator has been created, it is unspecified whether the change would be observed through the iterator.

Member types

Member type	Definition
`value_type`	std::filesystem::directory_entry
`difference_type`	std::ptrdiff_t
`pointer`	const std::filesystem::directory_entry*
`reference`	const std::filesystem::directory_entry&
`iterator_category`	std::input_iterator_tag

Member functions

(constructor)	constructs a directory iterator (public member function)
(destructor)	default destructor (public member function)
operator=	assigns contents (public member function)
operator*operator->	accesses the pointed-to entry (public member function)
incrementoperator++	advances to the next entry (public member function)

Non-member functions

begin(std::filesystem::directory_iterator)end(std::filesystem::directory_iterator)

(C++17)

range-based for loop support
(function)

Additionally, operator== and operator!= are (until C++20)operator== is (since C++20) provided as required by LegacyInputIterator.

It is unspecified whether operator!= is provided because it can be synthesized from operator==, and (since C++20) whether an equality operator is a member or non-member.

Helper templates

namespace std::ranges { template<> inline constexpr bool enable_borrowed_range<std::filesystem::directory_iterator> = true; }		(since C++20)
namespace std::ranges { template<> inline constexpr bool enable_view<std::filesystem::directory_iterator> = true; }		(since C++20)

These specializations for directory_iterator make it a borrowed_range and a view.

Notes

Many low-level OS APIs for directory traversal retrieve file attributes along with the next directory entry. The constructors and the non-const member functions of std::filesystem::directory_iterator store these attributes, if any, in the pointed-to std::filesystem::directory_entry without calling directory_entry::refresh, which makes it possible to examine the attributes of the directory entries as they are being iterated over, without making additional system calls.

Example

Run this code

#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <filesystem>
#include <algorithm>
 
int main()
{
    const std::filesystem::path sandbox{"sandbox"};
    std::filesystem::create_directories(sandbox/"dir1"/"dir2");
    std::ofstream{sandbox/"file1.txt"};
    std::ofstream{sandbox/"file2.txt"};
 
    std::cout << "directory_iterator:\n";
    // directory_iterator can be iterated using a range-for loop
    for (auto const& dir_entry : std::filesystem::directory_iterator{sandbox}) 
    {
        std::cout << dir_entry.path() << '\n';
    }
 
    std::cout << "\ndirectory_iterator as a range:\n";
    // directory_iterator behaves as a range in other ways, too
    std::ranges::for_each( std::filesystem::directory_iterator{sandbox},
                           [](const auto& dir_entry) {
                             std::cout << dir_entry << '\n';
                           } );
 
    std::cout << "\nrecursive_directory_iterator:\n";
    for (auto const& dir_entry : std::filesystem::recursive_directory_iterator{sandbox}) 
    {
        std::cout << dir_entry << '\n';
    }
 
    // delete the sandbox dir and all contents within it, including subdirs
    std::filesystem::remove_all(sandbox);
}

Possible output:

directory_iterator:
"sandbox/file2.txt"
"sandbox/file1.txt"
"sandbox/dir1"
 
directory_iterator as a range:
"sandbox/file2.txt"
"sandbox/file1.txt"
"sandbox/dir1"
 
recursive_directory_iterator:
"sandbox/file2.txt"
"sandbox/file1.txt"
"sandbox/dir1"
"sandbox/dir1/dir2"

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 3480	C++20	`directory_iterator` was neither a `borrowed_range` nor a `view`	it is both

Compiler support
Freestanding and hosted
Language
Standard library
Standard library headers
Named requirements
Feature test macros (C++20)
Language support library
Concepts library (C++20)
Metaprogramming library (C++11)
Diagnostics library
General utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Iterators library
Ranges library (C++20)
Algorithms library
Numerics library
Localizations library
Input/output library
Filesystem library (C++17)
Regular expressions library (C++11)
Concurrency support library (C++11)
Technical specifications
Symbols index
External libraries

recursive_directory_iterator (C++17)	an iterator to the contents of a directory and its subdirectories (class)
directory_options (C++17)	options for iterating directory contents (enum)
directory_entry (C++17)	a directory entry (class)