C# check that a file destination is valid

Is there a standard function to check that a specified directory is valid?

The reason I ask is that I am receiving an absolute directory string and filename from a user and I want to sanity check the location to check that it is valid.

From stackoverflow

• if(System.IO.File.Exists(fileOrDirectoryPath))
  {
      //do stuff
  }
  

  This should do the trick!

  xan : Updated - I remembered the namespace incorrectly.

• The previous answer is correct with respect to checking whether a given file or directory exists. The Path class also contains a number of functions that are useful for validating or manipulating the various components of a path.

• If it can't be a new directory, you can just check if it exists.

  It looks like you could also use Path.GetInvalidPathChars to check for invalid characters.

• For a file

  File.Exists(string)
  

  For a Directory

  Directory.Exists(string)
  

  NOTE: If you are reusing an object you should consider using the FileInfo class vs the static File class. The static methods of the File class does a possible unnecessary security check each time.
  FileInfo - DirectoryInfo - File - Directory

   FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(fName);
   if (fi.Exists)
      //Do stuff
  

  OR

  DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(fName);
   if (di.Exists)
      //Do stuff
  

• You might also want to consider that a valid path in itself is not 100% valid. If the user provides C:\windows\System32, or to a CD drive the operating system could throw an exception when attempting to write.