Search file in directory using complex pattern

Question

I am looking for a C# library for getting files or directory from a directory using a complex pattern like the one used in Ant:

• dir1/dir2/**/SVN/* --> Matches all files in SVN directories that are located anywhere in the directory tree under dir1/dir2
• **/test/** --> Matches all files that have a test element in their path, including test as a filename.
• ...

Do I need to code it myself? extract what I want from NAnt? Or this library exists and my google skill sucks.

Directory.GetFiles(String path, String searchPattern) doesn't handle directory pattern and NDepend.Helpers.FileDirectoryPath neither (it's a great library for path manipulation by the way)

Answer 1

Coding it yourself wouldnt be that hard.

Just use a correctly formulated regular expression with System.IO methods to build the full path

Answer 2

Are you comfortable with defining "*" as "anything but slash" and "**" as "anything at all"? If so, the regex conversion seems straightforward.

*   -> [^\/]*
**  -> .*

Then it's a matter of recursively enumerating all files, and checking if their paths match the regex.