Manual:File System Functions

File System Functions

A collection of functions for interacting with the file system.

io.exists

io.exists()

Checks to see if a given file or folder exists.

If it exists, it’ll return the Lua true boolean value, otherwise false.

Note: Behavior varies based on the user's operating system. Windows requires a specific file, while Linux will accept directories.

See lfs.attributes() for a cross-platform solution.

Example

<lua> -- This example works on Linux only if io.exists("/home/vadi/Desktop") then

 echo("This folder exists!")

else

 echo("This folder doesn't exist.")

end

-- This example will work on both Windows and Linux. if io.exists("/home/vadi/Desktop/file.tx") then

 echo("This file exists!")

else

 echo("This file doesn't exist.")

end </lua>

lfs.attributes

lfs.attributes(path)

Returns a table with detailed information regarding a file or directory, or nil if path is invalid / file or folder does not exist.

Example

<lua> fileInfo = lfs.attributes("/path/to/file_or_directory") if fileInfo then

   if fileInfo.mode == "directory" then
       echo("Path points to a directory.")
   elseif fileInfo.mode == "file" then
       echo("Path points to a file.")
   else
       echo("Path points to: "..fileInfo.mode)
   end
   display(fileInfo) -- to see the detailed information

else

   echo("The path is invalid (file/directory doesn't exist)")

end </lua>