How to check if a file exists in the Documents directory in Swift?

Question

How to check if a file exists in the Documents directory in Swift?

I am using [ .writeFilePath ] method to save an image into the Documents directory and I want to load it every time the app is launched. But I have a default image if there is no saved image.

But I just cant get my head around how to use the [ func fileExistsAtPath(_:) ] function. Could someone give an example of using the function with a path argument passed into it.

I believe I don't need to paste any code in there as this is a generic question. Any help will be much appreciated.

mike.tihonchik · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-13T20:07:32.723

Swift 4.x version

    let path = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0] as String
    let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path)
    if let pathComponent = url.appendingPathComponent("nameOfFileHere") {
        let filePath = pathComponent.path
        let fileManager = FileManager.default
        if fileManager.fileExists(atPath: filePath) {
            print("FILE AVAILABLE")
        } else {
            print("FILE NOT AVAILABLE")
        }
    } else {
        print("FILE PATH NOT AVAILABLE")
    }

Swift 3.x version

    let path = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0] as String
    let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: path)

    let filePath = url.appendingPathComponent("nameOfFileHere").path
    let fileManager = FileManager.default
    if fileManager.fileExists(atPath: filePath) {
        print("FILE AVAILABLE")
    } else {
        print("FILE NOT AVAILABLE")
    }

Swift 2.x version, need to use URLByAppendingPathComponent

    let path = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0] as String
    let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path)
    let filePath = url.URLByAppendingPathComponent("nameOfFileHere").path!
    let fileManager = NSFileManager.defaultManager()
    if fileManager.fileExistsAtPath(filePath) {
        print("FILE AVAILABLE")
    } else {
        print("FILE NOT AVAILABLE")
    }

It looks like the answer was updated so the absoluteString comments seem obsolete. — Efren, Apr 28 '17 at 06:58
presumably those comments were that absoluteString doesn't work from a URL, but path does, which is what I found! — CMash, Sep 27 '19 at 07:36
is the same logic when searching for file in .libraryDirectory? I ask because I tried and it cannot find it, even if the file was successfully written into it. — stackich, Jul 16 '21 at 17:10

score 34 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 27 '16 at 17:42

34

Check the below code:

Swift 1.2

let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0] as String

let getImagePath = paths.stringByAppendingPathComponent("SavedFile.jpg")

let checkValidation = NSFileManager.defaultManager()

if (checkValidation.fileExistsAtPath(getImagePath))
{
    println("FILE AVAILABLE");
}
else
{
    println("FILE NOT AVAILABLE");
}

Swift 2.0

let paths = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0])
let getImagePath = paths.URLByAppendingPathComponent("SavedFile.jpg")

let checkValidation = NSFileManager.defaultManager()

if (checkValidation.fileExistsAtPath("\(getImagePath)"))
{
    print("FILE AVAILABLE");
}
else
{
    print("FILE NOT AVAILABLE");
}

edited Apr 27 '16 at 17:42

keithbhunter

12,258
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answered Jun 12 '14 at 10:17

PREMKUMAR

8,283
8
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51

3

@SaqibOmer try casting paths as NSString rather than String. `var paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0] as NSString` – sheepgobeep Sep 22 '15 at 18:36
@PREMKUMAR Why that strange string interpolation? You could use `absoluteString` to convert `NSURL` to `path` but it would be better to just keep the path as a string (`NSString`) like you do in Swift 1.2. – Sulthan Apr 27 '16 at 17:48
I found this answer to work properly with Swift 2: http://stackoverflow.com/a/36897617/1245231 – petrsyn May 09 '16 at 22:48

vadian · Answer 3 · 2019-03-23T06:05:34.190

Nowadays (2016) Apple recommends more and more to use the URL related API of NSURL, NSFileManager etc.

To get the documents directory in iOS and Swift 2 use

let documentDirectoryURL = try! NSFileManager.defaultManager().URLForDirectory(.DocumentDirectory, 
                                 inDomain: .UserDomainMask, 
                        appropriateForURL: nil, 
                                   create: true)

The try! is safe in this case because this standard directory is guaranteed to exist.

Then append the appropriate path component for example an sqlite file

let databaseURL = documentDirectoryURL.URLByAppendingPathComponent("MyDataBase.sqlite")

Now check if the file exists with checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError of NSURL.

let fileExists = databaseURL.checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError(nil)

If you need the error pass the NSError pointer to the parameter.

var error : NSError?
let fileExists = databaseURL.checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError(&error)
if !fileExists { print(error) }

Swift 3+:

let documentDirectoryURL = try! FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, 
                                in: .userDomainMask, 
                    appropriateFor: nil, 
                            create: true)

let databaseURL = documentDirectoryURL.appendingPathComponent("MyDataBase.sqlite")

checkResourceIsReachable is marked as can throw

do {
    let fileExists = try databaseURL.checkResourceIsReachable()
    // handle the boolean result
} catch let error as NSError {
    print(error)
}

To consider only the boolean return value and ignore the error use the nil-coalescing operator

let fileExists = (try? databaseURL.checkResourceIsReachable()) ?? false

I think in Swift 3 this is now `checkResourceIsReachable()` and just returns `Bool` for `URL` type. — Ethan Allen, Sep 23 '16 at 00:35
The problem I found is that you never seem to get a "false" value from checkResourceIsReachable() in Swift3, just an exception if the file is not there. I'm not very happy using an API where a lot of calls will result in an exception instead of a simple return value. — Kendall Helmstetter Gelner, Feb 04 '17 at 22:11
@KendallHelmstetterGelner Swift's `try - catch` pattern does not throw exceptions. It's not comparable with exceptions in Objective-C. It's an efficient error handling system. — vadian, Feb 04 '17 at 22:29
It's more efficient I know, but conceptually I do not like it. I don't mind something throwing an exception for - an exception. But a file not existing is NOT an exception. It is a common case and should result in a false return value, not some kind of aberration with a wrapped Error object that had to be created. It may not seem like much but if you have tens of thousands of files to check the burden is too high. — Kendall Helmstetter Gelner, Feb 04 '17 at 23:21

score 19 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 20 '19 at 19:28

Swift 4.2

extension URL    {
    func checkFileExist() -> Bool {
        let path = self.path
        if (FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: path))   {
            print("FILE AVAILABLE")
            return true
        }else        {
            print("FILE NOT AVAILABLE")
            return false;
        }
    }
}

Using: -

if fileUrl.checkFileExist()
   {
      // Do Something
   }

Mick MacCallum · Answer 5 · 2015-06-14T19:07:53.347

16

It's pretty user friendly. Just work with NSFileManager's defaultManager singleton and then use the fileExistsAtPath() method, which simply takes a string as an argument, and returns a Bool, allowing it to be placed directly in the if statement.

let paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)
let documentDirectory = paths[0] as! String
let myFilePath = documentDirectory.stringByAppendingPathComponent("nameOfMyFile")

let manager = NSFileManager.defaultManager()
if (manager.fileExistsAtPath(myFilePath)) {
    // it's here!!
}

Note that the downcast to String isn't necessary in Swift 2.

edited Jun 14 '15 at 19:07

answered Jun 12 '14 at 10:08

Mick MacCallum

129,200
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♦ please help me here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31503283/how-to-get-nsurl-on-specific-file-from-document-directory-in-swift . I don't know which code need to write. – Alexander Khitev Jul 19 '15 at 21:45

score 15 · Answer 6 · answered May 27 '20 at 18:02

works at Swift 5

    do {
        let documentDirectory = try FileManager.default.url(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask, appropriateFor: nil, create: true)
        let fileUrl = documentDirectory.appendingPathComponent("userInfo").appendingPathExtension("sqlite3")
        if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: fileUrl.path) {
            print("FILE AVAILABLE")
        } else {
            print("FILE NOT AVAILABLE")
        }
    } catch {
        print(error)
    }

where "userInfo" - file's name, and "sqlite3" - file's extension

score 8 · Answer 7 · answered May 05 '21 at 06:43

8

Swift 5

extension FileManager {
    class func fileExists(filePath: String) -> Bool {
        var isDirectory = ObjCBool(false)
        return self.default.fileExists(atPath: filePath, isDirectory: &isDirectory)
    }
}

answered May 05 '21 at 06:43

Alessandro Ornano

34,887
11
106
133

Surya Kameswara Rao Ravi · Answer 8 · 2016-11-04T14:16:47.770

An alternative/recommended Code Pattern in Swift 3 would be:

Use URL instead of FileManager

Use of exception handling

func verifyIfSqliteDBExists(){
    let docsDir     : URL       = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!
    let dbPath      : URL       = docsDir.appendingPathComponent("database.sqlite")

    do{
        let sqliteExists : Bool = try dbPath.checkResourceIsReachable()
        print("An sqlite database exists at this path :: \(dbPath.path)")

    }catch{
        print("SQLite NOT Found at :: \(strDBPath)")
    }
}

score 5 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 19 '17 at 07:19

Very simple: If your path is a URL instance convert to string by 'path' method.

    let fileManager = FileManager.default
    var isDir: ObjCBool = false
    if fileManager.fileExists(atPath: yourURLPath.path, isDirectory: &isDir) {
        if isDir.boolValue {
            //it's a Directory path
        }else{
            //it's a File path
        }
    }

Surya Kameswara Rao Ravi · Answer 10 · 2016-11-04T13:49:26.763

For the benefit of Swift 3 beginners:

Swift 3 has done away with most of the NextStep syntax
So NSURL, NSFilemanager, NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomain are no longer used
Instead use URL and FileManager
NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomain is not needed
Instead use FileManager.default.urls

Here is a code sample to verify if a file named "database.sqlite" exists in application document directory:

func findIfSqliteDBExists(){

    let docsDir     : URL       = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!
    let dbPath      : URL       = docsDir.appendingPathComponent("database.sqlite")
    let strDBPath   : String    = dbPath.path
    let fileManager : FileManager   = FileManager.default

    if fileManager.fileExists(atPath:strDBPath){
        print("An sqlite database exists at this path :: \(strDBPath)")
    }else{
        print("SQLite NOT Found at :: \(strDBPath)")
    }

}

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Jan 22 '19 at 02:24

This works fine for me in swift4:

func existingFile(fileName: String) -> Bool {

    let path = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0] as String
    let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path)
    if let pathComponent = url.appendingPathComponent("\(fileName)") {
        let filePath = pathComponent.path
        let fileManager = FileManager.default
        if fileManager.fileExists(atPath: filePath) 

       {

        return true

        } else {

        return false

        }

    } else {

        return false

        }


}

You can check with this call:

   if existingFile(fileName: "yourfilename") == true {

            // your code if file exists

           } else {

           // your code if file does not exist

           }

I hope it is useful for someone. @;-]

What if the user do not want to just only check the document directory? and want to search a generic path — Jogendra Kumar, Apr 09 '20 at 11:34

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Apr 05 '15 at 17:38

0

You must add a "/" slash before filename, or you get path like ".../DocumentsFilename.jpg"

answered Apr 05 '15 at 17:38

Jauzee

120
2
18

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Jul 13 '18 at 08:13

Swift 4 example:

var filePath: String {
    //manager lets you examine contents of a files and folders in your app.
    let manager = FileManager.default

    //returns an array of urls from our documentDirectory and we take the first
    let url = manager.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first
    //print("this is the url path in the document directory \(String(describing: url))")

    //creates a new path component and creates a new file called "Data" where we store our data array
    return(url!.appendingPathComponent("Data").path)
}

I put the check in my loadData function which I called in viewDidLoad.

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    loadData()
}

Then I defined loadData below.

func loadData() {
    let manager = FileManager.default

    if manager.fileExists(atPath: filePath) {
        print("The file exists!")

        //Do what you need with the file. 
        ourData = NSKeyedUnarchiver.unarchiveObject(withFile: filePath) as! Array<DataObject>         
    } else {
        print("The file DOES NOT exist! Mournful trumpets sound...")
    }
}

How to check if a file exists in the Documents directory in Swift?

13 Answers13

Swift 5

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