C#: How would you make a unique filename by adding a number?

Solution 1:

public FileInfo MakeUnique(string path)
{            
    string dir = Path.GetDirectoryName(path);
    string fileName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(path);
    string fileExt = Path.GetExtension(path);

    for (int i = 1; ;++i) {
        if (!File.Exists(path))
            return new FileInfo(path);

        path = Path.Combine(dir, fileName + " " + i + fileExt);
    }
}

Obviously, this is vulnerable to race conditions as noted in other answers.

Solution 2:

Lots of good advice here. I ended up using a method written by Marc in an answer to a different question. Reformatted it a tiny bit and added another method to make it a bit easier to use "from the outside". Here is the result:

private static string numberPattern = " ({0})";

public static string NextAvailableFilename(string path)
{
    // Short-cut if already available
    if (!File.Exists(path))
        return path;

    // If path has extension then insert the number pattern just before the extension and return next filename
    if (Path.HasExtension(path))
        return GetNextFilename(path.Insert(path.LastIndexOf(Path.GetExtension(path)), numberPattern));

    // Otherwise just append the pattern to the path and return next filename
    return GetNextFilename(path + numberPattern);
}

private static string GetNextFilename(string pattern)
{
    string tmp = string.Format(pattern, 1);
    if (tmp == pattern)
        throw new ArgumentException("The pattern must include an index place-holder", "pattern");

    if (!File.Exists(tmp))
        return tmp; // short-circuit if no matches

    int min = 1, max = 2; // min is inclusive, max is exclusive/untested

    while (File.Exists(string.Format(pattern, max)))
    {
        min = max;
        max *= 2;
    }

    while (max != min + 1)
    {
        int pivot = (max + min) / 2;
        if (File.Exists(string.Format(pattern, pivot)))
            min = pivot;
        else
            max = pivot;
    }

    return string.Format(pattern, max);
}

Only partially tested it so far, but will update if I find any bugs with it. (Marcs code works nicely!) If you find any problems with it, please comment or edit or something :)

Solution 3:

Not pretty, but I've had this for a while :

private string getNextFileName(string fileName)
{
    string extension = Path.GetExtension(fileName);

    int i = 0;
    while (File.Exists(fileName))
    {
        if (i == 0)
            fileName = fileName.Replace(extension, "(" + ++i + ")" + extension);
        else
            fileName = fileName.Replace("(" + i + ")" + extension, "(" + ++i + ")" + extension);
    }

    return fileName;
}

Assuming the files already exist:

• File.txt
• File(1).txt
• File(2).txt

the call getNextFileName("File.txt") will return "File(3).txt".

Not the most efficient because it doesn't use binary search, but should be ok for small file count. And it doesn't take race condition into account...