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NSFileManager Class Reference

Inherits from
Conforms to
Framework
/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework
Availability
Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.
Companion guide
Declared in
NSFileManager.h

Overview

NSFileManager enables you to perform many generic file-system operations and insulates an application from the underlying file system.

Tasks

Getting the Default Manager

Moving an Item

Copying an Item

Removing an Item

Creating an Item

Linking an Item

Symbolic-Link Operations

Handling File Operations

The methods described in this section are methods to be implemented by the callback handler passed to several methods of NSFileManager.

Getting and Comparing File Contents

Discovering Directory Contents

Determining Access to Files

Getting and Setting Attributes

Getting Representations of File Paths

Managing the Delegate

Managing the Current Directory

Class Methods

defaultManager

Returns the default NSFileManager object for the file system.

+ (NSFileManager *)defaultManager

Return Value

The default NSFileManager object for the file system.

Discussion

You invoke all NSFileManager instance methods with this object as the receiver.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

Instance Methods

attributesOfFileSystemForPath:error:

Returns a dictionary that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which a given path resides.

- (NSDictionary *)attributesOfFileSystemForPath:(NSString *)patherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
path

Any pathname within the mounted file system.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which path resides. See “File-System Attribute Keys” for a description of the keys available in the dictionary.

Discussion

This method does not traverse an initial symbolic link.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

attributesOfItemAtPath:error:

An NSDictionary object containing the attributes of the item at a given path.

- (NSDictionary *)attributesOfItemAtPath:(NSString *)patherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
path

The path of a file or directory.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the attributes (file, directory, symlink, and so on) of the file specified by path. The keys in the dictionary are described in “File Attribute Keys”.

Discussion

This method does not traverse an initial symbolic link.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

changeCurrentDirectoryPath:

Changes the path of the current directory for the current process to a given path.

- (BOOL)changeCurrentDirectoryPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

The path of the directory to which to change.

Return Value

YES if successful, otherwise NO.

Discussion

All relative pathnames refer implicitly to the current working directory. The current working directory is stored per process.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

changeFileAttributes:atPath:

Changes the attributes of a given file or directory.

- (BOOL)changeFileAttributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes atPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
attributes

A dictionary containing as keys the attributes to set for path and as values the corresponding value for the attribute. You can set following: NSFileBusy, NSFileCreationDate, NSFileExtensionHidden, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName, NSFileHFSCreatorCode, NSFileHFSTypeCode, NSFileImmutable, NSFileModificationDate, NSFileOwnerAccountID, NSFileOwnerAccountName, NSFilePosixPermissions. You can change single attributes or any combination of attributes; you need not specify keys for all attributes.

For the NSFilePosixPermissions value, specify a file mode from the OR’d permission bit masks defined in sys/stat.h. See the man page for the chmod function (man 2 chmod) for an explanation.

path

A path to a file or directory.

Return Value

YES if all changes succeed. If any change fails, returns NO, but it is undefined whether any changes actually occurred.

Discussion

As in the POSIX standard, the application either must own the file or directory or must be running as superuser for attribute changes to take effect. The method attempts to make all changes specified in attributes and ignores any rejection of an attempted modification.

The NSFilePosixPermissions value must be initialized with the code representing the POSIX file-permissions bit pattern. NSFileHFSCreatorCode and NSFileHFSTypeCode will only be heeded when path specifies a file.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use setAttributes:ofItemAtPath:error: instead.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

componentsToDisplayForPath:

Returns an array of NSString objects representing the user-visible components of a given path.

- (NSArray *)componentsToDisplayForPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A pathname.

Return Value

An array of NSString objects representing the user-visible (for the Finder, Open and Save panels, and so on) components of path.

Discussion

These components cannot be used for path operations and are only suitable for display to the user.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

contentsAtPath:

Returns as an NSData object the contents of the file at at given path.

- (NSData *)contentsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

The path of a file.

Return Value

The contents of the file specified by path as an NSData object. If path specifies a directory, or if some other error occurs, returns nil.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

contentsEqualAtPath:andPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the files or directories in specified paths have the same contents.

- (BOOL)contentsEqualAtPath:(NSString *)path1 andPath:(NSString *)path2

Parameters
path1

The path of a file or directory to compare with the contents of path2.

path2

The path of a file or directory to compare with the contents of path1.

Return Value

YES if file or directory specified in path1 has the same contents as that specified in path2, otherwise NO.

Discussion

If path1 and path2 are directories, the contents are the list of files and subdirectories each contains—contents of subdirectories are also compared. For files, this method checks to see if they’re the same file, then compares their size, and finally compares their contents. This method does not traverse symbolic links, but compares the links themselves.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:error:

Returns an array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in a given directory.

- (NSArray *)contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)patherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
path

A path to a directory.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in path. Returns an empty array if the directory exists but has no contents. Returns nil if the directory specified at path does not exist or there is some other error accessing it.

Discussion

The search is shallow and therefore does not return the contents of any subdirectories. This returned array does not contain strings for the current directory (“.”), parent directory (“..”), or resource forks (begin with “._”) and does not traverse symbolic links.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

copyItemAtPath:toPath:error:

Copies the directory or file specified in a given path to a different location in the file system identified by another path.

- (BOOL)copyItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPathtoPath:(NSString *)dstPatherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
srcPath

The path of a file or directory.

dstPath

The path of a file or directory.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

copyPath:toPath:handler:

Copies the directory or file specified in a given path to a different location in the file system identified by another path.

- (BOOL)copyPath:(NSString *)source toPath:(NSString *)destination handler:(id)handler

Parameters
source

The location of the source file.

destination

The location to which to copy the file specified by source.

handler

An object that responds to the callback messages fileManager:willProcessPath: and fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError:. You can specify nil for handler; if you do so and an error occurs, the method automatically returns NO.

Return Value

YES if the copy operation is successful. If the operation is not successful, but the callback handler of fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: returns YES, copyPath:toPath:handler: also returns YES. Otherwise this method returns NO. The method also attempts to make the attributes of the directory or file at destination identical to source, but ignores any failure at this attempt.

Discussion

If source is a file, the method creates a file at destination that holds the exact contents of the original file (this includes BSD special files). If source is a directory, the method creates a new directory at destination and recursively populates it with duplicates of the files and directories contained in source, preserving all links. The file specified in source must exist, while destination must not exist prior to the operation. When a file is being copied, the destination path must end in a filename—there is no implicit adoption of the source filename. Symbolic links are not traversed but are themselves copied. File or directory attributes—that is, metadata such as owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date—are also copied.

The handler callback mechanism is similar to delegation. NSFileManager sends fileManager:willProcessPath: when it begins a copy, move, remove, or link operation. It sends fileManager:shouldProceedAfterError: when it encounters any error in processing.

This code fragment verifies that the file to be copied exists and then copies that file to the user’s ~/Library/Reports directory:

NSString *source = @"/tmp/quarterly_report.rtf";
NSString *destination = [[[NSHomeDirectory()
        stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Library"]
        stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Reports"]
        stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"new_quarterly_report.rtf"];
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
 
if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:source]) {
    [fileManager copyPath:source toPath:destination handler:nil];
}
Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

createDirectoryAtPath:attributes:

Creates a directory (without contents) at a given path with given attributes.

- (BOOL)createDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)path attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes

Parameters
path

The path at which to create the new directory. The directory to be created must not yet exist, but its parent directory must exist.

attributes

The file attributes for the new directory. The attributes you can set are owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date. If you specify nil for attributes, default values for these attributes are set (particularly write access for the creator and read access for others). The “Constants” section lists the global constants used as keys in the attributes dictionary. Some of the keys, such as NSFileHFSCreatorCode and NSFileHFSTypeCode, do not apply to directories.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use createDirectoryAtPath:withIntermediateDirectories:attributes:error: instead.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

createDirectoryAtPath:withIntermediateDirectories:attributes:error:

Creates a directory with given attributes at a specified path.

- (BOOL)createDirectoryAtPath:(NSString *)pathwithIntermediateDirectories:(BOOL)createIntermediatesattributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeserror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
path

The path at which to create the new directory. The directory to be created must not yet exist.

createIntermediates

If YES, then the method will also create any necessary intermediate directories; if NO, then the method will fail if any parent of the directory to be created does not exist.

attributes

The file attributes for the new directory. The attributes you can set are owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date. If you specify nil for attributes, the directory is created according to the umask of the process. The “Constants” section lists the global constants used as keys in the attributes dictionary. Some of the keys, such as NSFileHFSCreatorCode and NSFileHFSTypeCode, do not apply to directories.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

createFileAtPath:contents:attributes:

Creates a file at a given path that has given attributes and contents.

- (BOOL)createFileAtPath:(NSString *)path contents:(NSData *)contents attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributes

Parameters
path

The path for the new file.

contents

The contents for the new file.

attributes

A dictionary that describes the attributes of the new file. The file attributes you can set are owner and group numbers, file permissions, and modification date. “File Attribute Keys” lists the global constants used as keys in the attributes dictionary. If you specify nil for attributes, the file is given a default set of attributes.

Return Value

YES if the operation was successful, otherwise NO.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

createSymbolicLinkAtPath:pathContent:

Creates a symbolic link identified by a given path that refers to a given location.

- (BOOL)createSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)path pathContent:(NSString *)otherPath

Parameters
path

The path for a symbolic link.

otherPath

The path to which path should refer.

Return Value

YES if the operation is successful, otherwise NO. Returns NO if a file, directory, or symbolic link identical to path already exists.

Discussion

Creates a symbolic link identified by path that refers to the location otherPath in the file system.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use createSymbolicLinkAtPath:withDestinationPath:error: instead.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

createSymbolicLinkAtPath:withDestinationPath:error:

Creates a symbolic link identified by a given path that refers to a given location.

- (BOOL)createSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)pathwithDestinationPath:(NSString *)destPatherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
path

The path for a symbolic link.

destPath

The path to which path should refer.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

YES if the operation is successful, otherwise NO. Returns NO if a file, directory, or symbolic link identical to path already exists.

Discussion

Creates a symbolic link identified by path that refers to the location destPath in the file system.

This method does not traverse an initial symlink.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

currentDirectoryPath

Returns the path of the program’s current directory.

- (NSString *)currentDirectoryPath

Return Value

The path of the program’s current directory. If the program’s current working directory isn’t accessible, returns nil.

Discussion

The string returned by this method is initialized to the current working directory; you can change the working directory by invoking changeCurrentDirectoryPath:.

Relative pathnames refer implicitly to the current directory. For example, if the current directory is /tmp, and the relative pathname reports/info.txt is specified, the resulting full pathname is /tmp/reports/info.txt.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

delegate

Returns the delegate for the receiver.

- (id)delegate

Return Value

The delegate for the receiver.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

destinationOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:error:

Returns an NSString object containing the path of the item pointed at by the symlink specified by a given path.

- (NSString *)destinationOfSymbolicLinkAtPath:(NSString *)patherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
path

The path of a file or directory.

error

If an error occurs, upon return contains an NSError object that describes the problem. Pass NULL if you do not want error information.

Return Value

An NSString object containing the path of the directory or file to which the symbolic link path refers, or nil upon failure. If the symbolic link is specified as a relative path, that relative path is returned.

Discussion

This method does not traverse an initial symlink.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

directoryContentsAtPath:

Returns an array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in a given directory.

- (NSArray *)directoryContentsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A path to a directory.

Return Value

An array of NSString objects identifying the directories and files (including symbolic links) contained in path. Returns an empty array if the directory exists but has no contents. Returns nil if the directory specified at path does not exist or there is some other error accessing it.

Discussion

The search is shallow and therefore does not return the contents of any subdirectories. This returned array does not contain strings for the current directory (“.”), parent directory (“..”), or resource forks (begin with “._”) and does not traverse symbolic links.

Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use contentsOfDirectoryAtPath:error: instead.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

displayNameAtPath:

Returns the name of the file or directory at a given path in a localized form appropriate for presentation to the user.

- (NSString *)displayNameAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

The path of a file or directory.

Return Value

The name of the file or directory at path in a localized form appropriate for presentation to the user. If there is no file or directory at path, or if an error occurs, returns [path lastPathComponent].

Discussion

The returned value is localized where appropriate. For example, if you have selected French as your preferred language, the following code fragment logs “Bibliothèque”:

NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSLibraryDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
if ([paths count] > 0)
{
    NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0];
    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSString *displayNameAtPath = [fileManager displayNameAtPath:documentsDirectory];
    NSLog(@"%@", displayNameAtPath);
}
Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

enumeratorAtPath:

Creates and returns an NSDirectoryEnumerator object that enumerates the contents of the directory at a given path.

- (NSDirectoryEnumerator *)enumeratorAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

The path of the directory to enumerate.

Return Value

An NSDirectoryEnumerator object that enumerates the contents of the directory at path. If path is a symbolic link, this method evaluates the link and returns an enumerator for the file or directory the link points to. If the link cannot be evaluated, the method returns nil.

If path is a filename, the method returns an enumerator object that enumerates no files—the first call to nextObject will return nil.

Discussion

Because the enumeration is deep—that is, it lists the contents of all subdirectories—this enumerator object is useful for performing actions that involve large file-system subtrees. If the method is passed a directory on which another file system is mounted (a mount point), it traverses the mount point. This method does not resolve symbolic links encountered in the traversal process, nor does it recurse through them if they point to a directory.

This code fragment enumerates the subdirectories and files under a user’s Documents directory and processes all files with an extension of .doc:

NSString *file;
NSString *docsDir = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:  @"Documents"];
NSDirectoryEnumerator *dirEnum =
    [[NSFileManager defaultManager] enumeratorAtPath:docsDir];
 
while (file = [dirEnum nextObject]) {
    if ([[file pathExtension] isEqualToString: @"doc"]) {
        [self scanDocument: [docsDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:file]];
    }
}

The NSDirectoryEnumerator class has methods for obtaining the attributes of the existing path and of the parent directory and for skipping descendants of the existing path.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

fileAttributesAtPath:traverseLink:

Returns a dictionary that describes the POSIX attributes of the file specified at a given.

- (NSDictionary *)fileAttributesAtPath:(NSString *)path traverseLink:(BOOL)flag

Parameters
path

A file path.

flag

If path is not a symbolic link, this parameter has no effect. If path is a symbolic link, then:

  • If YES the attributes of the linked-to file are returned, or if the link points to a nonexistent file the method returns nil.

  • If NO, the attributes of the symbolic link are returned.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the POSIX attributes of the file specified at path. The keys in the dictionary are described in “File Attribute Keys”. If there is no item at path, returns nil.

Discussion

This code example gets several attributes of a file and logs them.

NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSString *path = @"/tmp/List";
NSDictionary *fileAttributes = [fileManager fileAttributesAtPath:path traverseLink:YES];
 
if (fileAttributes != nil) {
    NSNumber *fileSize;
    NSString *fileOwner;
    NSDate *fileModDate;
    if (fileSize = [fileAttributes objectForKey:NSFileSize]) {
        NSLog(@"File size: %qi\n", [fileSize unsignedLongLongValue]);
    }
    if (fileOwner = [fileAttributes objectForKey:NSFileOwnerAccountName]) {
        NSLog(@"Owner: %@\n", fileOwner);
    }
    if (fileModDate = [fileAttributes objectForKey:NSFileModificationDate]) {
        NSLog(@"Modification date: %@\n", fileModDate);
    }
}
else {
    NSLog(@"Path (%@) is invalid.", path);
}

As a convenience, NSDictionary provides a set of methods (declared as a category in NSFileManager.h) for quickly and efficiently obtaining attribute information from the returned dictionary: fileGroupOwnerAccountName, fileModificationDate, fileOwnerAccountName, filePosixPermissions, fileSize, fileSystemFileNumber, fileSystemNumber, and fileType. For example, you could rewrite the file modification statement in the code example above as:

if (fileModDate = [fileAttributes fileModificationDate])
    NSLog(@"Modification date: %@\n", fileModDate);
Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use attributesOfItemAtPath:error: instead.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

fileExistsAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a file exists at a given path.

- (BOOL)fileExistsAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

The path of a file or directory. If path begins with a tilde (~), it must first be expanded with stringByExpandingTildeInPath, or this method will return NO.

Return Value

YES if a file specified in path exists, otherwise NO. If path specifies a symbolic link, this method traverses the link and returns YES or NO based on the existence of the file at the link destination.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

fileExistsAtPath:isDirectory:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a specified file exists.

- (BOOL)fileExistsAtPath:(NSString *)path isDirectory:(BOOL *)isDirectory

Parameters
path

The path of a file or directory. If path begins with a tilde (~), it must first be expanded with stringByExpandingTildeInPath, or this method will return NO.

isDirectory

Upon return, contains YES if path is a directory or if the final path element is a symbolic link that points to a directory, otherwise contains NO. If path doesn’t exist, the return value is undefined. Pass NULL if you do not need this information.

Return Value

YES if there is a file or directory at path, otherwise NO. If path specifies a symbolic link, this method traverses the link and returns YES or NO based on the existence of the file or directory at the link destination.

Discussion

If you need to further determine if path is a package, use the NSWorkspace method isFilePackageAtPath:.

This example gets an array that identifies the fonts in the user's fonts directory:

NSArray *subpaths;
BOOL isDir;
 
NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains
                     (NSLibraryDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
 
if ([paths count] == 1) {
 
    NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
    NSString *fontPath = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Fonts"];
 
    if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:fontPath isDirectory:&isDir] && isDir) {
        subpaths = [fileManager subpathsAtPath:fontPath];
// ...
Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

fileSystemAttributesAtPath:

Returns a dictionary that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which a given path resides.

- (NSDictionary *)fileSystemAttributesAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

Any pathname within the mounted file system.

Return Value

An NSDictionary object that describes the attributes of the mounted file system on which path resides. See “File-System Attribute Keys” for a description of the keys available in the dictionary.

Discussion

The following code example checks to see if there’s sufficient space on the file system before adding a new file to it:

NSData *contents = [myImage TIFFRepresentation];
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];
NSString *path = ...;
NSString *fileName = ...;
NSDictionary *fsAttributes =
        [fileManager fileSystemAttributesAtPath:path];
if ([[fsAttributes objectForKey:NSFileSystemFreeSize] unsignedLongLongValue]  >
        [contents length])
    [fileManager createFileAtPath:[path stringByAppendingPathComponent:fileName]
            contents:contents attributes:nil];
Special Considerations

On Mac OS X v10.5 and later, use attributesOfFileSystemForPath:error: instead.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

fileSystemRepresentationWithPath:

Returns a C-string representation of a given path that properly encodes Unicode strings for use by the file system.

- (const char *)fileSystemRepresentationWithPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A file path.

Return Value

A C-string representation of path that properly encodes Unicode strings for use by the file system.

Discussion

If you need the C string beyond the scope of your autorelease pool, you must copy it. This method raises an exception upon error. Use this method if your code calls system routines that expect C-string path arguments.

Availability
See Also
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

isDeletableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the invoking object appears able to delete a specified file.

- (BOOL)isDeletableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A file path.

Return Value

YES if the invoking object appears able to delete the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

For a directory or file to be able to be deleted, either the parent directory of path must be writable or its owner must be the same as the owner of the application process. If path is a directory, every item contained in path must be able to be deleted.

This method does not traverse symbolic links.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

isExecutableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the operating system appears able to execute a specified file.

- (BOOL)isExecutableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A file path.

Return Value

YES if the operating system appears able to execute the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

This method traverses symbolic links. This method uses the real user ID and group ID, as opposed to the effective user and group IDs, to determine if the file is executable.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

isReadableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the invoking object appears able to read a specified file.

- (BOOL)isReadableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A file path.

Return Value

YES if the invoking object appears able to read the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

This method traverses symbolic links. This method uses the real user ID and group ID, as opposed to the effective user and group IDs, to determine if the file is readable.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

isWritableFileAtPath:

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the invoking object appears able to write to a specified file.

- (BOOL)isWritableFileAtPath:(NSString *)path

Parameters
path

A file path.

Return Value

YES if the invoking object appears able to write to the file specified in path, otherwise NO. If the file at path does not exist, this method returns NO.

Discussion

This method traverses symbolic links. This method uses the real user ID and group ID, as opposed to the effective user and group IDs, to determine if the file is writable.

Availability
Declared In
NSFileManager.h

linkItemAtPath:toPath:error:

Creates a link from a source to a destination.

- (BOOL)linkItemAtPath:(NSString *)srcPathtoPath:(NSString *)dstPatherror:(NSError **)error

Parameters
srcPath

A path that identifies a source file or directory.

The file, link, or directory specified by srcPath must exist.

dstPath