The DirectoryInfo.EnumerateFiles and DirectoryInfo.GetFiles methods differ as follows:

• When you use DirectoryInfo.EnumerateFiles, you can start enumerating the collection of System.IO.FileInfo objects before the whole collection is returned.

• When you use DirectoryInfo.GetFiles, you must wait for the whole array of System.IO.FileInfo objects to be returned before you can access the array.

Therefore, when you are working with many files and directories, DirectoryInfo.EnumerateFiles can be more efficient.

This method pre-populates the values of the following System.IO.FileInfo properties:

• FileSystemInfo.Attributes

• FileSystemInfo.CreationTime

• FileSystemInfo.CreationTimeUtc

• FileSystemInfo.LastAccessTime

• FileSystemInfo.LastAccessTimeUtc

• FileSystemInfo.LastWriteTime

• FileSystemInfo.LastWriteTimeUtc

• FileInfo.Length

The returned collection is not cached; each call to the IEnumerable`1.GetEnumerator method on the collection will start a new enumeration.

Namespace: System.IO
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Assembly Versions: 4.0.0.0