dirent.h not including, c++

[Ninjakreborn]

I found some online sample code that I was going to play with:

/*
* A function to list all contents of a given directory
* author: Danny Battison
* contact: gabehabe@hotmail.com
*/

#include <dirent.h> // directory header
#include <cstdio>

void listdir (const char *path)
{
    // first off, we need to create a pointer to a directory
    DIR *pdir = NULL; // remember, it's good practice to initialise a pointer to NULL!
    pdir = opendir (path); // "." will refer to the current directory
    struct dirent *pent = NULL;
    if (pdir == NULL) // if pdir wasn't initialised correctly
    { // print an error message and exit the program
        printf ("\nERROR! pdir could not be initialised correctly");
        return; // exit the function
    } // end if

    while (pent = readdir (pdir)) // while there is still something in the directory to list
    {
        if (pent == NULL) // if pent has not been initialised correctly
        { // print an error message, and exit the program
            printf ("\nERROR! pent could not be initialised correctly");
            return; // exit the function
        }
        // otherwise, it was initialised correctly. let's print it on the console:
        printf ("%s\n", pent->d_name);
    }

    // finally, let's close the directory
    closedir (pdir);
}

/** EXAMPLE USAGE **/
int main ()
{
    listdir ("C:\\");
    return 0;
} 

 

Basically this throws an error about cannot find header file dirent.h.  I tried to look this up online and it's a valid class and should be available.  I added that include. I am using Visual C++ 2008...and I have the project created and the cpp file created (I have made a bunch of test apps before and they worked).  the only error I am recieving is cannot find header file.  Any advice is appreciated.

[corbin]

Hate to burst your bubble, but I think dirent.h is unix/linux.

 

 

There might be a Windows version though.

 

 

If it says it can't find the file, it means it lol.  It's not like it's thinking, "Bleh....  I don't feel like loading that file."

 

 

If I'm wrong and it is a Windows compatible header, make sure the folder that contains it is in the include path for the VS project.

 

 

Edit:  Looks like http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa364418(VS.85).aspx (FindFirstFile) is a Windows alternative.  You would also need to look up FindNextFile.  There's even a script to list files in a directory http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365200(VS.85).aspx.

 

If you're trying to preserve portability, you could always define a function in an #if block.  The linux function would rely on opendir/readdir, and the Windows function would rely on FindFirstFile/FindNextFile.

[corbin]

Blerh to late to edit.  Actually, you could probably just define opendir as FindFirstFile in some situations since they seem to have similar usage.  Could be wrong though since I didn't check the param list of opendir.