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Files.ListAsJSON

Queries list of file names in folder as JSON.

Component Version macOS Windows Linux Server iOS SDK
Files 10.5 ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
MBS( "Files.ListAsJSON"; Path { ; Keys; Filter; ExtensionFilter } )   More

Parameters

Parameter Description Example Flags
Path Native path to the directory. "C:\Test"
Keys The keys to retrieve.
Pass a list of values including Size, CreationTimeStamp, AccessTimeStamp, ModificationTimeStamp, Visible.
Name, Directory and Type can be passed, but are always included.
If keys is "All", we include all keys.
Added IsApplication and IsPackage values for v13.5.		 Optional
Filter Optional, limits what is returned.
Default is 0 to report all files.
Pass a combination of 1 for showing only files, 2 for showing only directories and 4 for showing only visible items.
Add 8 if the path includes the file name specification with wildcards.
Combined pass 4+1 for visible files or 2+1 for visible directories.

In v15.2 or later, you can add 128 to use the extension filter text and do a substring match on the file name.		 5 Optional
ExtensionFilter Optional, a filter for getting only files with matching file extension. ".txt" Optional

Result

Returns JSON array or error.

Description

Queries list of file names in folder as JSON.
This function needs a native path. Please use Path.FileMakerPathToNativePath function in order to convert a FileMaker style path to a native path.

With filter parameter being 8 on Windows, you can pass a path with wildcards directly and ExtensionFilter parameter is ignored. This is not supported on macOS.

TimeStamps are returned in the FileMaker formatting. On Windows a key AlternateFileName may be included in result if the file has an alternative file name for DOS.
If you need sorting, please check JSON.SortWithEvaluate function.

We can add more Keys if needed. Let us know if you need another value for all files.

Examples

List files on desktop:

MBS( "Files.ListAsJSON"; MBS("Folders.UserDesktop"); "Size¶CreationTimeStamp¶AccessTimeStamp¶ModificationTimeStamp¶Visible" )

Example result:
[ { "Name": "Projects", "Directory": true, "Type": "Directory", "Visible": true, "Size": 64, "CreationTimeStamp": "28.09.2020 15:52", "AccessTimeStamp": "28.09.2020 15:51:58", "ModificationTimeStamp": "28.09.2020 15:51:58" } ]

List files and sort by name:

MBS( "JSON.SortWithEvaluate";
  MBS( "Files.ListAsJSON";
    MBS("Folders.UserDesktop");
  "Size" );
"JSONGetElement ( leftJSON; \"Name\") < JSONGetElement ( rightJSON; \"Name\")" )

List files and sort by size descending:

MBS( "JSON.SortWithEvaluate";
  MBS( "Files.ListAsJSON";
    MBS("Folders.UserDesktop");
  "Size" );
"JSONGetElement ( leftJSON; \"Size\") > JSONGetElement ( rightJSON; \"Size\")" )

List files and sort by modification time stamp:

Let ( [
    path = MBS("Folders.UserDesktop");
    list = MBS( "Files.ListAsJSON"; path; "CreationTimeStamp¶ModificationTimeStamp" );
    sort = MBS( "JSON.SortWithEvaluate"; list; "GetAsTimeStamp(JSONGetElement ( leftJSON; \"ModificationTimeStamp\")) < GetAsTimeStamp(JSONGetElement ( rightJSON; \"ModificationTimeStamp\"))" )
];sort)

See also

Release notes

Blog Entries

This function checks for a license.

Created 28th September 2020, last changed 14th March 2025


Files.List - Files.ListRecursive