Directory tool can't read subdirectories with long file paths

roe_r

I'm using the Directory tool to read in file names but it's having issues with long file paths.  Does anyone have any workarounds for this or is this just a known issue with the Directory tool?  

The error is:

Warning: Directory (2): Invalid Directory "C:\Users\long path here\*.*": The system cannot find the path specified. (3)

I know there is a workaround in windows to allow this ( See this thread ), which I have done and windows doesn't have trouble with the file, but the directory tool still has issues with the location.

The location is in a dropbox folder, just in case that matters.

jamielaird

Hi @roe_r 

I think I've come up with a viable solution, but it's a bit of a hack.

What you'll need to do is leverage the Run Command tool to write out something like the following:

cd "C:\Users\home\Desktop\parent folder\longfoldername" & dir > "C:\Users\home\Desktop\parent folder\dir.txt

This will create a file named dir.txt listing the contents of the directory in the parent folder of the long folder. You can then read this in via an Input tool and parse it in the usual way.

The dir.txt file will look something like this (looks short as in this case I only had one dummy file in there):

 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 4E24-CEDF

 Directory of C:\Users\home\Desktop\untitled folder\thisisalongfoldernamethisisalongfoldernamethisisalongfoldernamethisisalongfoldernamethisisalongfoldernamethisisalongfoldername

05/15/2019  04:11 PM    <DIR>          .
05/15/2019  04:11 PM    <DIR>          ..
05/15/2019  04:10 PM                 0 file.txt
               1 File(s)              0 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  243,379,408,896 bytes free