FileManager

public extension FileManager

  • Returns the application’s home directory.

    This points to the app’s sandbox. Shorthand for calling NSHomeDirectory().

    Declaration

    Swift

    static var homeDirectory: URL { get }

    Return Value

    The URL to the directory.

  • Returns the app’s Documents directory.

    Apple recommends to use the Documents directory for user-generated content and to use subdirectories to organize the content even further. This includes anything a user might create, view or delete through our app, e.g. text files, drawings, videos, images, audio files etc.

    Files in this directory get backed up by iCloud.

    The system additionally creates the Documents/Inbox directory contains files which the app was asked to open by other applications. It’s possible to read and delete those files, but not to edit them or create new files.

    Declaration

    Swift

    static var documentsDirectory: URL { get }

    Return Value

    The URL to the directory.

  • Returns the app’s Library/Caches directory.

    This folder can be used to store app supporting files like cached data that can be recreated at any time and needs to persist longer than files in the tmp directory, e.g. thumbnails. The system may delete the directory on rare occasions to free up disk space.

    Files in this directory don’t get backed up by iCloud.

    Declaration

    Swift

    static var cachesDirectory: URL { get }

    Return Value

    The URL to the directory.

  • Returns the app’s Library/Application Support directory.

    This folder can be used to store app supporting files the app needs, but which should not be exposed to the user, e.g. configuration files, templates, data bases, etc. These files will not be deleted by the system, therefore, it’s the app’s responsibility to manage those files.

    Files in this folder get backed up by iCloud defaultly. However, for files which can be recreated, e.g. downloads from a server, it’s possible to exclude files and folders from being backed up via URLResourceValues.

    var resourceValues = URLResourceValues()
resourceValues.isExcludedFromBackup = true
url.setResourceValues(resourceValues)

    Declaration

    Swift

    static var appSupportDirectory: URL { get }

    Return Value

    The URL to the directory.

  • Returns the application’s tmp directory.

    This folder can be used to temporarily save files, i.e. to extract compressed files before moving the decompressed files to a different place. The system periodically purges these files, therefore, don’t rely on these files because they can be deleted at any time.

    Files in this directory don’t get backed up by iCloud.

    Declaration

    Swift

    static var tmpDirectory: URL { get }

    Return Value

    The URL to the directory.

  • Checks if a folder already exists and is actually a folder, not a file. Creates the folder if it doesn’t exist, yet.

    Throws

    Throws an error when the folder exists, but is a file or if the folder could not be created.

    Declaration

    Swift

    func ensureFolderExists(folderUrl: URL) throws

    Parameters

    folderUrl

    The URL of the folder which to ensure its existence.