[Solved] Recursive scan of folder tree C [closed]

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You could take a look at Glib, there are some file utilities that can be helpful here.

More specifically, you can use g_dir_open function on every file in a directory. If this function sets the GError**error pointer non-null, then you have tried to open a file, otherwise you’ve just parsed into a subdir…

Your code should look like this:

void parse(const gchar *path)
{
  GError *error;
  GDir *dir = g_dir_open(path, 0, error);
  if(error) 
  {
    // this is a file, not a dir, or a dir which could not be opened...
    // you can put all the processing for your file here.
  }
  else
  {
    gchar *elem;
    while(( elem=g_dir_read_name(dir) ))
    {
      parse(elem);
      free(elem);
    }
    g_dir_close(dir);
  }
}

Say that you have a folder of 10 files, then the parse function will call itself 10 times, once for each file. (Just try it in a debugger!)
0th parse call: opens the directory, then reaches the while loop and calls parse the 1st time for the first file
1st parse call: cannot open the file as directory, so the function ends in the first part of the if block.
back to the 0th parse call: iterates the while loop, calls parse the 2nd time for the next file
2nd parse call: cannot open the file as directory, so the function ends in the first part of the if block.
back to the 0th parse call: iterates the while loop, calls parse the 3rd time for the next file
…
back to the 0th parse call: no more files in the dir, the loop ends.

This is called recursion.

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solved Recursive scan of folder tree C [closed]