FileSystemObject - Practical Examples

Example 1: Check File Existence

Set FSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If FSO.FileExists("/data/users.txt") Then
    Response.Write "File found"
End If

Example 2: Get File Information

Set fileObj = FSO.GetFile("/test_basics.asp")
Response.Write "Name: " & fileObj.Name & vbCrLf
Response.Write "Size: " & fileObj.Size & " bytes" & vbCrLf

Result:

Example 3: Path Manipulation

basePath = "/documents"
fileName = "report.txt"
fullPath = FSO.BuildPath(basePath, fileName)

Result: /documents/report.txt

Example 4: Extract Path Components

filePath = "/www/data/important.doc"
Response.Write "Base Name: " & FSO.GetBaseName(filePath)
Response.Write "Extension: " & FSO.GetExtensionName(filePath)
Response.Write "Parent: " & FSO.GetParentFolderName(filePath)

Result:
Base Name: important
Extension: doc
Parent: /www/data

Example 5: Folder Operations

If FSO.FolderExists("/") Then
    Set folderObj = FSO.GetFolder("/") 
    Response.Write "Folder path: " & folderObj.Path
End If

Result:

Example 6: Generate Temporary Filename

tempName = FSO.GetTempName()
Response.Write "Temp file: " & tempName

Result: rad5B1879DA.tmp

Example 7: Get Absolute Path

relativePath = "/data/file.txt"
absolutePath = FSO.GetAbsolutePathName(relativePath)
Response.Write absolutePath

Result:

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Safe File Reading

If FSO.FileExists("/myfile.txt") Then
    Set textFile = FSO.OpenTextFile("/myfile.txt", 1)
    content = textFile.ReadAll()
    textFile.Close()
    Response.Write content
End If

Pattern 2: File Copy with Overwrite Check

sourcePath = "/source.txt"
destPath = "/backup.txt"
If FSO.FileExists(sourcePath) Then
    If Not FSO.FileExists(destPath) Then
        FSO.CopyFile sourcePath, destPath, False
        Response.Write "File copied successfully"
    Else
        Response.Write "Destination file already exists"
    End If
End If

Pattern 3: Create and Write to File

Set newFile = FSO.CreateTextFile("/output.txt", True)
newFile.WriteLine "Line 1: Hello World"
newFile.WriteLine "Line 2: Welcome to Go-ASP"
newFile.Close()
Response.Write "File created successfully"

Supported CreateObject Aliases

' Classic ASP syntax (recommended)
Set FSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

' Direct G3Files library (faster)
Set FSO = Server.CreateObject("G3FILES")

All Available Methods

FileExists(path) - Boolean
GetFile(path) - FSOFile object
DeleteFile(path) - Void
CopyFile(src, dst, overwrite) - Void
MoveFile(src, dst) - Void
CreateTextFile(filename, overwrite, unicode) - TextStream
OpenTextFile(filename, iomode, create, format) - TextStream
FolderExists(path) - Boolean
GetFolder(path) - FSOFolder object
CreateFolder(path) - FSOFolder object
DeleteFolder(path) - Void
MoveFolder(src, dst) - Void
BuildPath(base, rel) - String
GetFileName(path) - String
GetBaseName(filename) - String
GetExtensionName(filename) - String
GetParentFolderName(path) - String
GetAbsolutePathName(path) - String
GetDriveName(path) - String
GetTempName() - String

Summary

The FileSystemObject provides complete file and folder manipulation capabilities

All paths are relative to the web application root for security

Use Server.MapPath() to convert virtual paths if needed