Hi, my patch reads up to thousands of text files on loadbang.

But since there could be some files that hasn't been created yet, so pd prints "can't open XXX.txt, read failed" and it gets really slow doing this.

So I would like to firstly check if the file exists in the folder, so I don't have to read missing files.

Is there anyway to find out the list of files? or if some file exists in the folder? by using relative path?

Thank you in advance!

You could try using [folder_list] from hcs to compile a list of the files that exist, then read them from that list.

I was hoping to find a solution that works in vanilla but thanks!

I know this is old topic, but if someone still wants this abstraction, here is my vanilla attempt:
file-exists.pd
file-exists-help.pd
the only annoying thing is the error message in console when file not found

@xbarbie Hi. I don't currently need to read several files, although I might, in the future. If you are in extended, you can clear the console automatically after the patch has loaded using...

[menu_clear_console(
|
[hcs/sys_gui]

I also uploaded a humble abstraction for that which will do the job for you automatically if you just paste it in the patch. It's here: http://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/8808/clearconsole-a-button-for-compulsive-console-cleaners

But if you are in vanilla, I guess you can achieve almost the same by automatically (loadbang) printing a line, or sthg that you like, as a separator. You could even print a "Problem solved" message. I posted about this at...
http://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/8326/clear-console-window-in-pd-extended/5

Have a nice day! And thanks for sharing your code.

Maybe you'll want to set a [del #], so that your line, or message, always appears after any annoying error message.

@LandonPD Thanks, I was thinking about clearing the console, but I left it as it is, because it is not solving the problem, only hiding it. Not because it is extended (even when I try to keep my abstraction as vanilla as possible), but mainly, IMHO, it's not fair behaviour for one object to clear all messages from the others...
But maybe printing some message is the best way to get over current state (to inform user that he can ignore previous error messages). Once again thank you for idea.

Maybe.

And maybe you want to upload that program to the abstraction or subpatch sections? If it does the job right, it deserves more visibility and its own thread.

Cordially, Landon

I have used @xbarbie's solution for years and while it works perfectly for text files it does not work well with larger audio files on my raspberry pi. If you have hcs available and you want a different solution I have this abstraction that takes symbol input and outputs a 1 or 0 just like @xbarbie's. Relative paths work as well.

file-exists.pd