Is there a better way to move files and directory up a folder?

as per title, is there a better way to move all the files and directories up a folder?

This is my code now:

private static void MoveEverythingUpAFolder(string sourceDir)
{
    foreach (var item in Directory.GetFiles(sourceDir))
    {
        Directory.Move(item, Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(item), "..", Path.GetFileName(item)));
    }

    foreach (var item in Directory.GetDirectories(sourceDir))
    {
        Directory.Move(item, Path.Combine(Directory.GetParent(item).FullName, "..", new DirectoryInfo(item).Name));
    }

    Directory.Delete(sourceDir);
}

If I only use Directory.Move(source, dest) I get an exception saying that the destination directory already exists...

This could happen if you have a directory inside your source directory, that matches the source directory name.

For example, you're trying to move c:\foo\bar\*.* to c:\foo.

However, a directory exists named c:\foo\bar\bar.

foo/bar/bar cannot be moved to foo and become foo/bar, because foo/bar exists, just like the errors says.

You would be FUBAR. Or perhaps experience an exception.

You could rename the source directory first to something NOT duplicated within that directory, perform your move operations, and then remove the directory.

baz

The answer depends on whether certain things are known constraints or not.

The documentation for the Directory.Move(string, string) method states:

> This method creates a new directory with the name specified by destDirName and moves the contents of sourceDirName, including files and directories, to the newly created destination directory. It then deletes the sourceDirName directory.
>
> If you try to move a directory to a directory that already exists, an IOException will occur.

If you have a directory structure like the following, attempting to move a\b\c to a\b will fail with an error because b exists.

b will only contain c - before changes

 a───b───c─┬─d
           │
           └─f

But if you know that directory b will only ever contain directory c then you can

1. move a\b\c to a\c-temp
2. delete b (which should now be empty)
3. rename c-temp to b

after

 a───b─┬─d
       │
       └─f

If directory b may contain other folders and files as in the following, then finding and moving the individual folders and files may be the best.

b may contain other files/folders - before changes

 a───b─┬─c─┬─d
       │   │
       └─e └─f

1. move folders and files in c to b (be aware there could be name collisions with files/folders already present in b)
2. delete c (which should now be empty)

after

 a───b─┐
       │
       ├─e
       │
       ├─d
       │
       └─f