How to open a directory

Thomas Steiner

Dealing with directories is not something you will cope with on a daily basis, but occasionally the use case arises, such as wanting to process all images in a directory. With the File System Access API, users can now open directories in the browser and decide if they need write access or not.

The modern way

Using the File System Access API's `showDirectoryPicker()` method

To open a directory, call showDirectoryPicker(), which returns a promise with the picked directory. If you need write access, you can pass { mode: 'readwrite' } to the method.

Browser Support

Source

The classic way

Using the `<input type="file" webkitdirectory>` element

The <input type="file" webkitdirectory> element on a page allows the user to click it and open a directory. The trick now consists of inserting the element invisibly into a page with JavaScript and click it programmatically.

Browser Support

Source

Progressive enhancement

The method below uses the File System Access API when it's supported and else falls back to the classic approach. In both cases the function returns a directory, but in case of where the File System Access API is supported, each file object also has a FileSystemDirectoryHandle stored in the directoryHandle property and a FileSystemFileHandle stored in the handle property, so you can optionally serialize the handles to disk.

const openDirectory = async (mode = "read") => {
  // Feature detection. The API needs to be supported
  // and the app not run in an iframe.
  const supportsFileSystemAccess =
    "showDirectoryPicker" in window &&
    (() => {
      try {
        return window.self === window.top;
      } catch {
        return false;
      }
    })();
  // If the File System Access API is supported…
  if (supportsFileSystemAccess) {
    let directoryStructure = undefined;

    // Recursive function that walks the directory structure.
    const getFiles = async (dirHandle, path = dirHandle.name) => {
      const dirs = [];
      const files = [];
      for await (const entry of dirHandle.values()) {
        const nestedPath = `${path}/${entry.name}`;
        if (entry.kind === "file") {
          files.push(
            entry.getFile().then((file) => {
              file.directoryHandle = dirHandle;
              file.handle = entry;
              return Object.defineProperty(file, "webkitRelativePath", {
                configurable: true,
                enumerable: true,
                get: () => nestedPath,
              });
            })
          );
        } else if (entry.kind === "directory") {
          dirs.push(getFiles(entry, nestedPath));
        }
      }
      return [
        ...(await Promise.all(dirs)).flat(),
        ...(await Promise.all(files)),
      ];
    };

    try {
      // Open the directory.
      const handle = await showDirectoryPicker({
        mode,
      });
      // Get the directory structure.
      directoryStructure = getFiles(handle, undefined);
    } catch (err) {
      if (err.name !== "AbortError") {
        console.error(err.name, err.message);
      }
    }
    return directoryStructure;
  }
  // Fallback if the File System Access API is not supported.
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    const input = document.createElement('input');
    input.type = 'file';
    input.webkitdirectory = true;

    input.addEventListener('change', () => {
      let files = Array.from(input.files);
      resolve(files);
    });
    if ('showPicker' in HTMLInputElement.prototype) {
      input.showPicker();
    } else {
      input.click();
    }
  });
};

Demo

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <link
      rel="icon"
      href="data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 viewBox=%220 0 100 100%22><text y=%22.9em%22 font-size=%2290%22>📂</text></svg>"
    />
    <title>How to open a directory</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>How to open a directory</h1>
    <button type="button">Open directory</button>
    <pre></pre>
  </body>
</html>

CSS


        :root {
  color-scheme: dark light;
}

html {
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

*,
*:before,
*:after {
  box-sizing: inherit;
}

body {
  margin: 1rem;
  font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;
}

JS


        const button = document.querySelector('button');
const pre = document.querySelector('pre');

const openDirectory = async (mode = "read") => {
  // Feature detection. The API needs to be supported
  // and the app not run in an iframe.
  const supportsFileSystemAccess =
    "showDirectoryPicker" in window &&
    (() => {
      try {
        return window.self === window.top;
      } catch {
        return false;
      }
    })();
  // If the File System Access API is supported…
  if (supportsFileSystemAccess) {
    let directoryStructure = undefined;

    const getFiles = async (dirHandle, path = dirHandle.name) => {
      const dirs = [];
      const files = [];
      for await (const entry of dirHandle.values()) {
        const nestedPath = `${path}/${entry.name}`;
        if (entry.kind === "file") {
          files.push(
            entry.getFile().then((file) => {
              file.directoryHandle = dirHandle;
              file.handle = entry;
              return Object.defineProperty(file, "webkitRelativePath", {
                configurable: true,
                enumerable: true,
                get: () => nestedPath,
              });
            })
          );
        } else if (entry.kind === "directory") {
          dirs.push(getFiles(entry, nestedPath));
        }
      }
      return [
        ...(await Promise.all(dirs)).flat(),
        ...(await Promise.all(files)),
      ];
    };

    try {
      const handle = await showDirectoryPicker({
        mode,
      });
      directoryStructure = getFiles(handle, undefined);
    } catch (err) {
      if (err.name !== "AbortError") {
        console.error(err.name, err.message);
      }
    }
    return directoryStructure;
  }
  // Fallback if the File System Access API is not supported.
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    const input = document.createElement('input');
    input.type = 'file';
    input.webkitdirectory = true;

    input.addEventListener('change', () => {
      let files = Array.from(input.files);
      resolve(files);
    });
    if ('showPicker' in HTMLInputElement.prototype) {
      input.showPicker();
    } else {
      input.click();
    }
  });
};

button.addEventListener('click', async () => {
  const filesInDirectory = await openDirectory();
  if (!filesInDirectory) {
    return;
  }
  Array.from(filesInDirectory).forEach((file) => (pre.textContent += `${file.name}\n`));
});