How to Use xp_dirtree to List All Files in a Folder - Part 2

In a previous blog post, I demonstrated how you can use an undocumented stored procedure, master.sys.xp_dirtree, to list all files in a folder.  The previous posting mostly talked about how the stored procedure worked and the output it generated.  For this posting, I have expanded upon the script to parse all subdirectories and list all files in all subfolders from the starting point.

Just for a quick review, xp_dirtree has three parameters:

1. directory - This is the directory you pass when you call the stored procedure; for example 'D:\Backup'.
2. depth  - This tells the stored procedure how many subfolder levels to display.  The default of 0 will display all subfolders.
3. isfile - This will either display files as well as each folder.  The default of 0 will not display any files.

Now for the updated script:

DECLARE

       @BasePath varchar(1000)

      ,@Path varchar(1000)

      ,@FullPath varchar(2000)

      ,@Id int;

--This is your starting point.

SET @BasePath = 'D:\Backup';

--Create a temp table to hold the results.

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#DirectoryTree') IS NOT NULL

      DROP TABLE #DirectoryTree;

CREATE TABLE #DirectoryTree (

       id int IDENTITY(1,1)

      ,fullpath varchar(2000)

      ,subdirectory nvarchar(512)

      ,depth int

      ,isfile bit);

--Create a clustered index to keep everything in order.

ALTER TABLE #DirectoryTree

ADD CONSTRAINT PK_DirectoryTree PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (id);

--Populate the table using the initial base path.

INSERT #DirectoryTree (subdirectory,depth,isfile)

EXEC master.sys.xp_dirtree @BasePath,1,1;

UPDATE #DirectoryTree SET fullpath = @BasePath;

--Loop through the table as long as there are still folders to process.

WHILE EXISTS (SELECT id FROM #DirectoryTree WHERE isfile = 0)

BEGIN

      --Select the first row that is a folder.

      SELECT TOP (1)

             @Id = id

            ,@FullPath = fullpath

            ,@Path = @BasePath + '\' + subdirectory

      FROM #DirectoryTree WHERE isfile = 0;

      IF @FullPath = @Path

      BEGIN

            --Do this section if the we are still in the same folder.

            INSERT #DirectoryTree (subdirectory,depth,isfile)

            EXEC master.sys.xp_dirtree @Path,1,1;

            UPDATE #DirectoryTree

            SET fullpath = @Path

            WHERE fullpath IS NULL;

            --Delete the processed folder.

            DELETE FROM #DirectoryTree WHERE id = @Id;

      END

      ELSE

      BEGIN

            --Do this section if we need to jump down into another subfolder.

            SET @BasePath = @FullPath;

            --Select the first row that is a folder.

            SELECT TOP (1)

                   @Id = id

                  ,@FullPath = fullpath

                  ,@Path = @BasePath + '\' + subdirectory

            FROM #DirectoryTree WHERE isfile = 0;

            INSERT #DirectoryTree (subdirectory,depth,isfile)

            EXEC master.sys.xp_dirtree @Path,1,1;

            UPDATE #DirectoryTree

            SET fullpath = @Path

            WHERE fullpath IS NULL;

            --Delete the processed folder.

            DELETE FROM #DirectoryTree WHERE id = @Id;

      END

END

--Output the results.

SELECT fullpath + '\' + subdirectory AS 'CompleteFileList'

FROM #DirectoryTree

ORDER BY fullpath,subdirectory;

--Cleanup.

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#DirectoryTree') IS NOT NULL

      DROP TABLE #DirectoryTree;

GO

This code will process one folder level at a time since we're specifying 1 for the depth parameter.  For each folder in the #DirectoryTree table, we get a list of files and subfolders and insert it to the #DirectoryTree table. 

INSERT #DirectoryTree (subdirectory,depth,isfile)

EXEC master.sys.xp_dirtree @Path,1,1;

If it's a folder, then it the file parameter will be 0 and the WHILE loop will process once it gets further down the loop.  The folder needs a clustered index to keep all the rows in order.

ALTER TABLE #DirectoryTree

ADD CONSTRAINT PK_DirectoryTree PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (id);

After each folder is processed, the folder row is deleted from the table.  This is necessary so the WHILE loop doesn't turn into an infinite loop.

DELETE FROM #DirectoryTree WHERE id = @Id;

The full path is being saved for output later, so comparing it to the current base path will let us know if we need to update the @BasePath parameter.

IF @FullPath = @Path

      --Continue processing the same folder.

ELSE

      SET @BasePath = @FullPath;

      --Start processing the next subfolder.

This is how we can keep looping through each subfolder until each one has been processed.

The final step is to output the results.

SELECT fullpath + '\' + subdirectory AS 'CompleteFileList'

FROM #DirectoryTree

ORDER BY fullpath,subdirectory;

I have gotten pretty good performance out of this script.  Even traversing the C:\Windows folder on my test VM, I can get the report to return all 62000+ files in 14000+ folders within about 6 minutes. Hopefully this example will prove to be helpful for your everyday tasks.  Enjoy!

SQL Saturday #143 - Washington, DC

Last week, I attended my very first SQL Saturday event in Washington, DC.  Although I don't live anywhere near Washington, I was able to make the short trek from Charlotte, NC.  It was well worth the time and effort.  I missed the previous one in Charlotte back in October, but  I have to say now I really hate that I did.  I've been to SQL Connections in Las Vegas, and SQL Saturday reminded me of a one-day version of it.  I wish I could have attended every single session, but at least I was able to hear the presentations that I most interested in. 

I was able to meet a few of the SQL experts (Mike Walsh, David Klee, Jason Hall, etc.) that I've been following through their blogs and on Twitter.  Hearing them speak and being able to converse with them 1-on-1 was surreal.

For any aspiring DBA out there, if SQL Saturday is in your area it should be a mandatory event on your calendar.  They are free, except for lunch, and it provides an excellent opportunity to see how others in the industry are using the technology.  Beyond listening to the speakers, there is the networking aspect.  I met with other attendees, presenters, and of course the vendors to ask questions about SQL or where I could find more information a specific topic.  I probably collected a dozen business cards for people and I plan to keep in touch with them.

Check out SQL Saturday's site for a list of all the upcoming events.  If there are not any close to you, then check PASS for any local SQL Server user groups in your area.  Getting involved in those can provide the same opportunities as SQL Saturday events.

T-SQL Terminator

You may have noticed in my code examples, I always include a semicolon ";" at the end of my TSQL statements.  If you're not doing this, then you need to start now.  Actually, if you're not writing TSQL code as a DBA then you need to start now.

Starting in SQL Server 2005, Microsoft introduced the TSQL terminator.  This syntax is not required for most statements, but at some point in the future it will be required for all.  You can read the details on MSDN.  As with all new changes to SQL, you should be future-proofing your code.

Some statements already require the use of the terminator.  One of the best examples is the use of a Common Table Expression (CTE).  If you attempt to run this code below, you will get a syntax error.

USE AdventureWorks2008R2

WITH CTE

AS (

      SELECT

             P.FirstName

            ,P.LastName

            ,E.VacationHours

      FROM HumanResources.Employee E

            JOIN Person.Person P

                  ON E.BusinessEntityID = P.BusinessEntityID

)

SELECT * FROM CTE

WHERE VacationHours > 40;

GO

Msg 319, Level 15, State 1, Line 3

Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'with'. If this statement is a common table expression, an xmlnamespaces clause or a change tracking context clause, the previous statement must be terminated with a semicolon.

To start defining a CTE, the WITH statement must be the first statement in a batch or the preceding statement must be terminated with a semicolon, even if it's something as simple as a USE DATABASE statement.

Add the semicolon to the end of the USE statement and rerun, and you'll get the results without any errors.

USE AdventureWorks2008R2;

WITH CTE

AS (

      SELECT

             P.FirstName

            ,P.LastName

            ,E.VacationHours

      FROM HumanResources.Employee E

            JOIN Person.Person P

                  ON E.BusinessEntityID = P.BusinessEntityID

)

SELECT * FROM CTE

WHERE VacationHours > 40;

GO

(178 row(s) affected)

This is one of the easiest code changes you can make, so starting adding it to your code today and save yourself the hassle of rewriting it tomorrow.

Get Performance Counters from within SQL Server

I think most DBAs know that you can use the Windows Performance Monitor to capture performance metrics for your SQL Server.  But did you know that you also have access to all the SQL Server performance counters from within SQL Server?

By using using the DMV sys.dm_os_performance_counters, you can view that performance data.  As with all DMVs, there are a few drawbacks.  The data collected is only valid since the last time SQL Server was started, and this DMV does not allow access to any of the Window OS performance counters.

For example, we can query the DMV to find the Page Life Expectancy.

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_os_performance_counters

WHERE  object_name = 'MSSQL$TEST1:Buffer Manager'

AND counter_name = 'Page life expectancy';

The DMV returns five columns:

1. object_name - Category of the counter.
2. counter_name - Name of the counter.
3. instance_name - Name of a specific instance of the counter. For example, the database name.
4. cntr_value - The current value of the counter.
5. cntr_type - The type of the counter and will vary depending on the Windows architecture.

For this example, the counter value is 3074 which means a data page will stay in the buffer pool for 3074 seconds before being removed.  The cntr_type is very important for each of the counters.  A type of 65792 is PERF_COUNTER_LARGE_ROWCOUNT which means the cntr_value is the absolute meaning and no more calculations are needed.

Now let's looks at another one that does require extra calculations.

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_os_performance_counters

WHERE  object_name = 'MSSQL$TEST1:Latches'

AND counter_name LIKE 'Average Latch Wait Time%';

The Average Latch Wait Time (ms) is type 1073874176 - PERF_AVERAGE_BULK.  This is essentially the same as the total wait time for all latches.  The Average Latch Wait Time Base is type 1073939712 - PERF_LARGE_ROW_BASE.  It's the number of processes that had to wait for a latch.  In order to find the true "average" wait time, you will need to divide the "Average Latch Wait Time (ms)" by its base value.  In this case, 16296/378 = 43.1ms. 

For more information about all the counter type definitions, check out MSDN.

As you can see, there is wealth of information within this DMV, but you need to understand the types of each counter and don't just look at the overall value.