Listing files in a directory

There are standard library functions and classes to read and write data to files. But before C++17, there were no functions to list files in a directory, get the type of a file, or get access rights for a file.

Let's see how such iniquities can be fixed using Boost. We'll be doing a program that lists names, write accesses, and types of files in the current directory.

Getting ready

Some basics of C++ would be more than enough for using this recipe.

This recipe requires linking against the boost_system and boost_filesystem libraries.

How to do it...

This recipe and the next one are about portable wrappers for working with a filesystem:

1. We need to include the following two headers:

#include <boost/filesystem/operations.hpp> 
#include <iostream> 

2. Now, we need to specify a directory:

int main() { 
    boost::filesystem::directory_iterator begin("./"); 

3. After specifying the directory, loop through its content:

    boost::filesystem::directory_iterator end; 
    for...