Determining if an XDocument File Exists

c#, linq, linq-to-xml

Solution

An XML file is still a file; just use `File.Exists`.

Just a cautionary note, though: Don't bother trying to check `File.Exists` immediately before loading the document. There is no way to guarantee that the file will still be there when you try to open it. Writing this code:

if (File.Exists(fileName))
{
    XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(fileName);
    // etc.
}

...is a race condition and always wrong. Instead, just try loading the document and catch the exception.

try
{
    XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(fileName);
    // Process the file
}
catch (FileNotFoundException)
{
    // File does not exist - handle the error
}

Problem

I am using LINQ and I was wondering what is the best way to create an XDocument and then check to make sure that the XDocument actually exists, much like File.Exists? ``` String fileLoc = "path/to/file"; XDocument doc = new XDocument(fileLoc); //Now I want to check to see if this file exists ``` Is there a way to do this? Thanks!

Original source