Directory and file system procedures

You can access the local file structure of the computer running a database server by:

Directory access servers
File and directory system procedures, such as the sp_create_directory system procedure

The file and directory system procedures are easier to use than directory access servers, but they are not as flexible nor as powerful as directory access proxy tables and servers.

Use the following system procedures to manipulate directories and files on the computer where a server resides:

sp_list_directory system procedure Lists the contents of a specified directory.
sp_create_directory system procedure Creates a specified directory.
sp_copy_directory system procedure Copies specified directory to another location.
sp_move_directory system procedure Moves a specified directory.
sp_delete_directory system procedure Deletes a specified directory.
sp_copy_file system procedure Copies a specified file.
sp_move_file system procedure Moves a specified file
sp_delete_file system procedure Deletes a specified file.

The following system procedures can also be used to read and write to files:

xp_read_file system procedure Reads a file and returns the contents of the file as a LONG BINARY variable.
xp_write_file system procedure Writes data to a file from a SQL statement.

Directory and file system procedures

See also