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Forum Discussion

toki4004's avatar
toki4004
Helpful | Level 5
2 years ago

Download ANY file in folder

To download a file I need a full path. What if I don't know the name of the file? How would I list that path then to grab any txt file?

 "path": "/Homework/math/Prime_Numbers.txt"

 

  • toki4004, You can search for such files using /2/files/search_v2/continue_v2. Just restrict the search to particular extension and look in filename only with the same string as the extension. In the resulting list you will see all such files with their paths, ids, and revisions (you can use anything of them to download particular file or set of files).

    Hope this helps.

  • Greg-DB's avatar
    Greg-DB
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    toki4004 In addition to the search functionality that Здравко mentioned, you can list all of the contents of any particular folder using /2/files/list_folder[/continue].

     

    For example, if you know a parent folder path, you would set the "path" like "/Homework/math". Or, to list the root, you would supply the "path" as the empty string "".

    • toki4004's avatar
      toki4004
      Helpful | Level 5

      Greg-DB 

      I can list contents of a folder with an open path but I can't download a file with just the folder name in the path, correct? If I try that, I get errors... 

      I am trying to stay away form list -> then download, because I'd have to make 2 trips to DB - performance-wise that would not be ideal. 

  • Здравко's avatar
    Здравко
    Legendary | Level 20

    toki4004, You can search for such files using /2/files/search_v2/continue_v2. Just restrict the search to particular extension and look in filename only with the same string as the extension. In the resulting list you will see all such files with their paths, ids, and revisions (you can use anything of them to download particular file or set of files).

    Hope this helps.

    • toki4004's avatar
      toki4004
      Helpful | Level 5

      If I use "search" - what would I put for "query"? I don't know the file name - I only know the extension so I'll put that under options =>file_extensions

      But query is required...

      • Здравко's avatar
        Здравко
        Legendary | Level 20

        Здравко wrote:

        ... You can search for such files using /2/files/search_v2/continue_v2. Just restrict the search to particular extension and look in filename only with the same string as the extension. ...



        toki4004 wrote:

        If I use "search" - what would I put for "query"? I don't know the file name - I only know the extension so I'll put that under options =>file_extensions

        But query is required...


        Hm..🤔 What's the name of that parameter where you denote what you're looking for (either from file content or its name)? In the particular case we need to direct Dropbox to search in filename only... Ohh...yes. 😀 That was the "query"! 🤫

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