Sample Visual Basic for Applications code to determine whether a file exists

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You can use the Dir function to check for an existing file by passing the file name and path to the function. If the function returns a zero-length string (""), the file does not exist.

The following sample code checks for the existence of the Autoexec.bat file in the C:\ folder. If the Dir function returns a zero-length string, the file was not found, so a message box displays "No such file!" If the Dir function finds C:\Autoexec.bat, a message box displays "File exists!"

Sample Visual Basic procedure

   Sub DoesFileExist()
      Dim FileInQuestion As String
      FileInQuestion = Dir("C:\Autoexec.bat")
      If FileInQuestion = "" Then
         MsgBox "No such file!"
      Else
         MsgBox "File exists!"
      End If
   End Sub