---
title: "fileExists(atPath:isDirectory:)"
framework: foundation
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: "foundation/filemanager/fileexists(atpath:isdirectory:)"
---

# fileExists(atPath:isDirectory:)

Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a file or directory exists at a specified path.

## Declaration

```swift
func fileExists(atPath path: String, isDirectory: UnsafeMutablePointer<ObjCBool>?) -> Bool
```

## Parameters

- `path`: The path of a file or directory. If path begins with a tilde (~), it must first be expanded with doc://com.apple.foundation/documentation/Foundation/NSString/expandingTildeInPath, or this method will return doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/Swift/false.
- `isDirectory`: Upon return, contains doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/Swift/true if path is a directory or if the final path element is a symbolic link that points to a directory; otherwise, contains doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/Swift/false. If path doesn’t exist, this value is undefined upon return. Pass NULL if you do not need this information.

## Return Value

Return Value true if a file at the specified path exists, or false if the file’s does not exist or its existence could not be determined.

## Discussion

Discussion If the file at path is inaccessible to your app, perhaps because one or more parent directories are inaccessible, this method returns false. If the final element in path specifies a symbolic link, this method traverses the link and returns true or false based on the existence of the file at the link destination. If you need to further determine whether path is a package, use the isFilePackage(atPath:) method of NSWorkspace. The following example code gets an array that identifies the fonts in the user’s fonts directory: NSArray *subpaths; BOOL isDir;   NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains                      (NSLibraryDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);   if ([paths count] == 1) {       NSFileManager *fileManager = [[NSFileManager alloc] init];     NSString *fontPath = [[paths objectAtIndex:0] stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Fonts"];       if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:fontPath isDirectory:&isDir] && isDir) {         subpaths = [fileManager subpathsAtPath:fontPath]; // ... note: Attempting to predicate behavior based on the current state of the file system or a particular file on the file system is not recommended. Doing so can cause odd behavior or race conditions. It’s far better to attempt an operation (such as loading a file or creating a directory), check for errors, and handle those errors gracefully than it is to try to figure out ahead of time whether the operation will succeed. For more information on file-system race conditions, see Race Conditions and Secure File Operations in Secure Coding Guide.

## See Also

### Related Documentation

- [checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError(_:)](foundation/nsurl/checkresourceisreachableandreturnerror(_:).md)

### Determining access to files

- [fileExists(atPath:)](foundation/filemanager/fileexists(atpath:).md)
- [isReadableFile(atPath:)](foundation/filemanager/isreadablefile(atpath:).md)
- [isWritableFile(atPath:)](foundation/filemanager/iswritablefile(atpath:).md)
- [isExecutableFile(atPath:)](foundation/filemanager/isexecutablefile(atpath:).md)
- [isDeletableFile(atPath:)](foundation/filemanager/isdeletablefile(atpath:).md)