Check if the file exists using VBA

Sub test()

thesentence = InputBox("Type the filename with full extension", "Raw Data File")

Range("A1").Value = thesentence

If Dir("thesentence") <> "" Then
    MsgBox "File exists."
Else
    MsgBox "File doesn't exist."
End If

End Sub

In this when i pickup the text value from the input box, it doesn't work. If however, if remove "the sentence" from If Dir() and replace it with an actual name in the code, it works. Can somebody help?

Note your code contains Dir("thesentence") which should be Dir(thesentence).

Change your code to this

Sub test()

thesentence = InputBox("Type the filename with full extension", "Raw Data File")

Range("A1").Value = thesentence

If Dir(thesentence) <> "" Then
    MsgBox "File exists."
Else
    MsgBox "File doesn't exist."
End If

End Sub

Use the Office FileDialog object to have the user pick a file from the filesystem. Add a reference in your VB project or in the VBA editor to Microsoft Office Library and look in the help. This is much better than having people enter full paths.

Here is an example using msoFileDialogFilePicker to allow the user to choose multiple files. You could also use msoFileDialogOpen.

'Note: this is Excel VBA code
Public Sub LogReader()
    Dim Pos As Long
    Dim Dialog As Office.FileDialog
    Set Dialog = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)
    
    With Dialog
        .AllowMultiSelect = True
        .ButtonName = "C&onvert"
        .Filters.Clear
        .Filters.Add "Log Files", "*.log", 1
        .Title = "Convert Logs to Excel Files"
        .InitialFileName = "C:\InitialPath\"
        .InitialView = msoFileDialogViewList

        If .Show Then
            For Pos = 1 To .SelectedItems.Count
                LogRead .SelectedItems.Item(Pos) ' process each file
            Next
        End If
    End With
End Sub

There are lots of options, so you'll need to see the full help files to understand all that is possible. You could start with Office 2007 FileDialog object (of course, you'll need to find the correct help for the version you're using).

Correction to fileExists from @UberNubIsTrue :

Function fileExists(s_directory As String, s_fileName As String) As Boolean

  Dim obj_fso As Object, obj_dir As Object, obj_file As Object
  Dim ret As Boolean
   Set obj_fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
   Set obj_dir = obj_fso.GetFolder(s_directory)
   ret = False
   For Each obj_file In obj_dir.Files
     If obj_fso.fileExists(s_directory & "\" & s_fileName) = True Then
        ret = True
        Exit For
      End If
   Next

   Set obj_fso = Nothing
   Set obj_dir = Nothing
   fileExists = ret

 End Function

EDIT: shortened version

' Check if a file exists
Function fileExists(s_directory As String, s_fileName As String) As Boolean

    Dim obj_fso As Object

    Set obj_fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    fileExists = obj_fso.fileExists(s_directory & "\" & s_fileName)

End Function

just get rid of those speech marks

Sub test()

Dim thesentence As String

thesentence = InputBox("Type the filename with full extension", "Raw Data File")

Range("A1").Value = thesentence

If Dir(thesentence) <> "" Then
    MsgBox "File exists."
Else
    MsgBox "File doesn't exist."
End If

End Sub

This is the one I like:

Option Explicit

Enum IsFileOpenStatus
    ExistsAndClosedOrReadOnly = 0
    ExistsAndOpenSoBlocked = 1
    NotExists = 2
End Enum


Function IsFileReadOnlyOpen(FileName As String) As IsFileOpenStatus

With New FileSystemObject
    If Not .FileExists(FileName) Then
        IsFileReadOnlyOpen = 2  '  NotExists = 2
        Exit Function 'Or not - I don't know if you want to create the file or exit in that case.
    End If
End With

Dim iFilenum As Long
Dim iErr As Long
On Error Resume Next
    iFilenum = FreeFile()
    Open FileName For Input Lock Read As #iFilenum
    Close iFilenum
    iErr = Err
On Error GoTo 0

Select Case iErr
    Case 0: IsFileReadOnlyOpen = 0 'ExistsAndClosedOrReadOnly = 0
    Case 70: IsFileReadOnlyOpen = 1 'ExistsAndOpenSoBlocked = 1
    Case Else: IsFileReadOnlyOpen = 1 'Error iErr
End Select

End Function    'IsFileReadOnlyOpen

Function FileExists(fullFileName As String) As Boolean
    FileExists = VBA.Len(VBA.Dir(fullFileName)) > 0
End Function

Works very well, almost, at my site. If I call it with "" the empty string, Dir returns "connection.odc"!! Would be great if you guys could share your result.

Anyway, I do like this:

Function FileExists(fullFileName As String) As Boolean
  If fullFileName = "" Then
    FileExists = False
  Else
    FileExists = VBA.Len(VBA.Dir(fullFileName)) > 0
  End If
End Function

Function FileExists(fullFileName As String) As Boolean
    FileExists = VBA.Len(VBA.Dir(fullFileName)) > 0
End Function

I'm not certain what's wrong with your code specifically, but I use this function I found online (URL in the comments) for checking if a file exists:

Private Function File_Exists(ByVal sPathName As String, Optional Directory As Boolean) As Boolean
    'Code from internet: http://vbadud.blogspot.com/2007/04/vba-function-to-check-file-existence.html
    'Returns True if the passed sPathName exist
    'Otherwise returns False
    On Error Resume Next
    If sPathName <> "" Then
    
        If IsMissing(Directory) Or Directory = False Then
    
            File_Exists = (Dir$(sPathName) <> "")
        Else
    
            File_Exists = (Dir$(sPathName, vbDirectory) <> "")
        End If
    
    End If
End Function

Very old post, but since it helped me after I made some modifications, I thought I'd share. If you're checking to see if a directory exists, you'll want to add the vbDirectory argument to the Dir function, otherwise you'll return 0 each time. (Edit: this was in response to Roy's answer, but I accidentally made it a regular answer.)

Private Function FileExists(fullFileName As String) As Boolean
    FileExists = Len(Dir(fullFileName, vbDirectory)) > 0
End Function

based on other answers here I'd like to share my one-liners that should work for dirs and files:

•   Len(Dir(path)) > 0 or Or Len(Dir(path, vbDirectory)) > 0  'version 1 - ... <> "" should be more inefficient generally
  

  • (just Len(Dir(path)) did not work for directories (Excel 2010 / Win7))

•   CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").FileExists(path)  'version 2 - could be faster sometimes, but only works for files (tested on Excel 2010/Win7)
  

as PathExists(path) function:

Public Function PathExists(path As String) As Boolean
    PathExists = Len(Dir(path)) > 0 Or Len(Dir(path, vbDirectory)) > 0
End Function