boost::filesystem relative path and current directory?

Question

How can I use boost::filesystem::path to specify a relative path on Windows? This attempt fails:

boost:filesystem::path full_path("../asset/toolbox"); // invalid path or directory.

Maybe to help me debug, how to get the current working directory with boost::filesystem?

Just to clarify, I solved my problem. The above method is correct for relative path access. However, in MSVS the current working directory was not what I had expected. hmuelner's currentpath() helped. — Jake
– Jake, Commented Oct 16, 2010 at 15:03

johnthagen · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-25 16:12:40Z

75

getcwd = boost::filesystem::path full_path(boost::filesystem::current_path());

Example:

boost::filesystem::path full_path(boost::filesystem::current_path());
std::cout << "Current path is : " << full_path << std::endl;

To access current_path one needs to add #include <boost/filesystem.hpp>.

edited Nov 25, 2017 at 16:12

johnthagen

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answered Oct 15, 2010 at 12:34

hmuelner

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2 Comments

Sven Over a year ago

there seems to be a flaw here, this is not a valid C++ expression, is there missing something in between boost::filesystem::path and full_path?

hmuelner Over a year ago

This is not a valid C++ expression, but a short-cut notation for the answer. In modern C++ you could write: auto cwd = boost::filesystem::current_path();

ulidtko · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-26 15:23:57Z

21

Try the system_complete function.

namespace fs = boost::filesystem;

fs::path full_path = fs::system_complete("../asset/toolbox");

This mimics exactly how the OS itself would resolve relative paths.

answered Dec 26, 2014 at 15:23

ulidtko

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Comments

serup · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-05 13:31:56Z

2

If you want to change to previous directory then try something like this:

boost::filesystem::path full_path( boost::filesystem::current_path() );
std::cout << "Current path is : " << full_path << std::endl;

//system("cd ../"); // change to previous dir -- this is NOT working
chdir("../"); // change to previous dir -- this IS working

boost::filesystem::path new_full_path( boost::filesystem::current_path() );
std::cout << "Current path is : " << new_full_path << std::endl;

answered Mar 5, 2014 at 13:31

serup

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Comments

Midnighter · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-15 13:06:57Z

0

When you type "../your/path" aren't you specifying a unix-like path? I think what you should do to get system specific paths is:

boost:filesystem::path full_path(".." / "asset" / "toolbox");

In this case the '/' is an operator concatenating paths in a system specific way and is not part of the path that you specify.

answered Oct 15, 2010 at 13:06

Midnighter

1

3 Comments

Nathan Monteleone Over a year ago

Not really... You're specifying a path in the internal boost::filesystem format, which is somewhat unix-like. I also like the operator notation better though. You'd have to do something like path full_path = path("..") / "asset" / "toolbox";

kod kristoff Over a year ago

And in windows you can use / as directory delimiter as well.

ar2015 Over a year ago

must be boost:filesystem::path full_path(boost:filesystem::path(".." )/ "asset" / "toolbox");

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