I'm working on a solution within Visual Studio. It currently has two projects.
I will represent Directories or folders with capitals letters, and filenames will be all lower case. My solution structure is as follows:
SolutionDir
ProjectLib
source files
Shaders
shader files
ProjectApp
source files
x64
Debug
app.exe // debug build
Release
app.exe // release build
Within ProjectLib I have a function to open and read my Shader files. Here is what my function looks like:
std::vector<char> VRXShader::readFile(std::string_view shadername) {
std::string filename = std::string("Shaders/");
filename.append(shadername);
std::ifstream file(filename.data(), std::ios::ate | std::ios::binary);
if (!file.is_open()) {
throw std::runtime_error("failed to open file!");
}
size_t fileSize = static_cast<size_t>(file.tellg());
std::vector<char> buffer(fileSize);
file.seekg(0);
file.read(buffer.data(), fileSize);
file.close();
return buffer;
}
This function is being called within my VRXDevices::createPipeline function and here is the relevant code:
void VRXDevices::createPipeline(
VkDevice device, VkExtent2D swapChainExtent, VkRenderPass renderPass,
const std::vector<std::string_view>& shaderNames,
VkPipelineLayout& pipelineLayout, VkPipeline& pipeline
) {
std::vector<std::vector<char>> shaderCodes;
shaderCodes.resize(shaderNames.size());
for (auto& name : shaderNames) {
auto shaderCode = VRXShader::readFile(name.data());
}
// .... more code
}
The names are being created and passed to this function from my VRXEngine::initVulkan function which can be seen here:
void VRXEngine::initVulkan(
std::string_view app_name, std::string_view engine_name,
glm::ivec3 app_version, glm::ivec3 engine_version
) {
//... code
std::vector<std::string_view> shaderFilenames{ "vert.spv", "frag.spv" };
VRXDevices::createPipeline(device_, swapChainExtent_, renderPass_, shaderFilenames, pipelineLayout_, graphicsPipeline_);
}
I'm using just the name of the shader files such as vert.spv, frag.spv, geom.spv etc. I'm not including the paths here because these will be used as the key to a std::map<string_view, object>. So I'm passing a vector of these names from my ::initVulkan function into ::createPipeline().
Within ::createPipeline() is where ::readFile() is being called passing in the string_view.
Now as for my question... within ::readFile() I'm creating a local string and trying to initialize it with the appropriate path... then append to it the string_view for the shader's filename as can be seen from these two lines...
std::string filename = std::string("Shaders/");
filename.append(shadername);
I'm trying to figure out the appropriate string to initialize filename with... Shaders/ will be a part of the name, but it's not finding the file and I'm not sure what the appropriate prefix should be...
My working directories within both projects are as follows:
ProjectApp -> $(SolutionDir)x64/Release AND $(SolutionDir)x64/Debug
ProjectLib -> $(SolutionDir)x64/Release AND $(SolutionDir)x64/Debug
So I need to go back 2 directories then into VRX Engine/Shader...
What is the correct string value for navigating back directories?
Would I initialize filename with "../../VRX Engine/Shaders/" or is it "././" also, should I have quotes around VRX Engine since there is a space in the folder name? What do I need to initialize filename with before I append the shader name to it?
How to properly navigate directory paths in C++
It depends on which C++ standard your implementation claims to be compliant with.
Or else which additional libraries can you use.
C++ is useful on computers without directories (e.g. inside some operating system kernel coded in C++ and compiled with GCC, see OSDEV for examples).
Look on en.cppreference.com for details.
Licensing constraints could matter when using extra open source libraries.
If your implementation is C++17 compliant (in a "hosted" not "freestanding" way), use the std::filesystem part of the standard library.
If your operating system supports the Qt or POCO frameworks and you are allowed to use them (e.g. on C++11), you could use appropriate APIs. So QDir and related classes with Qt, Poco::Path and related classes with POCO.
Perhaps you want to code just for the WinAPI. Then read its documentation (I never coded on Windows myself, just on POSIX or Unix -e.g. Linux- and MSDOS....).
I was originally initializing my local temp string properly with "../../VRX Engine/Shaders/" before appending the string_view to it to be able to open the file. This was actually correct, but because it didn't initially work, I was assuming that it was wrong.
The correct string value for going back one directory should be "../" at least on Windows, I'm not sure about Linux, Mac, Android, etc...
My problem wasn't with the string at all, it pertained to settings within my projects. Within my project that builds into an executable, I had its working directory set to $(SolutionDir)x64/Debug and $(SolutionDir)x64/Release respectively which is correct for my solutions structure.
The issue was within my Engine project that is being built as a static library. Within its settings for its working directory, I had forgotten to modify both of the Debug and Release build options... These were still set to the default values of Visual Studio which I believe is (ProjectDir). Once I changed these to $(SolutionDir)x64/Debug and $(SolutionDir)x64/Release to match that of my ApplicationProject, I was able to open and read the contents of the files.
I've made a DEB package of an C++ app that I've created. I want this app to use resources in the "data" directory, which, in my tests (for convenience), is in the same location that the program binary, and I call it from inside the code by its relative path. In the Debian OS there are standard locations to put the data files in (something like /usr/share/...), and other location to put the binaries in (probably /usr/bin). I'd not like to put the paths hard-coded in my program, I think its a better practice to access an image by "data/img.png" than "/usr/share/.../data/img.png". All the GNU classic programs respect the directories structure, and I imagine they do it in a good manner. I tried to use dpkg to find out the structure of the apps, but that didn't help me. Is there a better way that I'm doing to do this?
PS: I also want my code to be portable to Windows (cross-platform) avoiding using workarounds like "if WIN32" as much as possible.
In your Debian package you should indeed install your data in /usr/share/. When accessing your data, you should use the XDG standard, which states that $XDG_DATA_DIRS is a colon-separated list of data directories to search (also, "if $XDG_DATA_DIRS is either not set or empty, a value equal to /usr/local/share/:/usr/share/ should be used.").
This is not entirely linux specific or debian specific. I think is has something to do with Linux Standard Base or POSIX specifications maybe. I were unable to discover any specification quickly enough.
But you should not use some "base" directory and subdirectories in it for each type of data. Platform dependent code should belong into /usr/lib/programname, platform independent read-only data into /usr/share/programname/img.png. Data changed by application in /var/lib/programname/cache.db. Or ~/.programname/cache.db, depends what kind of application it is and what it does. Note: there is no need to "data" directory when /usr/share is already there for non-executable data.
You may want check http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/best-pkging-practices.html if packaging for Debian. But it is not resources like in adroid or iphone, or windows files. These files are extracted on package install into target file system as real files.
Edit: see http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/fhs/fhs-2.3.html
Edit2: As for multiplatform solution, i suggest you make some wrapper functions. On windows, it depends on installer, usually programs usually have path in registry to directory where they are installed. On unix, place for data is more or less given, you may consider build option for changing target prefix, or use environment variable to override default paths. On windows, prefix would be sufficient also, if it should not be too flexible.
I suggest some functions, where you will pass name of object and they will return path of file. It depends on toolkit used, Qt library may have something similar already implemented.
#include <string>
#ifdef WIN32
#define ROOT_PREFIX "c:/Program Files/"
const char DATA_PREFIX[] = ROOT_PREFIX "program/data";
#else
#define ROOT_PREFIX "/usr/"
/* #define ROOT_PREFIX "/usr/local/" */
const char DATA_PREFIX[] = ROOT_PREFIX "share/program";
#endif
std::string GetImageBasePath()
{
return std::string(DATA_PREFIX) + "/images";
}
std::string GetImagePath(const std::string &imagename)
{
// multiple directories and/or file types could be tried here, depends on how sophisticated
// it should be.
// you may check if such file does exist here for example and return only image type that does exist, if you can load multiple types.
return GetImageBasePath() + imagename + ".png";
}
class Image;
extern Image * LoadImage(const char *path);
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
Image *img1 = LoadImage(GetImagePath("toolbox").c_str());
Image *img2 = LoadImage(GetImagePath("openfile").c_str());
return 0;
}
It might be wise to make class Settings, where you can initialize platform dependent root paths once per start, and then use Settings::GetImagePath() as method.
I have a problem in my project. There is a project folder on my desktop. I want to create a text file and write something include this text file. That is my code:
ofstream example("/Users/sample/Desktop/save.txt");
But I want to it could been run the other mac. I don't know what I should write addres for save.txt.
Can anyone help me?
Create a file and write some text to it is simple, here is a sample code:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
std::ofstream o("/Users/sample/Desktop/save.txt");
o << "Hello, World\n" << std::endl;
return 0;
}
I hope that answers your question but I am not sure if i understand your question correctly, If not please add the details correctly of what you are trying to acheive.
[Update]:
Okay I guess the comment clears the problem.
Your real question is, You want to save the file in the desktop of the user who is playing the game. So getting the path of the current user's desktop is the problem.
I am not sure if there is an portable way to get desktop path but it can be done in following ways:
In Windows:
Using the SHGetSpecialFolderPath() function.
Sample code:
char saveLocation[MAX_PATH] = {0};
SHGetSpecialFolderPath(NULL, saveLocation, CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY, FALSE);
//Now saveLocation contains the path to the desktop
//Append your file name to it
strcat(saveLocation,"\\save.txt");
ofstream o(saveLocation);
In Linux:
By using environment variables $HOME
sample code:
string path(getenv("HOME"));
path += "/Desktop/save.txt";
ofstream o(path);
Rules defining where-you-should-save-file vary from platform to platform. One option would be to have it part of your compile script (that is you #define SAVEGAME_PATH as part of your compilation configuration), and thus your code itself remain more platform-agnostic.
The alternative is to find a save-data-management library that is already designed to be ported across different platforms. Whether it'd be a C or C++ or whatever-binary-interoperable library then no longer matters.
Just don't expect that to be part of C++ (the language).
if you want your program to run across platform,you'd better use the
relative path.
eg. "./output.txt",or better “GetSystemDirectory()”to obtain the system
directory to create a file,and then you could write or read the file
with the same path..
Is there a platform-agnostic and filesystem-agnostic method to obtain the full path of the directory from where a program is running using C/C++? Not to be confused with the current working directory. (Please don't suggest libraries unless they're standard ones like clib or STL.)
(If there's no platform/filesystem-agnostic method, suggestions that work in Windows and Linux for specific filesystems are welcome too.)
Here's code to get the full path to the executing app:
Variable declarations:
char pBuf[256];
size_t len = sizeof(pBuf);
Windows:
int bytes = GetModuleFileName(NULL, pBuf, len);
return bytes ? bytes : -1;
Linux:
int bytes = MIN(readlink("/proc/self/exe", pBuf, len), len - 1);
if(bytes >= 0)
pBuf[bytes] = '\0';
return bytes;
If you fetch the current directory when your program first starts, then you effectively have the directory your program was started from. Store the value in a variable and refer to it later in your program. This is distinct from the directory that holds the current executable program file. It isn't necessarily the same directory; if someone runs the program from a command prompt, then the program is being run from the command prompt's current working directory even though the program file lives elsewhere.
getcwd is a POSIX function and supported out of the box by all POSIX compliant platforms. You would not have to do anything special (apart from incliding the right headers unistd.h on Unix and direct.h on windows).
Since you are creating a C program it will link with the default c run time library which is linked to by ALL processes in the system (specially crafted exceptions avoided) and it will include this function by default. The CRT is never considered an external library because that provides the basic standard compliant interface to the OS.
On windows getcwd function has been deprecated in favour of _getcwd. I think you could use it in this fashion.
#include <stdio.h> /* defines FILENAME_MAX */
#ifdef WINDOWS
#include <direct.h>
#define GetCurrentDir _getcwd
#else
#include <unistd.h>
#define GetCurrentDir getcwd
#endif
char cCurrentPath[FILENAME_MAX];
if (!GetCurrentDir(cCurrentPath, sizeof(cCurrentPath)))
{
return errno;
}
cCurrentPath[sizeof(cCurrentPath) - 1] = '\0'; /* not really required */
printf ("The current working directory is %s", cCurrentPath);
This is from the cplusplus forum
On windows:
#include <string>
#include <windows.h>
std::string getexepath()
{
char result[ MAX_PATH ];
return std::string( result, GetModuleFileName( NULL, result, MAX_PATH ) );
}
On Linux:
#include <string>
#include <limits.h>
#include <unistd.h>
std::string getexepath()
{
char result[ PATH_MAX ];
ssize_t count = readlink( "/proc/self/exe", result, PATH_MAX );
return std::string( result, (count > 0) ? count : 0 );
}
On HP-UX:
#include <string>
#include <limits.h>
#define _PSTAT64
#include <sys/pstat.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
std::string getexepath()
{
char result[ PATH_MAX ];
struct pst_status ps;
if (pstat_getproc( &ps, sizeof( ps ), 0, getpid() ) < 0)
return std::string();
if (pstat_getpathname( result, PATH_MAX, &ps.pst_fid_text ) < 0)
return std::string();
return std::string( result );
}
If you want a standard way without libraries: No. The whole concept of a directory is not included in the standard.
If you agree that some (portable) dependency on a near-standard lib is okay: Use Boost's filesystem library and ask for the initial_path().
IMHO that's as close as you can get, with good karma (Boost is a well-established high quality set of libraries)
I know it is very late at the day to throw an answer at this one but I found that none of the answers were as useful to me as my own solution. A very simple way to get the path from your CWD to your bin folder is like this:
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
std::string argv_str(argv[0]);
std::string base = argv_str.substr(0, argv_str.find_last_of("/"));
}
You can now just use this as a base for your relative path. So for example I have this directory structure:
main
----> test
----> src
----> bin
and I want to compile my source code to bin and write a log to test I can just add this line to my code.
std::string pathToWrite = base + "/../test/test.log";
I have tried this approach on Linux using full path, alias etc. and it works just fine.
NOTE:
If you are on windows you should use a '\' as the file separator not '/'. You will have to escape this too for example:
std::string base = argv[0].substr(0, argv[0].find_last_of("\\"));
I think this should work but haven't tested, so comment would be appreciated if it works or a fix if not.
Filesystem TS is now a standard ( and supported by gcc 5.3+ and clang 3.9+ ), so you can use current_path() function from it:
std::string path = std::experimental::filesystem::current_path();
In gcc (5.3+) to include Filesystem you need to use:
#include <experimental/filesystem>
and link your code with -lstdc++fs flag.
If you want to use Filesystem with Microsoft Visual Studio, then read this.
No, there's no standard way. I believe that the C/C++ standards don't even consider the existence of directories (or other file system organizations).
On Windows the GetModuleFileName() will return the full path to the executable file of the current process when the hModule parameter is set to NULL. I can't help with Linux.
Also you should clarify whether you want the current directory or the directory that the program image/executable resides. As it stands your question is a little ambiguous on this point.
On Windows the simplest way is to use the _get_pgmptr function in stdlib.h to get a pointer to a string which represents the absolute path to the executable, including the executables name.
char* path;
_get_pgmptr(&path);
printf(path); // Example output: C:/Projects/Hello/World.exe
Maybe concatenate the current working directory with argv[0]? I'm not sure if that would work in Windows but it works in linux.
For example:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
char the_path[256];
getcwd(the_path, 255);
strcat(the_path, "/");
strcat(the_path, argv[0]);
printf("%s\n", the_path);
return 0;
}
When run, it outputs:
jeremy#jeremy-desktop:~/Desktop$ ./test
/home/jeremy/Desktop/./test
For Win32 GetCurrentDirectory should do the trick.
You can not use argv[0] for that purpose, usually it does contain full path to the executable, but not nessesarily - process could be created with arbitrary value in the field.
Also mind you, the current directory and the directory with the executable are two different things, so getcwd() won't help you either.
On Windows use GetModuleFileName(), on Linux read /dev/proc/procID/.. files.
Just my two cents, but doesn't the following code portably work in C++17?
#include <iostream>
#include <filesystem>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
std::cout << "Path is " << fs::path(argv[0]).parent_path() << '\n';
}
Seems to work for me on Linux at least.
Based on the previous idea, I now have:
std::filesystem::path prepend_exe_path(const std::string& filename, const std::string& exe_path = "");
With implementation:
fs::path prepend_exe_path(const std::string& filename, const std::string& exe_path)
{
static auto exe_parent_path = fs::path(exe_path).parent_path();
return exe_parent_path / filename;
}
And initialization trick in main():
(void) prepend_exe_path("", argv[0]);
Thanks #Sam Redway for the argv[0] idea. And of course, I understand that C++17 was not around for many years when the OP asked the question.
Just to belatedly pile on here,...
there is no standard solution, because the languages are agnostic of underlying file systems, so as others have said, the concept of a directory based file system is outside the scope of the c / c++ languages.
on top of that, you want not the current working directory, but the directory the program is running in, which must take into account how the program got to where it is - ie was it spawned as a new process via a fork, etc. To get the directory a program is running in, as the solutions have demonstrated, requires that you get that information from the process control structures of the operating system in question, which is the only authority on this question. Thus, by definition, its an OS specific solution.
#include <windows.h>
using namespace std;
// The directory path returned by native GetCurrentDirectory() no end backslash
string getCurrentDirectoryOnWindows()
{
const unsigned long maxDir = 260;
char currentDir[maxDir];
GetCurrentDirectory(maxDir, currentDir);
return string(currentDir);
}
For Windows system at console you can use system(dir) command. And console gives you information about directory and etc. Read about the dir command at cmd. But for Unix-like systems, I don't know... If this command is run, read bash command. ls does not display directory...
Example:
int main()
{
system("dir");
system("pause"); //this wait for Enter-key-press;
return 0;
}
Works with starting from C++11, using experimental filesystem, and C++14-C++17 as well using official filesystem.
application.h:
#pragma once
//
// https://en.cppreference.com/w/User:D41D8CD98F/feature_testing_macros
//
#ifdef __cpp_lib_filesystem
#include <filesystem>
#else
#include <experimental/filesystem>
namespace std {
namespace filesystem = experimental::filesystem;
}
#endif
std::filesystem::path getexepath();
application.cpp:
#include "application.h"
#ifdef _WIN32
#include <windows.h> //GetModuleFileNameW
#else
#include <limits.h>
#include <unistd.h> //readlink
#endif
std::filesystem::path getexepath()
{
#ifdef _WIN32
wchar_t path[MAX_PATH] = { 0 };
GetModuleFileNameW(NULL, path, MAX_PATH);
return path;
#else
char result[PATH_MAX];
ssize_t count = readlink("/proc/self/exe", result, PATH_MAX);
return std::string(result, (count > 0) ? count : 0);
#endif
}
For relative paths, here's what I did. I am aware of the age of this question, I simply want to contribute a simpler answer that works in the majority of cases:
Say you have a path like this:
"path/to/file/folder"
For some reason, Linux-built executables made in eclipse work fine with this. However, windows gets very confused if given a path like this to work with!
As stated above there are several ways to get the current path to the executable, but the easiest way I find works a charm in the majority of cases is appending this to the FRONT of your path:
"./path/to/file/folder"
Just adding "./" should get you sorted! :) Then you can start loading from whatever directory you wish, so long as it is with the executable itself.
EDIT: This won't work if you try to launch the executable from code::blocks if that's the development environment being used, as for some reason, code::blocks doesn't load stuff right... :D
EDIT2: Some new things I have found is that if you specify a static path like this one in your code (Assuming Example.data is something you need to load):
"resources/Example.data"
If you then launch your app from the actual directory (or in Windows, you make a shortcut, and set the working dir to your app dir) then it will work like that.
Keep this in mind when debugging issues related to missing resource/file paths. (Especially in IDEs that set the wrong working dir when launching a build exe from the IDE)
A library solution (although I know this was not asked for).
If you happen to use Qt:
QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath()
Path to the current .exe
#include <Windows.h>
std::wstring getexepathW()
{
wchar_t result[MAX_PATH];
return std::wstring(result, GetModuleFileNameW(NULL, result, MAX_PATH));
}
std::wcout << getexepathW() << std::endl;
// -------- OR --------
std::string getexepathA()
{
char result[MAX_PATH];
return std::string(result, GetModuleFileNameA(NULL, result, MAX_PATH));
}
std::cout << getexepathA() << std::endl;
This question was asked 15 years ago, so the existing answers are now incorrect. If you're using C++17 or greater, the solution is very straightforward today:
#include <filesystem>
std::cout << std::filesystem::current_path();
See cppreference.com for more information.
On POSIX platforms, you can use getcwd().
On Windows, you may use _getcwd(), as use of getcwd() has been deprecated.
For standard libraries, if Boost were standard enough for you, I would have suggested Boost::filesystem, but they seem to have removed path normalization from the proposal. You may have to wait until TR2 becomes readily available for a fully standard solution.
Boost Filesystem's initial_path() behaves like POSIX's getcwd(), and neither does what you want by itself, but appending argv[0] to either of them should do it.
You may note that the result is not always pretty--you may get things like /foo/bar/../../baz/a.out or /foo/bar//baz/a.out, but I believe that it always results in a valid path which names the executable (note that consecutive slashes in a path are collapsed to one).
I previously wrote a solution using envp (the third argument to main() which worked on Linux but didn't seem workable on Windows, so I'm essentially recommending the same solution as someone else did previously, but with the additional explanation of why it is actually correct even if the results are not pretty.
As Minok mentioned, there is no such functionality specified ini C standard or C++ standard. This is considered to be purely OS-specific feature and it is specified in POSIX standard, for example.
Thorsten79 has given good suggestion, it is Boost.Filesystem library. However, it may be inconvenient in case you don't want to have any link-time dependencies in binary form for your program.
A good alternative I would recommend is collection of 100% headers-only STLSoft C++ Libraries Matthew Wilson (author of must-read books about C++). There is portable facade PlatformSTL gives access to system-specific API: WinSTL for Windows and UnixSTL on Unix, so it is portable solution. All the system-specific elements are specified with use of traits and policies, so it is extensible framework. There is filesystem library provided, of course.
The linux bash command
which progname will report a path to program.
Even if one could issue the which command from within your program and direct the output to a tmp file and the program
subsequently reads that tmp file, it will not tell you if that program is the one executing. It only tells you where a program having that name is located.
What is required is to obtain your process id number, and to parse out the path to the name
In my program I want to know if the program was
executed from the user's bin directory or from another in the path
or from /usr/bin. /usr/bin would contain the supported version.
My feeling is that in Linux there is the one solution that is portable.
Use realpath() in stdlib.h like this:
char *working_dir_path = realpath(".", NULL);
The following worked well for me on macOS 10.15.7
brew install boost
main.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
int main(int argc, char* argv[]){
boost::filesystem::path p{argv[0]};
p = absolute(p).parent_path();
std::cout << p << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Compiling
g++ -Wall -std=c++11 -l boost_filesystem main.cpp