why I get the wrong current directory in C++ of linux

Question

I use the NetBeans to program C++ , I want to get the current absolute path of the executable file

(~/NetBeansWorkSpace/project_1/dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/executableFileName)

so I use

1, system("pwd")

2,getcwd(buffer,bufferSize)

then click the run button but they all get the wrong path: ~/NetBeansWorkSpace/project_1

Here is the surprise , I run the bash

cd ~/NetBeansWorkSpace/project_1/dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/executableFileName

./executableFileName

I get the right path .

It's WHY ???

Seems your IDE is setting the current directory of your program when it runs it. In general, you can't rely on the working directory to be where your executable is. — Cameron, Oct 29 '12 at 16:12
`pwd` and `getcwd` return the current working directory, not a path to the executable's location... — bames53, Oct 29 '12 at 16:26

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

1

Nothing is wrong - NetBeans is running your program with the current working directory set to the project directory (~/NetBeansWorkSpace/project_1).

Your program should not depend on the current directory being the same as the directory where your program resides. See this thread if you want to see a few different methods for getting the absolute path of your program.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:21

Community

1
1

answered Oct 29 '12 at 16:13

Matt Kline

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 29 '12 at 16:34

As everyone else has stated, NetBeans is setting the working directory before running your application. If you want to get the working directory of the executable, I believe that the following should work.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(int argc, char const* *argv) {
    char *resolved = realpath(argv[0], NULL);
    if (resolved != NULL) {
        char *fname = strrchr(resolved, '/');
        if (fname != NULL) {
            fname[1] = '\0';
        }
        printf("absolute path of %s is %s\n", argv[0], resolved);
        free(resolved);
    } else {
        perror("realpath");
    }
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 29 '12 at 16:12

NetBeans starts your application from ~/NetBeansWorkSpace/project_1/ by prefixing the path dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/ leading to it.

Open a shell, do a cd ~/NetBeansWorkSpace/project_1/, then do dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/executableFileName and you'll be getting the same result as if you ran the app from NetBeans.

ETech · Answer 4 · 2014-03-25T11:25:15.973

For Linux:
Function to execute system command

int syscommand(string aCommand, string & result) {
    FILE * f;
    if ( !(f = popen( aCommand.c_str(), "r" )) ) {
            cout << "Can not open file" << endl;
            return NEGATIVE_ANSWER;
        }
        const int BUFSIZE = 4096;
        char buf[ BUFSIZE ];
        if (fgets(buf,BUFSIZE,f)!=NULL) {
            result = buf;
        }
        pclose( f );
        return POSITIVE_ANSWER;
    }

Then we get app name

string getBundleName () {
    pid_t procpid = getpid();
    stringstream toCom;
    toCom << "cat /proc/" << procpid << "/comm";
    string fRes="";
    syscommand(toCom.str(),fRes);
    size_t last_pos = fRes.find_last_not_of(" \n\r\t") + 1;
    if (last_pos != string::npos) {
        fRes.erase(last_pos);
    }
    return fRes;
}

Then we extract application path

    string getBundlePath () {
    pid_t procpid = getpid();
    string appName = getBundleName();
    stringstream command;
    command <<  "readlink /proc/" << procpid << "/exe | sed \"s/\\(\\/" << appName << "\\)$//\"";
    string fRes;
    syscommand(command.str(),fRes);
    return fRes;
    }

Do not forget to trim the line after

why I get the wrong current directory in C++ of linux

4 Answers4