How to split a path into separate strings?

Question

This is a complimentary question to:
How to build a full path string (safely) from separate strings?

So my question, how to split a path into separate strings in a cross platform manner.

This solution, using Boost.Filesystem is very elegant and Boost must have implemented some splitPath() function. I couldn't find any.

Note: bear in mind that I can do this task myself but I'm more interested in a closed box solution.

Are you looking to split all parts of the path, or just the parent directory from the filename? — Stian Svedenborg, Jul 14 '14 at 10:51
@idanshmu : can you please give some sample i/p's and o/p's? — N20084753, Jul 14 '14 at 10:51
Have you look at [path::iterator](http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_55_0/libs/filesystem/doc/reference.html#path-iterators) ? — Jarod42, Jul 14 '14 at 10:55

sehe · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-14T11:18:32.530

15

Indeed, there is path_iterator. But if you want elegance:

#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>

int main() {
    for(auto& part : boost::filesystem::path("/tmp/foo.txt"))
        std::cout << part << "\n";
}

Prints:

"/"
"tmp"
"foo.txt"

And

    for(auto& part : boost::filesystem::path("/tmp/foo.txt"))
        std::cout << part.c_str() << "\n";

prints

/
tmp
foo.txt

No need to worry about the moving parts

edited Jul 14 '14 at 11:18

answered Jul 14 '14 at 11:11

sehe

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score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '14 at 11:09

5

std::vector<std::string> SplitPath(const boost::filesystem::path &src) {
    std::vector<std::string> elements;
    for (const auto &p : src) {
        elements.emplace_back(p.filename());
    }
    return elements;
}

answered Jul 14 '14 at 11:09

ALittleDiff

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Actually, I was still typing and compiling the sample while this answer was being posted. – sehe Jul 14 '14 at 11:56
1

If `elements` has type `vector` you should write `elements.emplace_back(p.filename().string())` – victor1234 Aug 15 '16 at 00:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 09 '14 at 17:27

If you don't have C++11 auto, or are writing cross-platform code where boost::filesystem::path might be std::wstring:

std::vector<boost::filesystem::path> elements;
for (boost::filesystem::path::iterator it(filename.begin()), it_end(filename.end()); it != it_end; ++it) 
{
    elements.push_back(it->filename());
}

Mayank Joshi · Answer 4 · 2021-10-04T06:20:46.997

If you want to do everything manually without, using any library, then this will help. It splits the given full path into corresponding names and store them in a vector.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string filePath = "C:\\ProgramData\\Users\\CodeUncode\\Documents";
    vector<string> directories;
    size_t position=0, currentPosition=0;
    
    while(currentPosition != -1)
    {
        currentPosition = filePath.find_first_of('\\', position);
        directories.push_back(filePath.substr(position,currentPosition-position));
        position = currentPosition+1;
    }
    for(vector<string>::iterator it = directories.begin(); it!=directories.end(); it++)
        cout<<*it<<endl;

    return 0;
}

Output:

C:
ProgramData
Users
CodeUncode
Documents

You have posted the same (poor) code [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/69426192/10871073). Best not to post 'duplicate' answers to multiple questions ... consider deleting one answer and improving the other. — Adrian Mole, Oct 03 '21 at 15:38

How to split a path into separate strings?

4 Answers4