Run an EXE from a different directory?

Question

After a bit of googling and searching here, couldn't find the answer to this silly question!

For a structure like this...

dirZero
|---dirOne
|---|---myProgram.exe

How do I run "myProgram" if my current directory is dirZero? I.E.,

C:\dirZero> dirOne/myProgram.exe

...which obviously doesn't work.

the interesting part is that if myProgram was in dirZero and you were in dirOne, then you could do `"..\myProgram.exe"` and it would run the EXE in the previous directory. — EpicPandaForce, Jul 28 '14 at 08:35

score 111 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 11 '10 at 03:10

111

You should use a backslash \, instead of forward slash. /

C:\dirZero> dirOne\myProgram.exe

Or, wrap it with double quotes "

C:\dirZero> "dirOne/myProgram.exe"

answered Oct 11 '10 at 03:10

Ruel

3

I think you should move the second one with double quotes to the top as it is more intuitive for people who are looking for this answer. – Priya Ranjan Singh Jun 18 '15 at 15:02
Thanks for this. I wrote a Python script in Linux that contains code to call some binaries in other directories. I recently tried to run the same script in Windows and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working until I read this answer - solved my problem. +1. – rayryeng Apr 07 '17 at 03:24
Does anyone know what CWD for the program is set to in this case? Is it `C:\dirZero` or `C:\dirZero\dirOne`? – igor Jul 24 '18 at 14:33

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 11 '10 at 03:09

16

Use a backslash instead

C:\dirZero> dirOne\myProgram.exe

answered Oct 11 '10 at 03:09

Preet Sangha

score -6 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 28 '14 at 08:27

-6

probably u should just simple use

cd C:\dirZero\dirOne
C:\dirZero\dirOne> myProgram.exe

answered Jul 28 '14 at 08:27

pumamammal

7

This is not the question being asked. Read it more carefully. – rayryeng Apr 06 '17 at 05:24
And in some cases it will do different result, as working directory would be different. For example if you call npm/yarn – BotanMan Feb 07 '18 at 06:35
See also [What exactly is current working directory?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45591428/what-exactly-is-current-working-directory/66860904) – tripleee Dec 06 '22 at 08:00

3 Answers3